The Dogs of War

A former soldier, Jamie Shannon, is sent to the small West African country of Zangaro by a British mining company to assess the political situation there. The country is under the iron grip of a dictator, and the corporation has its eye on the nation's mineral wealth but wants to know how stable the regime really is. Shannon's first visit ends badly, and he returns to London, where his employer offers him a new assignment.

The company wants the dictator removed and a more cooperative figure installed in his place. Shannon agrees to assemble a team of mercenaries and plan an operation to take control of the country. The mission succeeds, but the outcome is not what his backers intended.

The film is directed by John Irvin and was released in 1980, standing as the second of the ten features listed in his directing career. Christopher Walken leads the cast as Shannon, alongside Tom Berenger, Colin Blakely, Hugh Millais, Paul Freeman and Jean-François Stévenin. Gary DeVore and George Malko wrote the screenplay, and Larry DeWaay produced. Made for a budget of eight million dollars, it earned about five million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.3 from roughly eleven thousand votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.8 from around 185 votes.