Drunk And Flirty Is No Way To Go Through A War

The Sea Wolves was about a group of retired British soldiers being called in for an under the table mission. Allied shipping is being consistently wiped out by U-Boats as it leaves a harbor off the southwest coast of India. British Intelligence would like to stop that, but can't act officially since the harbor is in neutral territory. So Gregory Peck and Roger Moore recruit these fellows who haven't seen combat since the Boer War to go on a covert mission. If they fail, it'll just look like a bunch of old Brits got drunk and attacked a German ship out of stupidity.

It's a decent enough film, and it has a lot of fun with the idea of all these old fellows eagerly volunteering, but then having to get themselves into decent enough shape to go through with it. I found Roger Moore's character most interesting. Not because of his motivations or some barely hinted at aspect of his character. I found him intriguing because I can't shake the feeling he was some sort of commentary on James Bond. Gavin Stewart is supposed to be an intelligence agent, but he clearly thinks he's smarter than he is, and he spends a lot of time drinking and flirting with Ms. Agnes Cromwell. That fooling about leads to the death of one of the old men, because Stewart isn't focused on his work.

By that time, Moore had played Bond in 4 movies, so maybe he was just getting typecast. His character in The Wild Geese seemed a bit of the ladies' man as well. He did go on to play Bond 3 more times after The Sea Wolves, but it still feels like a point was being made. That James Bond's cavalier style isn't suitable for that kind of work. That he relies too much on luck and being more clever than everyone else and it's likely to get anyone relying on him killed.