1980: "The Sea Wolves"

                                          The Sea Wolves is an 1980 WWII espionage caper starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Roger Moore. It is based on the true story of the Calcutta Light Horse, a group of British expatriates in India who, having not seen military action since the Boer War, embark on a covert mission to infiltrate a German merchant ship that's sending messages to German U-boats from an Indian harbor that's under Portugal's neutral control.

                                         The Sea Wolves is like watching one of those fluffy old-timers' baseball games: a bunch of old kooks brought out of retirement so they can play one more fun game, as long as they don't exert themselves too much due to their crippling arthritis. The movie is like one big reunion for all these Englishmen: Gregory Peck (an American) and David Niven from The Guns of Navarone, and Roger Moore and a few others from The Wild Geese; also, a bunch of regular Bond production crewmen (Syd Cain, John Glen, Maurice Binder). Despite the rather promising, cutesy premise of a bunch of old guys going on a military operation, it's not as much fun as its initial promise and ends up just being a flat, uneven affair. The kind of movie that feels suited for a late night TV movie.
                                        The only real highlight is Roger Moore, who's basically just playing James Bond (I'm biased because I'm a Bond fan). Peck and Niven are just there to be the heavy-hitting legends to fill out the cast.

                               The movie has somewhat faded from my memory, and since I'm not a fan of twisty, exposition-y espionage film, it doesn't get a recommendation from me.

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