Taglines: Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip The Dogs Of War.
The Dogs of War movie storyline. Jamie Shannon is a soldier of fortune — a mercenary who will stage a coup or a revolution for the right price. He is hired by British mining interests to scout out Zangaro, a small African nation with rich mineral deposits but a brutal and xenophobic dictatorship. Arrested soon after his arrival, Shannon is imprisoned as a spy, badly beaten, and tortured.
While in prison he meets one of the country’s leading intellectuals, Dr. Okoye, also imprisoned by the regime. Eventually released, he returns to London and is subsequently offered to opportunity to secretly invade Zangaro’s capital and lead a military coup. Shannon accepts, but quietly has his own agenda to pursue.
The Dogs of War is a 1980 war film based upon the 1974 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth. Largely filmed in Belize, it was directed by John Irvin and starred Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger. In it a small mercenary unit of soldiers is privately hired to depose the president of a fictional African country so that a British tycoon can gain access to a platinum deposit. The title is based on a phrase from William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar: “Cry, ‘Havoc!’, and let slip the dogs of war.”
The Dogs of War (1980)
Directed by: John Irvin
Starring: Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Colin Blakely, Hugh Millais, Paul Freeman, Jean-François Stévenin, JoBeth Williams
Screenplay by: Gary DeVore, George Malko
Production Design by: Peter Mullins
Cinematography by: Jack Cardiff
Film Editing by: Antony Gibbs
Costume Design by: Emma Porteous
Art Direction by: Bert Davey, John Siddall
Music by: Geoffrey Burgon
Distributed by: United Artists
Release Date: Oecember 17, 1980
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