Learn how to be a mercenary

The Dogs of War love a coup

Hollywood has always had a sneaking regard for mercenaries. Even Rick in the classic movie Casablanca let slip that Rick the cafe owner had been one in his murky past. By 1980, when The Dogs of War appeared, many films had the hired killer theme and the magazine Soldier of Fortune was selling thousands of copies a week as well as recruiting murderers through the personal ad pages.

Star of The Dogs of War is Christopher Walken as Shannon who has spent the best years of his life fighting numerous wars all over the globe and ruining his health in the process. As his private doctor tells him, "You knocked a lot of years off the back-end of your life," which just goes to show that private practitioners sometimes do tell the truth.

Shannon's latest job is an intelligence mission for a powerful mining corporation, specializing in platinum, which wants inside information about the political climate in the fictional west African country of Zangaro. Shannon arrives there only to find it is ruled by a bloodthirsty madman president Kimba. No wonder not many tourists end up there. Incidentally there is a wonderful scene at Zangaro's airport where Shannon is interviewed by a corrupt customs official who demands half of the booze, cigarettes and cash which he is carrying.

Shannon is supposedly in the country as a photographer of birds. But his cover is soon blown and he ends up being tortured within an inch of his life before being deported. Returning to New York, Shannon is again contacted by the mining corporation which persuades him to lead a band of mercenaries to overthrow Kimba in a bloody coup in return for US$100,000.

What separates The Dogs of War from conventional action movies is the almost-documentary style in which the preparations for the attack on Kimba's country are made. Author Frederick Forsyth, on whose novel the film is loosely based, made his reputation by creating believable plots for his books and he researched hired killers in some detail. His book Day of the Jackal, on which the film was based, is now considered a classic in that genre.

The Dogs of War takes us deeply into the world of soldiers of fortune in the turbulent world of the 1970s when colonial empires were vanishing, often to be replaced by corrupt nationalist dictators. Unlike The Wild Geese, essentially an excuse for an action movie, The Dogs of War explores the world of arms dealers and shows mercenaries for what they are – profit seekers not superheroes. They are also expendable as the movie makes clear.

Christopher Walken played in many movies but this is one of his best leading roles. His notoriously expressionless face is a perfect illustration of the disillusioned, world-weary guy whose domestic life has collapsed, leaving him only the comradeship if a shrinking number of fellow-fighters. Perhaps it is a fault of the film that the roles of the other mercenaries – Tom Berenger and Paul Freeman in particular – are cut to the bone and appear as cardboard cut-out characters. There are very few scenes where Walken isn't on-screen and giving orders or ending somebody's life.

In the final battle-scene at Kimba's fortified stockade, the movie illustrates that modern warfare means superior firepower and tactics, unlike the later Rambo-type figures who relied on being macho superheroes. In the Dogs of War the mercenaries win because they are better organized and have the best of weapons. It is a paradox of the fighting in the stockade that the only mercenary to be killed is a guy who is shot in the back by an African woman using a traditional revolver.

The Dogs of War was not shot in Africa but in Belize. It is still available on DVD at about US$10 on Amazon and ebay. Surprisingly no director's cut or in-depth commentary has been produced to accompany the most recent issues, so viewers have to be content with the barest of extras and a drab trailer feature. There is scope for a new millennium edition with a really solid history of soldiers of fortune built into it. Ageing ex-mercenaries in Europe and the United States would doubtless love to reminisce about their past glories.