They really don't waste any time here. Briefing and recruiting is done in less than 15 minutes and we're off to the mission. There are some brief restful moments, but for the most part it's a fast moving adventure that doesn't really stop till the end. Rod Taylor is great and so is Loussier's score. No wonder Tarantino borrowed them both for his Basterds.

An unjustly obscure action film set during the Simba rebellion in the Congo. Rod Taylor plays an American mercenary hired to take a train deep into enemy territory and retrieve people ... and $50 million in diamonds. One look at the poster for this gem tells you what type of action to expect, and it delivers, especially during an amazingly un-PC climax. Jim Brown, Yvette Mimieux and Andre Morell also star.

Dark of the Sun is an awesome title, but nothing beats that poster. Fantastic.
The film itself is fun, if marred by horrible acting, and an even worse ending.

Evincing a version of moral correctness that is deeply racist and racialist--drawing lines, playing agency and individuation games--and ambivalent towards mercenarism and colonialism. Engineers its narrative similarly. Hang onto that; behold romance, raw brutal sound + image, intuitive pace and Jacques Loussier's brilliant score.

Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are mercenaries in the Congo on a mission to save some uncut diamonds. Of course it doesn't go to plan and Rod and Jim have to turn into the fricking Wild Bunch to save themselves!
An absolute gem of a movie directed by the great Jack Cardiff. Ace!!

I found myself with no top on, covered in sweat and mysteriously wearing camo cut offs

(DVD)

DARK OF THE SUN is just an old school adventure flick, like we used to see all the time when I was a kid. Rugged men, whiskey, fisticuffs. It's great stuff.

Dark of the Sun is an awesome title, but nothing beats that poster. Fantastic.
The film itself is fun, if marred by horrible acting, and an even worse ending.

Evincing a version of moral correctness that is deeply racist and racialist--drawing lines, playing agency and individuation games--and ambivalent towards mercenarism and colonialism. Engineers its narrative similarly. Hang onto that; behold romance, raw brutal sound + image, intuitive pace and Jacques Loussier's brilliant score.

First watch

Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are mercenaries in the Congo on a mission to save some uncut diamonds. Of course it doesn't go to plan and Rod and Jim have to turn into the fricking Wild Bunch to save themselves!
An absolute gem of a movie directed by the great Jack Cardiff. Ace!!

Rod Taylor leads a band of mercenaries on a high-risk mission during the 1960s Congo Crisis. Though the primary mission is to evacuate civilians from the approaching Simba warlords, the real mission is to retrieve 50 million dollars worth of diamonds. One piece of bad luck follows another, and, of course, the diamonds cause their own form of trouble. The movie tries to address the problems of an emerging Africa and the bizarre racial structures left over from colonialism; in some ways it succeeds.

Little known, but excellent 'Men on a Mission' action flick. While it has many similarities with movies of this type, Dark of the Sun is a quite a bit darker, more violent than what we come to expect from a 60's movie.

Not entirely sure where I found the inspiration for watching this. In any case this film, also known as Dark Of The Sun, turned out to be a good film. Two mercenaries are paid to take a train through deepest Congo to pick up some diamonds and some people and then transport them back. The film hits the ground running and although some of the shots are clearly in front of a greenscreen, there is much to like. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown make for a good screen pairing and the action is plentiful. The bits between the action tend to be either quite suspenseful or necessary for the audience to care about the two leads. The only thing I am not wild about is the ending, which feels overly moral to me. If you liked films like Von Ryan's Express, Where Eagles Dare and even The African Queen, you might just like this film too!