''Operation Nam'' ( it, Cobra Mission, german: Die Rückkehr der Wildgänse) is a 1986 Italian-German

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

written and directed by

Fabrizio De Angelis Fabrizio De Angelis is an Italian director, screenwriter and producer. Life and career Fabrizio De Angelis was born in Rome, Italy on November 15, 1940. De Angelis would produced a number of genre films for other directors such as those of Joe ...

(credited as Larry Ludman). It had a sequel, ''Cobra Mission 2'', released in 1988.

Plot

Ten years after the end of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, three American veterans who have never resigned themselves to defeat decided to organize a mission to return to Indochina. Their goal is to liberate the "missing in action", i.e. all those fellow soldiers taken prisoner by the

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

and never let go.

Cast

Oliver Tobias Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born UK-based film, stage, and television actor and director. Biography Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Robe ...

as Richard Wagner *

Christopher Connelly Christopher Connelly (September 8, 1941 – December 7, 1988) was an American actor, best known for his role as Norman Harrington in the successful prime time ABC soap opera '' Peyton Place''. He stayed with the series during its entire f ...

as Roger Carson * Manfred Lehmann as Mark Adams *

John Steiner John Steiner (7 January 1941 – 31 July 2022) was an English actor. Tall, thin and gaunt, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed on-stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company, but was best known to audiences for his roles i ...

as James Walcott * Ethan Wayne as Mike *

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...

as Father Lenoir *

Gordon Mitchell Gordon Mitchell (born Charles Allen Pendleton; July 29, 1923 – September 20, 2003) was an American actor and bodybuilder who made about 200 B movies. Biography Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in ...

as Col. Mortimer *

Luciano Pigozzi Luciano Pigozzi, also known professionally as Alan Collins (10 January 1927 – 14 June 2008), was an Italian character actor. A long-time staple of Italian genre cinema, Pigozzi was noted for his resemblance to Peter Lorre and appeared in s ...

as Phil Lawson's Father * Enzo G. Castellari as Major Morris *

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...

Release

''Operation Nam'' was released in West Germany as ''Die Rückkehr der Wildgänse'' on July 31, 1986.

References

External links

* 1980s war films Macaroni Combat films West German films English-language German films English-language Italian films Films directed by Fabrizio De Angelis Films scored by Francesco De Masi Vietnam War films Films shot in the Philippines 1980s Italian films {{1980s-Italy-film-stub