Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

harwhitehead Based on Frederick Forsythe's novel, the film is a realistic depiction of the powers behind international politics and the behind the scenes secret armies used to enforce their edicts.

a_chinn I really wanted to like this film, and it had a lot going for it with a strong cast (Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Paul Freeman, JoBeth Williams, and a young Ed O'Neill) and a solid premise from a Frederick Forsyth novel about mercenaries overthrowing an African dictator for a British executive wanting a more friendly of government for his business interests there. However, the characters were completely underdeveloped, there is nothing revelatory regarding the secret world of mercenaries for hire, and the story focuses on a very dull revenge plot instead of a more intriguing one around non-governmental organizations and geopolitics. In the film's favor, it was shot by ace cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who's shot everything from "The African Queen" to "The Red Shoes" to "Rambo," and director John Irvin certainly knows his way around an action scene. Michael Cimino reportedly did an uncredited rewrite on the script, but it certainly wasn't enough to save the film. Thinking about where this film went wrong and a film that took a similar subject and did is right was "Ronin," where a group of ex-special ops types are for hire to the highest bidder. That film also lacked character development, but it fit the "professionals" type of story, where they were all taking great pains to not reveal anything personal about themselves, but those characters all had believable motivations and there were just enough hints of their pasts to make them interesting and real. With "Ronin" the story was intriguing, the action was exciting, and the performances intense. Walken and Berenger are both strong actors, but they really don't have anything to work with here, so the end results is a pretty big disappointment. Overall, "The Dogs of War" is watchable, but should have been a whole lot better. FUN FACT! Director of photography Cardiff once directed his own film about mercenaries in Africa entitled "Dark of the Sun," which has the distinction of being the first film to feature a character using a chainsaw as a weapon, predating "The Wizard of Gore," "Last House on the Left" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

SimonJack "The Dogs of War" of 1974 is an early third world action film that combines several themes. A tyrant is in control of the fictitious African country of Zangaro. The local people are oppressed. A British mining company eyes the country for its deposits of a rare mineral. A rebel leader in exile has designs on a coup and taking over the rule of the country. The industrialists and he strike up a deal. The mining group hires Jammie Shannon to organize and lead a mercenary force to overthrow the reigning tyrant, and install the new tyrant who will be friendly to the money mongers. Shannon goes to the country to scout it out and he is tortured by the leader's henchmen. So, he also has a personal score to settle. Christopher Walken plays Shannon, and he assembles a group of former fellow mercenaries. They do the job, but it's not quite how the exiled rebel leader, the mining moguls or the reigning tyrant expected. For all of their killing and mayhem, the mercenaries have something of a code of ethics. The personal danger in films like this is that a person may find oneself applauding or favoring the killing of many people. However bad they are, this is violence on a large scale. Walken and the entire cast do very well in this action thriller. It was filmed in Belize. The movie is based on a novel by British author Frederick Forsyth (born Aug. 25, 1938). He is one of the more popular authors of crime-suspense-thriller-action stories on whose books movies have been made since the third quarter of the last century. Two other such authors are John le Carré and John Grisham. Forsyth had considerable experiences and background in the milieu in which his novels are set. Forsyth was an RAF fighter pilot during the Cold War, and is a former newspaper reporter and spy. He joined Reuters news service in 1961 and the BBC in 1965. During that time, he served as an assistant diplomatic correspondent. He had covered the Nigerian civil war in 1967 when the BBC decided to end its coverage in favor of the growing coverage of the Viet Nam war. So, Forsyth quit the BBC and returned to Biafra on his own. He spent two years reporting on and observing that civil war as he wrote his first book. During that time and for some 20 years, he worked as a spy for M16 British Intelligence. Several of Forsyth's books have been made into movies – some with considerable alteration. His books have sold more than 70 million copies. The fictional country in this movie is based upon Equatorial Guinea, which once was a Spanish colony. Among Forsyth's other best- selling novels that have been made into movies are "The Odessa File" in 1974, "The Fourth Protocol" in 1987, "The Day of the Jackal" in 1997, the TV movie, "Icon," in 2005, and "Avenger," another TV movie in 2006.The expression "dogs of war" may first have been used by William Shakespeare. It appears in a line from his 1599 play, "Julius Caesar." In Act III, Scene 1, Antony bereaves the murder of Caesar and says loudly toward the end, "Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war." Another film, about WW II, used part of this same line. "Cry Havoc" of 1943 was about the Army nurses on Bataan who were caring for the Allied wounded and who became prisoners of the Japanese.

Tweekums James Shannon is an American mercenary hired by a mining concern to perform a reconnaissance mission in the fictional West African nation of Zangaro; his task is to determine whether or not it would be possible to depose its current president, a psychotic megalomaniac called General Kimba. He goes in posing as a wildlife photographer and learns a little bit about the countries history; after gaining independence from Britain there were three candidates for president; General Kimba, the now exiled Colonel Bobi and the now gaoled Dr. Okoye. It isn't long before he comes to the attention of the authorities and soon after that he is severely beaten before being deported.Back in the Unites States he is approached once again; this time they want him to put together a mercenary force; return to Zangaro and overthrow Kimba so somebody more biddable can be installed in the presidential palace. Shannon sets about recruiting mercenaries before heading to London and arranging to get all the equipment they will need on the mission. He also learns who the new president is to be; Colonel Bobi; a man motivated solely by greed who is unlikely to be any better for the people of Zangaro than Kimba. Once everything is arranged they take a freighter to Zangaro and storm the barracks in the capital where Kimba resides and once he is dealt with they wait for Col, Bobi to arrive; but when he gets there he will be in for a surprise.This is a solid mercenary action film that should please fans of the genre. The final action sequence is both exciting and spectacular but that isn't the real meat of the film. The thing that makes this film interesting is the way it focuses on the preparations. The reconnaissance section was almost as exciting as the finale as Shannon was alone and unarmed in a very dangerous place; where any mistake could, and nearly did, get him killed. The preparations were interesting as we see the team discussing what equipment they will need and haggling to acquire it at the lowest price to maximise their profit. Christopher Walken puts in a good performance as Shannon and the rest of the cast are decent enough if not exactly spectacular. The action is well directed and it looks good although some scenes felt rushed... although I fear that is because I saw the shorter version of the film and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some 'cuts for television' as well so I can't really hold that against the film! If you like films such as 'The Wild Geese' I'm sure you will enjoy this too; it is well worth watching even in its abridged form.