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The Wild Geese is a film I remember vividly as a youngster, and one that for me has stood the test of time. Yes, there is no CGI or bullets whizzing close to the ears à la Steven Spielberg, but a gritty realism assisted by a number ex-military personnel among the extras.

Having an interest in the history and politics of post-colonial Africa I was more than familiar with the exploits of mercenaries such as "Mad" Mike Hoare and Siegfried "Kongo" Müller, and some years after seeing this film for the first time I was happy to find out that the legendary "Mad Mike" had acted as a battlefield consultant.

The plot is uncomplicated, and the mission seemingly straightforward. Employed by shady businessman Sir Edward Matheson (Stewart Granger), retired mercenary Alan Faulkner (Richard Burton) looks to set himself up financially with one last trip to Africa. In selecting his small private army Faulkner puts together an interesting core group - the intellectual Rafer Janders (Richard Harris), the smart and savvy Shawn Fynn (Roger Moore) and hard-nosed Afrikaner Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Krüger). While Faulker provides the brains, Fynn provides the charm, Coetzee the grit and Janders the soul.

In all a group of fifty men are gathered, from grizzled vets looking for their last big pay packet through to younger soldiers of fortune. In amongst the group are the hard-nosed RSM Sandy Young (played wonderfully by Jack Watson) and the camp but no less tough medic Witty (Kenneth Griffith). There is plenty of excellent character development as the men go through their training routine, and plenty of politically incorrect banter that makes it even more real.

The men parachute into the fictional country located in Southern Africa, with the mission to rescue politician Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona) imprisoned by a communist-leaning government. He is being held at a prison staffed by a fearsome bunch of native soldiers - the Simbas - and their East German and Cuban advisors.

Having arrived safely, the mission runs smoothly - the enemies are quickly dispatched and the prisoner is rescued, and you are left thinking "is this it?" But when things take a horrible twist and their rescue aircraft passes them by on the orders of the double-crossing Matheson, all hell breaks loose.

Here the action really kicks off, complete with explosions, flying bodies and a rapidly increasing body count - all good 1970s action film fun.

However, there is no real happy ending. The majority of the mercenaries don't make it out alive, and the scene on the runway that sees Faulkner left with the choice of shooting his friend Janders or leaving him at the mercy of the panga-wielding Simbas is something that does hit you sideways in what is otherwise a merry old school all-action romp.

There is no Hollywood happy ending, but the final denouement makes for a satisfactory conclusion.

Having read some of the other comments on here, my advice is simple. Forget the possible plot holes, some contrived plot acceleration (such as Coetzee's sudden realisation about Limbani) and so on, and just enjoy it. Watching Harris and Burton (who were allegedly ordered to stay off the drink for the duration of the filming) working together is great, Moore is his usual suave self but with a red beret instead of a tux, and Krüger is excellent as a character you just end up rooting for.

They don't make them like this anymore!

Since I first saw it over thirty years ago, A Bridge Too Far remains one my favourite films of all time. In addition to the all-star cast that provides the right amount of weight to the characters, the fact that director Richard Attenborough was able to put together the vast and well-choreographed combat scenes with such accuracy remains excellent viewing today as it was back when the film was made. Back in 1977, there were no special CGI effects to plug the obvious gaps, and thousands of extras were used.

Covering the planned attack on the German western flank with the aim of securing a path into the German industrial heartland, Operation Market Garden was a massive undertaking, conceived by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in short period of time. Central to the mission would be the landing of over 35,000 airborne troops from Britain, the United States and Poland.

The story flows nicely, and while I am a history buff and know all of the characters, my girlfriend who finally watched the film with me after years of having me bang on about it was able to follow it easily. I guessed it helps that she has become familiar with Waffen-SS formations and loves US jeeps! From what I have seen and heard over the years, most if not all of the main roles were excellently written. Sean Connery is excellent as Maj. Gen. "Roy" Urquhart and Anthony Hopkins plays Lt. Col. John Frost with an aristocratic authority, but the star of the show is the excellent Edward Fox as Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks - especially for his rousing speech prior to XXX Corps setting off on the narrow road to Arnhem.

Every aspect is touched nicely, from the impact on the soldiers from all sides as the battle progressed, through to the ordinary Dutch civilians from the underground father and son team through to Kate ter Horst (Liv Ullmann) and Dr. Spaander (Laurence Olivier).

However what really stands out for me is the scriptwriter's treatment of the Germans, right at a time when feelings about the Second World War were still raw for many (including Dirk Bogarde, who once said that he would exit a lift if a German walked in). They are treated with an accuracy and sensitivity, more so as the two main divisions featured in the film are Waffen-SS - for long seen as the baddest of the "bad guys". Unlike other films of that time such as "The Battle of the Bulge", "Where Eagles Dare" and the like, none of the German officers are "ve haff vays of mekking you talk" cardboard cutouts - probably helped by their speaking German rather than English in a silly accent.

Hardy Krüger's SS-Brigadeführer Ludwig (a character based on SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel, commander of the 10th SS Panzer Division "Frundsberg") is rightly portrayed as a hard but fair officer, and his immediate superior SS-Obergruppenführer Willi Bittrich is truthfully shown as a consummate professional soldier - battle-hardened yet not beyond showing compassion for his enemy. Both "Frundsberg" and the 9th SS Panzerdivision "Hohenstaufen" (comprising the II. Panzerkorps) were widely respected by their former enemies, and truly lived up to their reputation as an elite military formation.

There are some slight quibbles - rollbars on Kubelwagens, the composite grey Panther tanks, the senior Waffen-SS officers' collar patches being of an older variant, the use of the Wehrmacht term "general" as opposed to proper SS ranks - but these are really the domain of the military geek like myself who has watched the film well over a couple of hundred times.

One sad side story concerns the commander of the "Hohenstaufen" 9th Reconnaissance Battalion, SS-Hauptsturmführer Viktor-Eberhard Gräbner (mistakenly called "Paul Grabner" in the cast list). He had been awarded the Knight's Cross earlier in the summer, but he wouldn't actually get to wear the award until September 17th - the day before he died on Arnhem bridge.

Operation Market Garden carried a heavy cost for the Allies, but despite the huge losses and Germans coming out on top it did probably shorten the war - though not by Christmas of 1944 as Montgomery had envisaged. It remains in itself a disaster, but ultimately a heroic one.

In all, A Bridge Too Far strikes the right tone and balance, and tells the story as it is wile allowing us to get to know the personalities involved. It still stands high today, and remains in many ways an unmatched classic.

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* Having read some of the other reviews on here, it is clear that a few people may not have watched this film properly or simply fail to understand its premise.

It is not an historical drama, but an attempt to combine two "boy's own" stories - in short, an exercise in enjoyment. If you read Commando war comics as a kid, you will surely enjoy this film as I did, and if you are a football fan, just double that. Given that most of the then Ipswich Town squad were on show and featured on both sides - including "German" goalkeeper Laurie Sivell - I loved Escape to Victory from the time I first saw it in the early 1980s.

Some of the reviews here are simplistic and seem to suggest that the POW camp was full of star footballers. Not so. Steiner's (Max von Sydow's) initial idea is to have Colby's (Michael Caine's) guys knocking the ball about in the yard take on a local Wehrmacht team, but after being turned into a propaganda exercise the entire camp system is scoured for footballers - including the work camps in Eastern Europe which presents one of the more worthy moments in this otherwise light-hearted romp.

The senior camp officers are against the game being played, but Colby pushes for it for the sake of the Eastern Europeans, who would otherwise just be sent back to the hard labour camps.

The escape of Hatch (Sylvester Stallone) is an interesting sub-plot and his speaking French is comedy gold, and the paunchy Michael Caine does cut a strange figure as the team captain. As for his age however, it was not uncommon for players back then to be playing well into late thirties and early forties. Stanley Matthews played top level football until retiring at the age of forty-six.

As for the match itself, it is well put together for its time. Of course, we are not going to see a 2-0 win for the Germans here, and rather than scoff at the Allies coming back from 4-1 down it would be best just to enjoy it and revel in Stallone's attempts to emulate Gordon Banks - "where do I stand for a corner kick?" Pele's overhead kick is overcooked, yes - but this moment stirs Steiner to applaud, signifying that his love of the game of football is powerful enough to overcome his position as a German officer. His standing up to applaud has been cited by some reviewers here as strange, but in the context of the film it is realistic. His being a Wehrmacht officer is forgotten, at that moment he is simply a football fan.

Yes, the escape and crowd scene is cringeworthy. Big collars and bigger hair, flared trousers and the complete ignorance of the fact that the players would have been lugging themselves around in heavy football boots. But hey, just enjoy it for what it is.

Some more earnest reviewers have pulled up the fact that the players would have escaped at half-time, and yes - this is probably what most people would have done. But had that been the case, we would not have had the comeback to beat Liverpool's feat against Milan in 2005. In any case, Pelé clearly wins the day with his negotiating skills.

As for Pelé even being there, there were plenty of black Allied soldiers in German POW camps, and contrary to popular myth they were treated equally by the guards and not shipped off elsewhere. Some non-white soldiers, such as Indians opposed to the British empire, were even persuaded to fight for the Germans. Pelé is portrayed as a Jamaican corporal in the film, which doesn't stretch the boundaries that much.

In all, this film remains enjoyable now just as it was more than thirty years ago, in an era when Ipswich Town were pushing for the treble.

A fairly interesting premise, and a story that might have been far more interesting if I didn't find myself having to switch on my superpower sense of hearing to make sense of the irritating mumbling between the characters.

Of course, no sooner had I upped the volume the music started playing - an eardrum-throbbing violin.

The net result was that I found myself spending more time playing with the volume buttons on the remote control than I did watching the film - a shame as it was on the whole pretty atmospheric.

I couldn't see the point of the Michael Sheen character, but the German Hauptmann was quietly convincing - if perhaps a little too quiet when he was not speaking German.