The Dogs of War [Blu-ray]

Director: John Irvin John Irvin

Overview

Christopher Walken stars in John Irvin's graphic adaptation of Frederick Forsythe's novel about a mercenary sent to overthrow the government of an African country. Walken is Shannon, an American soldier of fortune who has staged incidents in Central America and Africa that helped topple governments. Shannon decides to take on one more mission when American businessman Endean (Hugh Millais), working for a large mining company wanting to move into an African country, hires Shannon to scout out the terrain of the country and see if the government is weak enough to be overthrown. Shannon assumes the guise of a photographer for a nature magazine and travels through the country, meeting a wide-array of people. But the government becomes suspicious of Shannon and throws him in jail, where, between torture sessions, he meets an imprisoned dissident leader. Through his imprisonment, Shannon comes to understand more fully the struggles of the African country.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/23/2021
UPC:	0618952711525
Original Release:	1981
Source:	Ronin Flix
Language:	English
Time:	1:44:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Christopher Walken	Jamie Shannon
Tom Berenger	Drew
Colin Blakely	North
Hugh Millais	Endean
Paul Freeman	Derek
JoBeth Williams	Jessie
Robert Urquhart	Capt. Lockhart
Winston Ntshona	Dr. Okoye
Pedro Armendariz, Jr.	The Major
Harlan Cary Poe	Richard
Ed O'Neill	Terry
Isabel Grandin	Evelyn
Ernest Graves	Warner
Kelvin Thomas	Black Boy
Shane Rimmer	Dr. Oaks
Father Joseph Konrad	Priest
Joseph Konrad	Priest
Bruce McLane	Shop Manager
George W. Harris	Col. Bobi
David Schofield	Endean's Man
Terence Rigby	Hackett
Tony Mathews	Bank Vice President
John Quentin	Party Guest
Jean-Pierre Kalfon	Benny
Christopher Malcolm	Baker
Jack Lenoir	Boucher
Martin Lasalle	Customs Officer
André Penvern	Policeman
Mario Sanchez	Customs Officer
Lawrence Davidson	Policeman
Maggie Scott	Gabrielle
Hugh Quarshie	Zangaron Officer
Olu Jacobs	Customs Officer
Christopher Asante	Geoffrey
Thomas Baptiste	Dexter
Eddie Tagoe	Jinja
Kenny Ireland	Film Crew
Jim Broadbent	Film Crew
Andre Toffel	Priest
Diana Bracho	Nun
Ilarrio Bisi-Pedro	Kimba
Joanne Flanagan	Godmother
Robert Berger	Poker Player
William Cain	Poker Player
Russell T. Carr	Poker Player
Jose Rabelo	Hotel Clerk
Victoria Tennant	Dinner Party Guest
Erica Creer	Dinner Party Guest
Jean-François Stévenin	Michel
Sheila Ruskin	Dinner Party Guest
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	Captain
Geoffrey Burgon	Composer

Technical Credits

Gary DeVore

John Irvin	Director
Larry Cavanaugh	Special Effects,Special Effects
Michael Collins	Special Effects
Norman Jewison	Executive Producer,Producer
Rudi Liszczak	Special Effects
Steve Lombardi	Special Effects
Patrick Palmer	Executive Producer,Producer,Executive Producer
Gary DeVore	Screenwriter
Larry DeWaay	Producer
Don Banks	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

John Irvin's adaptation of the Frederick Forsyth novel about a mercenary attempting to execute a coup d'état in a small African country is an absorbing, if occasionally murky, adventure film. Christopher Walken stars as the burned out mercenary whose adrenaline junkie nature leads him to accept the job of toppling the shaky government of the fictional nation of Zangaro. While the story may be fiction, Forsyth has clearly done his homework, and Zangaro proves a persuasive composite of a typically unstable African polity; in particular, the film eerily presages the destabilizing of Sierra Leone in the mid-'90s by gold mining interests. Irvin's lean, low-key direction is as effective in laying out the painstaking planning of the coup as in obliquely underlining the dire political effects of the exploitation of this tiny country by outsiders. As impersonal as this sounds, the film is as gripping as any thriller, imbued as it is with overtones of revenge, since Walken returns for the coup after having been tortured in Zingaro on his first visit. He gives another virtuoso performance as the existential warrior, a part that's as close as he's ever come to playing an action hero. The photography of gifted cameraman Jack Cardiff also contributes greatly to the film's atmosphere of menace.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello