Last Train to Katanga
Also know as
Dark of
the Sun and
The Mercenaries is a 1968 film directed by Jack Cardiff
based on a Novel by Wilbur Smith. The story follows a group of
mercenaries sent on a dangerous mission during the Congo Crisis (early 1960s). The
film was highly criticised upon release for its portrayal of graphic
violence, I was lucky to catch a Euopean cut on Spanish Freeview TV (13/06/25), far better (certainly more graphic) than the English cut I`ve seen in the past.
Curry (Taylor) & Ruffo (Jim Brown)
Its 1964, an American mercenary officer Bruce Curry (played by Rod Taylor) is ordered to
travel north by train to a town cut off by the advancing rebels and
rescue civilians, but in truth the President wants the 50 million
Dollars worth of diamonds held in the town. Curry`s sergeant and
right hand man is a US educated Congolese “Ruffo” played with impressive depth and feeling by former American football player Jim Brown. Curry and Ruffo
organise their relief train with the best Congolese troops they can
get, unfortunately the men are led by a former Nazi – “Henlein”
played by that regular bad guy of 1960s/70s cinema Peter Carsten.
They also recruit drunken medic Doc. Wreid played by that stalwart
British actor Kenneth Moore.
Henlein
What follows is a
wild ride, the train is attacked by a UN plane
And they rescue a
civilian “Claire” – French beauty Yvette Mimieux (who co-starred with Rod in The Time Machine back in 1960).
Curry with Claire and Doc Wreid (Kenneth Moore)
A nicer shot of Yvette Mimieux 😁
Finally they
get to the town only to find the diamonds are in a time locked vault
and they have to wait for three hours!! Of course the Simbas arrive
just as the vault unlocks and a desperate battle takes place – the
Simbas are just wonderful: war paint, a wild mix of feathers and furs
and partial uniforms; they have spears, machetes, bows & arrows,
shotguns, plus a mix of more modern weapons, including mortars. Just
as it looks as if the train will escape a mortar hit separates the
last car, carrying most of the civilians and more importantly the
diamonds!
This leads to a
desperate rescue attempt (not for the civilians but for the loot),
Ruffo pretends to be a Simba and carries Curry (who pretends to by
unconscious) into the middle of town. All around are scenes of
slaughter and violence, the Simbas are running amok killing and
raping any towns person (male or female) they can catch especially white people! Curry
and Ruffo snatch back the diamonds and the unit with as many
civilians as they can carry, makes their escape in trucks.
Just when everything
seems to going well, Henlein murders Ruffo for the diamonds and
driven mad by the loss of his friend, Curry hunts him down and
brutally kills the German, horrifying even the hardened black
corporal!
At the end with
safety in sight, Curry remembering his friends nobility, hands
himself over for courts-martial.
An interesting movie about a
fictional incident during a brutal and often overlooked 20th Century
conflict. The uniforms, weapons and kit seem fine to my eye, loved the train and the crazy Simbas.
The cast try their best to bring a personal interest to the
story, Yvette whilst eye catching adds little to the story.
