The Dogs of War (1980)
Genre: Adventure / War
Duration: 118 minuten / 100 minuten (dvd)
Country:
United Kingdom / United States
Directed by: John Irvin
Stars: Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger and Colin Blakely
IMDb score:
6,3 (11.200)
Releasedate: 17 December 1980
The Dogs of War plot
"Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip..."
After being left for dead by his captor, an African dictator, a mercenary manages to return to America, where he assembles a team to overthrow the dictator.
Actors and actresses
Jamie Shannon
Drew
Dr Okoye
Roy Endean
Jessie
Mercenary
Drew
Michel
The Captain
Terry
Reviews & comments
stephan73
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- 6279 messages
- 14690 votes
Very strong, serious action film with a strong cast and a good plot. Christopher Walken is very good as a mercenary who, together with a group, commits a coup in an African country.
Not an action spectacle like the films of Stallone or Norris, but rather a character study about mercenaries.
Jack Cardiff's camera work is also very good.
4*
Translated from Dutch · View original
FlorisV
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- 1890 messages
- 814 votes
Suitable as a snack. I had seen it once on a bored summer day, but now I wanted to experience it again, but more attentively.
I can recognize Forsyth's hand. Unfortunately, realism sometimes takes over entertainment. And he wants to show all the steps of a coup d'etat, including the more boring, bureaucratic or logistical sides.
For a book, that might also work better for readers who want a lot of details and facts. It can get in the way for a film. But this is not a film on the level of Day of the Jackal, which found a better balance. Too much talk in this film, not enough panache.
Walking is intense as usual. A bit scary and grim too, with those bulging eyes, partly because he is mainly a cold and angry mercenary. Yet you also see human sides.
In terms of action, it lacks the dynamism that many later films developed. It was not really intended as an action film but more as a document of a coup. No matter how good that rotating grenade launcher sounds. Apart from one scene, you get very little of the chaos and unpredictability of war. It's all ticked off a bit dryly. Beautiful locations indeed.
Another missed opportunity is that the Idi Amin-like dictator is barely visible. That's what was so fascinating about Last King of Scotland. How oppressive his dictatorship is is therefore never palpable here. The intention of his mistress also remains unknown.
Small roles of Ed O'Neill (who later starred as the ultimate working class hero Al Bundy) and Captain Pannekoek (Panaka, guardian of Queen Amidala) in The Phantom Menace.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Sergio Leone
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- 4501 messages
- 3182 votes
Mediocre.
The first half hour can still generate some interest as a scrawny Christopher Walken seems to have ended up in a political thriller. One quickly gets bogged down in a boring nonsense that actually becomes Rambo avant la lettre in the finale. The film regularly falls silent and as far as I'm concerned, after a while the engine can no longer be cranked, making the noisy finale a mess in a bottle. Shame.
2
Translated from Dutch · View original
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