MovieChat Forums > The Wild Geese (1978) Discussion > Burt Lancaster as Rafer Janders?

Burt Lancaster as Rafer Janders?

posted 16 years ago by DracenWolfe
7 replies | jump to latest

On the commentary, they were saying Burt Lancaster was first given the Janders part, then the producers were warned that Burt liked to rewrite his scripts to make his part bigger, and sure enough, a few days later Burt's agent called them saying Burt had made the script 'better'. They passed on this and said no to one of Hollywood's biggest stars and hired Richard Harris.

The rest is history.

But, what if Burt had been persuaded to play the part as already written? Would Janders be just as good?

What could Burt have contributed to The Wild Geese?

He who lives by the sword will be shot by those who can't

[–] rglasby 16 years ago

Short answer is US box office appeal.

Then again I'm not sure Lancaster was a big draw by 1978.

He was in Zulu Dawn and that didn't go all that well.

Richard Harris was a good choice as Rafer - the weakest casting was Roger Moore as Fynn.

Someone like Peter O'Toole might have done it far better and Moore could've taken Barry Foster's role as Matherson's assistant.

[–] dave88-2 16 years ago

I think Frank Finlay as the priest wasn't that good, casting-wise.

But the Burt Lancaster thing wouldn't have mattered to the US box office, the film's distributor went bankrupt before it could be released, so nobody in America saw it in the cinema anyway. This was before the days when a film could be taken on by another distributor if the original one went belly up.

I don't know that Burt Lancaster would have been better as Janders, he's more of a lead actor really, though I realise that Rafer in the book is an American.

Lastly, is the 2010 sequel listed on IMDB still happening? People keep talking about "The Expendables" Stallone mercenary film that's also slated for release then, but after reading a few posts there I'm now sure it isn't the remake, just a similarly-themed film.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] marktayloruk 11 years ago

Novel described Fynn as a good,wild and reckless-looking man of about 35.Moore seemed to look the part.

[–] Theoverlook 14 years ago

I'm glad lancaster never got the part, Harris was brilliant as janders. The casting in this movie was spot on and it's one reason why it's one of my all time favourite movies.

[–] grendelkhan 14 years ago

Lancaster would have been good, but it would have been a different character.

[–] vpilutis 13 years ago

I'm a big fan of both Roger and Burt it would have been great if they both were in this film. I like the two Richards as well.

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