• Jack Cardiff (DP on films like A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, and The African Queen) directs this action/adventure film – also known as “The Mercenaries” (same year actually as Corbucci’s film of the same name- The Mercenary). Like Corbucci’s film it is a nihilistic film about greed with a pretty callous approach to human life—this is about diamonds and cutthroat politics
  • Shot in Jamaica and used quite well as a backdrop (falsely advertised as being shot in the Congo itself- where the film is set)
  • Movie reunited Rod Taylor with Yvette Mimieux (his shirt off and her pants tight) from The Time Machine in 1960
  • The simple plot is set in the first five minutes (three days in hostile territory on a train to recover diamonds and people)—sort of a Dirty Dozen (Jim Brown here as Taylor’s right-hand man) ragtag group on a suicidal mission—there’s an evil German who they have to work with, a liquored up doctor, a scared French guy—this thing is not new- they’ve been doing before Dirty Dozen to The Great Escape and Hatari! – international cast here – Taylor is Australian—both he and Brown are good here
  • In many ways just a western set in modern times—violent
  • Being a mercenary is an interesting way of saying all governments are corrupt—again not different from what Corbucci was doing—not surprising that Tarantino is an admirer of this film – apparently used some music from this for Inglourious Basterds and even coaxed Taylor out of retirement to play Churchill
  • Recommend but not terribly close to the top 10 of 1968—closer to the fringe