David Opatoshu as deposed President Rivera in a wing collar and goatee perhaps intentionally resembles Harold Gordon as the hapless Madero in 'Viva Zapata!'; while Derek Godfrey is truly mephistophelian as the suavely menacing, Sorbonne-educated Hernandez in this satisfactory chase drama based on Francis Clifford's 1960 novel 'Act of Mercy' set in the fictional Latin American city of Tribulacion. (The title was changed at the last minute to evoke David Niven's recent hit 'The Guns of Navarone'; which had also featured James Robertson Justice.)
As in Cuba three years earlier, the coup is here depicted as taking place on New Year's Eve; while the leaders of the Khmer Rouge were also educated at the Sorbonne, and the reference to the rough justice meted out in sports arenas anticipates what later happened in Chile.
That Niven & Caron didn't get on during filming probably enhanced the film, along with Robert Krasker's photography, Benjamin Frankel's score and the vintage 1957 Ford County Sedan station wagon in which he initially tries to smuggle Opatoshu out of the country.
As in Cuba three years earlier, the coup is here depicted as taking place on New Year's Eve; while the leaders of the Khmer Rouge were also educated at the Sorbonne, and the reference to the rough justice meted out in sports arenas anticipates what later happened in Chile.
That Niven & Caron didn't get on during filming probably enhanced the film, along with Robert Krasker's photography, Benjamin Frankel's score and the vintage 1957 Ford County Sedan station wagon in which he initially tries to smuggle Opatoshu out of the country.