I was wondering if in the book Curry actually cut the German's head off like he said he was going to when he first went after him?
He only appeared to stab him a cupla times in the movie which didn't jive so well with the "...to kill him like that" speech made by the guy who came up on him shortly afterwards.
Any other difference noted by folks who read the book?
The book is totally different, there is no German.
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The climax of the novel is totally different. The bad guy steals all the diamonds and sets off into the jungle. (In the book, he does not kill Sgt. Ruffo, BTW.) Curry chases after him with a gun. They pursue each other on foot for SEVERAL DAYS, eventually reaching a mountainside, where one of them sets up an ambush. There is a shoot-out on the rocks, and the bad guy is eventually shot down.
That chapter ends, and then there's like a two-page epilogue chapter in which Curry and Clair are flying out of Africa together, headed toward his Swiss chalet or something, for a new life together.
The movie very expertly condenses that days-long chase into several minutes, and then adds a wholly new sequence involving the excessive violence and Curry surrenduring his command to the African trooper.
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The novel is set during the earlier Baluba War period, just following independence from Belgium. The movie is set later, during the Simba period, after the death of Lumumba. The German is loosely based on Siegfred Mueller, a soldier serving under Mike Hoare in 5 Commando. He had been a member of the Hitler Youth and served in the army during WW2. However, he was usually pictured wearing his iron cross, not a swastika. Hoare described him as professional, not fanatical, though hardly a humanitarian (neither was Hoare).
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The book is totally different, there is no German.