Dark of the Sun (AKA:The Mercenaries) is directed by Jack Cardiff and adapted to screenplay by Ranald MacDougall (alias Quentin Werty) and Adrien Spies from Wilbur Smith's novel "The Dark of the Sun". It stars Rod Taylor, Jim Brown, Yvette Mimieux, Peter Carsten and Kenneth More. A Panavision/Metrocolor production, music is by Jacques Loussier and cinematography by Edward Scaife.A band of mercenaries embark upon a dangerous mission during the Congo Crisis...Back upon release it was met with some consternation by critics who thought it overtly violent and unpleasant, today it is met with disdain by the PC brigade who are unable to view a 1968 movie and accept it as just that! Anyone order a curry in a hurry?!Jack Cardiff's picture is a ballsy men on a mission piece, full of meaty muscular mayhem, acetylene augmented action and preposterous political postures. Wonderfully raw, story sends Bruce Curry (Taylor) and his band of not very merry men on a steam train journey based mission through the Congo. They are to retrieve some diamonds and enact the rescue of civilians caught up in the rampage of the Simbas. Enter a very fractured group dynamic - with Carsten's Swastika sporting merc very much a fulcrum - a number of brutal confrontations involving all manner of weapons, and an exhaustive last quarter of film that's in turn terrifying and troubling as it is potent. A major flip-flop in the narrative annoys a lot, and Mimieux - although not doing anything wrong - is merely dressage to lower the testosterone levels.It should be noted that the pic was filmed in Jamaica and not as listed in some reviews as Africa (splendid scenery utilised, though some pointless back projection work annoys and is baffling), while caution is advised on purchasing a home format copy since cuts have been made over the years. This may lack the ferocious nastiness of The Dirty Dozen, or the intelligent action strains of Where Eagles Dare, but it sure as heck fire punches the gut and tingles the adrenaline beats. 8/10

Dark Of The Sun is one superior action film showing the difficulties of the African liberation period of the 50s and 60s. A whole continent of nations gained their independence from European powers no longer able to govern. In many places the struggle goes on with different players and different issues. No place was more bloody than the Congo now renamed as the Republic of Zaire.The mineral riches of Africa however are still controlled by the west and nobody wants to lose their investment. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are a couple of mercenary soldiers who are asked by diamond merchants to retrieve a cache of diamonds from a small town and by the way rescue the people there if you can.The conflict of Taylor and Brown and their motivations are what sets the story going. Taylor is strictly for hire on a cash basis. Brown likes money, but he's from Africa, got a scholarship for an education in the USA and wants to see democracy and stability in his country. They like, but don't quite get the other.Into the mix comes Peter Karsten a former Nazi who proudly wears a swastika necklace that Taylor orders him to can. He's absorbed all the values of the country he formerly served.All of them have to face the rebels who are a bloodthirsty lot. Of all the places that was exploited the former Belgian Congo was far and away the worst. A lot of rage is fueling these people as you'll see in this film.Yvette Mimieux is one of the rescued people and she ignites a lot of sexual tension between all three men. There's also a nice performance from Kenneth More who is an alcoholic doctor in the John Ford tradition.Something Jack Cardiff picked up no doubt from Ford when he took over direction of Young Cassidy. The whole espirit de corps notions among the mercenaries is pure Ford and Taylor's breach of that is also dealt with in the film. What the breach is I won't say, but Taylor had just provocation.Dark Of The Sun holds up well as a portrait of Africa in turmoil in the Sixties. As for the diamond connection, that's still alive and thriving as a viewing of Leonardo DiCaprio's Blood Diamond will show.In fact they really ought to be viewed back to back. Was Jim Brown a bit too optimistic?

This is what you can call an old-fashioned boy's own adventure with a mind-set on a mammoth task, scathing violence and the dark underbelly beneath it of what length someone would go. While being lean, aggressive and tough, the primitive material is idealistically confronting and daring with interesting complexities of character reworking. Watching how certain characters tick was just as compelling as the hazardous trek with thrilling fire-fights, brutally intense one-on-one combats (which one includes a chainsaw!) and slam-bang explosions. Dominating the screen are the presences of a mighty Rod Taylor, Jim Brown, Peter Carsten, Kenneth More and the alluring Yvette Mimieux. All the players come across humane and well-rounded that we do get caught up in the plight and of their true intentions for the job. Some dry humour is drilled in too. Even being long in length, never does it flag about and Jack Cardiff's sturdy direction is well-timed and constructed. The agile camera-work spaciously frames the action and the striking African locations. Jacques Loussier's music score is characteristically layered in an uncanny grandness and enliven by a truly stirring current. It always seemed to match the mood and images to great affect. Familiar and gruff, but a very well done and technically efficient action/adventure joint that at the end has something boldly important to say on the human nature.

Take one part Von Ryan's Express, one part Wild Geese, one part The Road Warrior, and one part Dogs Of War and you get a kick butt flick called Dark Of The Sun! I'm at my job and to my great fortune I tuned to TCM Europe and caught this in its entirety, I was pretty blown away. I can just imagine the response the movie going public of 1968 America had, with race riots and MLK Jr's assassination and all, they probably really hated it. The movie depicts what I thought I was going to see in "Guns at Batasi", Africans revolting violently against unarmed Euro White civilians in the heart of Africa. They definitely do not to my knowledge (unless possibly a South African movie), make many movies that show the scenes that this movie presents. White on Black hate, yes those are made, but not the other way around. I was not all that interested in this at first but it definitely got a whole lot better when they get the diamonds, I got off my far away seat and got real close to the TV, the scenes were just totally unexpected. I thought they were going to get away, ala a 1950's Clark Gable/John Wayne adventure (which are great also), but when I saw that caboose get separated and then it started rolling backwards I said, now thats something to watch! It's totally Wild Geese doomsday mission from that point on, except its a a hell of a lot bloodier. BTW, those are my favorite action movies, where all hell breaks loose and the "good guys" take a lot of casualties, much more edge of your seat that way! The only thing that I guess kept this from a restricted rating was at the time they didn't have one yet, this movie may have been a mover to placing ratings on movies because they came out shortly afterward, I mean it's that action and graphic packed. The ending is overlong with it's morality play but it's worth watching just for the town scene when the mission starts to go horribly wrong. Here's a spoiler, a white Afrikaner merc gets captured by the horde and is bent over a pool table without his pants, ummm if thats not hardcore I don't know what is (well, the white nun being raped was right up there also, and the white guy being doused with gasoline while being dragged from a motorcycle was also really brutal). I thought about The Road Warrior when I saw that part of the movie, it was probably inspired by this great unknown action flick, that was probably a little close to the truth on stuff that happened during the Congo's history. 9 of 10 very entertaining for action film viewers.