Dark of the Sun (also known as The Mercenaries in the UK) is a 1968 British adventure war film starring Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Brown, and Peter Carsten.

[2] In 1964, mercenary Bruce Curry is publicly hired by Congolese President Ubi to rescue European residents from an isolated mining town about to be attacked by rebel Simbas.

At a burned-out farmhouse, they pick up a traumatised woman named Claire, who watched her husband being hacked to death by Simbas.

Using a Simba disguise, Ruffo carries Curry's seemingly lifeless body into the town's hotel, where harrowing scenes depict murder, torture and male rape.

Back at the convoy, with his job done, Curry reflects on the type of man he is before turning himself in for a court-martial to answer for his actions.

† Taylor's fictional character is a light homage to Congo mercenary leader "Mad" Mike Hoare, who led the Congolese 5 Commando during the actual Simba rebellion and was a technical consultant on the film.

The conflict in Dark of the Sun juxtaposes the anti-colonial struggle in the province of Katanga within the context of the Cold War.

He decided to quit his job in the South African taxation office, calculating he had enough money in sales and unclaimed leave to not have to work for two years.

[14] Rod Taylor claimed he rewrote a fair amount of the script himself, including helping devise a new ending.

[15] Rod Taylor signed on to make the film in September 1966 by which time the script had been rewritten by Adrian Spies.

Most of the film was shot on location in Jamaica using the country's railway system;[19] this took advantage of a working steam train as well as safety and cost-effectiveness.

[21] The arrival scenes were filmed at Palisadoes Airport (now Norman Manley International) while a private residence within the Blue Mountain range was dressed to look like an African mission station.

In the German version, Curry was renamed Willy Krüger and was portrayed as a former Wehrmacht officer who had already clashed with Henlein during World War II because of the latter's fanatical Nazism.

The German version is misleadingly entitled Katanga, implying the film takes place during the first Congo emergency in 1961–64, when mercenaries like Müller and 'Mad' Mike Hoare were involved.

One contemporary reviewer was moved to comment that the director's main objective appeared to be to pack as much sadistic violence into the film's two hours as he could.

[24]The film was a particular influence on Tarantino, who used several tracks from the score for his movie Inglourious Basterds, which also features other references such as Rod Taylor in a guest role as Winston Churchill and Mélanie Laurent's character Shoshonna Dreyfus, who's Jewish, use an alias, Emmanuelle Mimieux; referring to Yvette Mimieux, to keep herself hidden from the Third Reich.