Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11791 in VHS
• Released on: 1994-06-22
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: Color, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Customer Reviews

A Good Film
I first saw this movie when it was originally released and enjoyed it very much. It is an excellent action packed movie. The purpose of this review is I was very disappointed because the movie I received has been edited. That's the reason for my rating of 3 stars versus 5. Certain action scenes have been cut, either partly or altogether, and some dialog has been voiced over or deleted. Even the final scene, which is the culmination of the anger of Taylor losing his friend was altered. If you do order this movie attempt to make sure it is the original cut, which is much better than the version I received.

PLEASE GET THIS MOVIE UN-CUT & ON DVD!!!!
Although at first glance, Dark of the Sun (1968, starring Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, & football star Jim Brown)seems to be your typical fiction book made into film, it is, in fact, a very realistic portrayal of similar events which ocurred during the Katanga rebellion in 1964 in the newly created Republic of the Congo. It was about diamonds, it was about a proxy war between the East and the West, and Jim Brown's acting, although a bit stiff at times, actually comes off quite well. Rod Taylor was a veteran actor by this time, and it shows clear through as he takes on the portrayal of the tough and hardened, veteran mercenary soldier.
The Simbas DID eat their victims, they did kill hundreds of foreigners (mostly Belgian). The only thing that is not portrayed in the movie is the fact that the Simbas actually used some French mercenaries on their side (although very few), but this historically unknown bit of data is OK to be missing from the movie, since it would only confuse the viewer.
I am sorry to say that I paid $40 for my VHS copy and that the movie's gory scenes were completely deleted - but that is because the producer of the 1994 video (MGM) wanted to sell this movie to as wide an audience as possible.
Perhaps in the future someone in the movie industry will decide to release this film (1) in its entirety as it deserves and (2) on DVD. I for one would be in line to buy a copy or two! The only other mercenary movie that is as realistic is "The Dogs of War", which is, thankfully, on DVD and un-cut.

Excellent, exciting and violent action film
Cinematographer turned director Jack Cardiff's 1968 "Dark of the Sun" is an excellent, exciting and violent action film, well-made and acted. Both Aussie Rod Taylor and former Cleveland Browns great Jim Brown are excellent as hard-bitten, greedy mercenaries with (eventually) too good a heart in the turmoil of 1960s Congo (Zaire). This is by far the best adaptation yet of South African adventure writer Wilbur Smith's novels (I would love to see a good film version of Smith's "The Leopard Hunts in Darkness"). After a superb 3/4 of a film, the end is somewhat of a let down, so Curry kills the ex-Nazi Heinlein in a really brutal way, so what? The Congo suddenly has standards for mercenaries? I don't get it. A better ending would have had him escape to Europe with the girl and the ill-gotten cache of diamonds. With fine photography and an excellent film score and featuring Peter Carstens as the German mercenary Heinlein and Yvette Mimieux as the love interest.