Before deciding whether to DVR this one, on TCM's Summer Under the Stars Rod Taylor day, I checked various sources for recommendations and found several that said The Mercenaries aka Dark of the Sun (1968) was Taylor's finest hour, his best performance etc. Well, I'm not sure why anyone would say so, especially if they'd seen him in Young Cassidy (1965), The Birds (1963), The Time Machine (1960), or in various character roles.While Curry (Taylor) is unquestionably the one on whom the entire movie hangs and experiences an unconvincing transformation at its end, he's primarily a one-dimensional character. Taylor may have worked hard as an actor to perform the physicality required by the role, but that's about it. The movie itself seems just an excuse for some colorful over-the-top violence, directed by the Oscar winning cinematographer Jack Cardiff. The dialogue is pedestrian and some of the scene setups are ludicrous, though some may suffer from the ratings board's required cuts.I recently watched Blood Diamond (2006), and while I would hardly recommend it either, at least it's easy to understand the motives behind the gratuitous violence in that one. In Dark of the Sun (1968), the reasons for the Simbas actions aren't explained, or they're just assumed to be savages, which makes the filmmakers' narrative rather racist. While they could have cast this viewpoint on the German (Peter Carsten) who wears a swastika, he's more of an opportunist than anything else.As for the rest of the cast, Jim Brown plays Jim Brown, the altruistic "man of action" character he played throughout much of his career. Yvette Mimieux doesn't really add much besides her pretty face - a pawn between Curry and the Nazi, and Kenneth More plays the stereotypical drunk doctor who realizes just in time that he's needed and seeks redemption in his final act.

A band of mercenaries led by Captain Curry 'Rod Taylor' star of Hitchcock's 'The Birds' venture through the Congo across deadly terrain, battling the deadly 'Simba' armies, to procure for the President million's in diamonds 'Dark of The Sun' is nothing short of excellent, it's up there with other classic Mercenary men on a mission film's such as 'Wild Geese' 'The Dogs of War' this film was ahead of it's time in terms of it's shockingly violent content it still stands out today, their is nothing that dates it, the violence is nothing short of brutal and does not glamorous war as hell, it's not hard to see why Quentin Tarrontino's rants and raves about this! it's available on DVD but given the current clime with lack of care typical of film companies 'Dark of The Sun' has been shamefully released without the appropriate fanfare.

Civil war in the Congo is the backdrop for this great adventure flick. Curry(Rod Taylor) is a soldier for hire. Along with his sidekick Ruffo(Jim Brown) they assemble an army to bring a small group of people as well as 50 million in diamonds to safety in only three days. Along with them is Henlein(Perter Carsten) and 40 of his men. After an attack from a U.N. plane they pick up Clair(Yvette Mimieux). Her husband? was killed and she barely escapes with her life. Later adventures involve a chainsaw fight as well as a tense period, while waiting for a safe to open. Simbas attack them and the diamonds as well as rescued people are lost. Curry and Ruffo devise a plan to recover the diamonds which works out. After the diamonds are recovered, Curry goes on a mission to get fuel. While he is away, Henlein kills Ruffo. Curry returns, hunts down Henlein and kills him. After some reflection, he submits to a future court martial proceeding at which time the movie ends.The plot is a straightforward one. If you liked the Dirty Dozen or Von Ryan's Express then this one is for you. What makes this film so great is the intense,brutal action and the characters involved. Rod Taylor doesn't just act his role, he attacks it with flair and style. He is a very capable leading man and he shows it here. He portrays Curry as tough, witty, sometimes brutal, but sometimes humane.Jim Brown plays Ruffo, and while Brown is no great actor, his presence alone fills the screen. Ruffo may be the only true good man in the movie. He doesn't do it for the money but for pride in his country.The polar opposite of Ruffo is Henlein. A former Nazi, he is inhumane. He kills two children(off screen thankfully). He also tries to kill Curry and does kill Ruffo before Curry gives him what he deserves. Peter Carsten plays him to the hilt and the fact that you hate Henlein so much is a testament to Carsten's ability.My only real criticism of the film is Clair. Let me preface all of this by saying that I think Yvette Mimieux is a good actress and awesome to look at but Clair isn't given enough to do. She has a very good scene at a small field hospital where she stands up to Curry and a drunken doctor when a woman needs medical care, but there isn't enough of that type of dialogue for her. She seems relegated to the background for most of the movie. Still, she's a real beauty and I love gazing at her hotness.Lots of other actors make this movie great and I really recommend it. It's gory and brutal but not gratuitously so. The violence is what we'd expect in a civil uprising. To me, it should be considered up there with the best films of the genre.

Hi, I'm glad to see that so many people share my view of this great but unsung film but shame there are so many big factual errors. Someone said it's 'set in South Africa', another that it takes place during the 'Katanga revolt'. In fact it takes place in the second part of the Congo civil war, a completely separate conflict and long after the Katanga revolt had been crushed. In 1964, radical leftist followers of the assassinated President Lumumba began a revolt in NE Congo the area furthest removed from the capital, Leopoldville (Kinshasa) and nowhere near Katanga, which is south of the capital. It spread quickly until it reached Stanleyville (today Kisanghani). This is the period in which the film is set. The rebels were known as 'simbas', which means 'lions' and were driven on by witch doctors so they believed they were invulnerable to bullets, attacked govt units relentlessly spreading panic among the Congo army; a tactic which brought the Simbas early and spectacular success. The Congo govt of Tshombe (the failed rebel leader of the Katanga revolt) responded by recruiting mercenaries under 'Mad' Mike Hoare who had fought for him in Katanga. The Curry character is clearly based on Hoare. They were very successful in driving back the Simbas and liberating Stanleyville and many western hostages, documented in Hoare's book 'Congo Mercenary'. These true heroic events are the basis of the film not the Katanga revolt in which Hoare and his men had a much more sinister and 'mercenary' role. The mercenaries' bad reputation from this earlier is clearly referred to the scenes where Curry's clashes with the UN Officer and the journalist at the bar and this would have been well understood at the time.It was love at first sight when I saw the film: the combination of fast-paced action and grisly violence and enough intelligence and fact made a compelling combination. It came as a complete surprise to me when I caught it on TCM on a sizzling hot evening in summer 2003 and by luck I recorded it. The film is years ahead of its time: more like something you'd expect to see in the 70s. All the actors do a great job especially Taylor. The Jim Brown character is, by contrast, a politically correct fantasy. The title 'Dark of the Sun' is obviously a reference to Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' also sent in the Congo, and there are some similarities: the train being sucked deeper into the jungle to meet an unknown fate, where even 'civilized' westerners are turned into brutal savages in order to survive. I think Cardiff works this theme very well. He actually said some of the true stories of violence during the revolt had 'turned his stomach' so he toned it down in the film, but they are still fairly shocking. The scene of the train full of rescued Belgian civilians unexpectedly rolling back into the depot and into the hands of blood-thirsty Simbas is one of the creepiest moments on celluloid.In Germany, the film is erroneously called 'katanga' and interestingly the part where Peter Carsten as the Nazi mercenary (Henlein) summarily shoots two children as spies is cut. The Carsten character is based on an authentic German mercenary called 'Congo Müller' who fought alongside Hoare. He actually had an Iron Cross not a Swastika on his breast pocket. But Cardiff cleverly incorporates many of these well known facts and reports of the Congo mercenaries that both glamorized and demonized them at the same time. The characters and events would have been easily recognizable to audiences when the film was made. I've also read that Laurence Kabila the assassinated father of Congo's president was a Simba and that as a Ugandan army officer, Idi Amin was sent on a mission to train Simba rebels.