SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

MartinHafer The story in "The Sea Wolves" is based on a real and rather strange episode in World War II history. Not wanting to provoke an international incident with neutral Portugal, the British decide to attack a German ship docked in Goa (an Indian city controlled at the time by the Portuguese) using civilians....elderly non-coms at that! They need to destroy or capture the boat because the ship is being used against Allied shipping. And, the film starred a lot of older stars--the likes of Gregory Peck, David Niven, Roger Moore and Trevor Howard! This really sounds like an interesting story, right? Well, oddly, it wasn't. In fact, after a while I was just looking forward to the film ending. Why? Well, I think the problem is mostly because none of the characters were very interesting. They had a nice idea but the writer simply didn't instill enough in the characters to make them the least bit endearing or realistic. Sad. As a result, it's a film that you could watch if you have nothing better to do or you could just skip it. My vote? Flip a coin.

mikcomserv (spoilers ahead) Although the cast was A list, the writing and direction was a bit over the top and cheesy at times, and hard to follow at other times. No matter how talented the cast, weak writing and direction still leave us with a mediocre story. Some of the cloak and dagger scenes were over-acted, to the point of being funny -- sort of like a kid trying to be sneaky, and we won't go into Roger Moore's love scenes, where he looked like he was puckering up to suck her face off.) However, of all the facets that detracted from an essentially good story, the campy musical score was at the top. It sounded like someone edited in some old background music used for a silent era film. I'm sorry, but playing upbeat or breezy music during a scene of intrigue or suspense tends to distract from the mood. Did the composer even score the music while the scenes played out in post-production? In the end, the film wound up looking like a low budget TV movie.

Spikeopath Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and adapted from James Lensor's book, Boarding Party, The Sea Wolves gathers up a gang of stalwart actors and pitches them into a war time drama. Clearly taking its lead from The Wild Geese, pic itself is based on the exploits of the "Calcutta Light Horse" band of men who enacted "Operation Boarding Party" during World War II 1943. Their mission was to scupper German ships that were sending communications to Nazi U-Boats that were sinking British merchant ships. It was a group made up of old volunteers who had the extensive army knowledge needed to make the mission a success. So who to play these wily old soldiers? Enter Messrs Niven, Moore, Howard, Macnee and, erm, Peck, who sneaks in as an honorary Brit.It's all very grand in a robust flag waving way, making the Sanatogen taking men look as heroes being an honourable thing. The formula is adhered to as the men are put through a number of familiar training scenarios whilst showing stiff upper lippery in the process. Roger Moore gets to play James Bond in a war film, in a not wholly convincing romantic sub-plot, and once the mission finally arrives, as the men storm the enemy ships, it's exciting and suspenseful. If only half an hour had been cut out of the run time! For sadly there is not enough material here to sustain a two hour movie, director McLaglen labouring to hold our attention in readiness for that finale. 6/10

Theo Robertson 1943 and those dastardly Nazis are sinking allied ships in the Indian Ocean and the British Special Operations Executive have to destroy the Nazi transmitter in the neutral state of Goa Supposedly based on a true story of derring do there's a good story in here somewhere but it never seems to take off . From the outset we're treated to some very clumsy story exposition where characters constantly refer to events and organisations that they'd know all about . You'd think these characters were appearing in a film or something and by being constantly reminded that it is a film you're constantly taken out of it . By having Roger Moore in the starring role you'll be reminded that he's a rubbish actor and a rubbish Bond and THE SEA WOLVES does feel like a sub par Bond movie Another noticeable thing is the crowd scenes where everyone wears present day clothes , well present for the late 1970s where the height of fashion is flared blue denim jeans and a colour clashing T-shirt . Distracting isn't a strong enough adjective and to get around this the director starts shooting in medium close up which is no less distracting and having to use a deserted beach as an establishing shot . If you've ever been to India you'll know that the Swastika is plastered everywhere so perhaps he deserves some credit for shooting a location scene where it doesn't feature THE SEA WOLVES is a well meaning film centered around a true life story featuring some old sweats taking the fight to the Nazis during the war but both the protagonists and the audience deserved much better