Sahara

This remake is better than I expected. It sticks pretty close to the original but does change a few details here and there. Belushi is surprisingly effective in the Bogart role. The rest of the cast perform well. It's no substitute for the original but it is an interesting alternative take on the story.

I don't see this as anywhere near the debacle described by the other reviewer, who was obviously put off by elements of the story that were repeated from the 1943 original. Those were different times. And this film chose to honor those conventions rather than trying to rewrite history to kowtow to current thinking. Whether that was the right move or not is, I suppose, debatable. But I was expecting to hate this film, yet I found myself pleasantly surprised.

Sometimes 'remakes' aren't; they take liberties with the original. This movie didn't do that, they stuck with a good, simple story of men in war. The original started out as a "allied microcosm" propaganda flick, but turned out to be a good solid war movie. The makers of this version don't mess with what works. Jim Belushi provides a good solid focus as the Humphrey Bogart character ("Joe Gunn"), and is ably assisted by the rest of the cast. Not a grand war movie, to be sure, but a good one.

This is a remake of a 1943 Bogart movie of the same title. I was pleased to see they followed the original story almost to a T. Very well acted for a TV movie & Belushi was great as Joe Gunn. And the other actors were good as well. On the whole an enjoyable remake, which doesn't happen very often. I guess what I am saying is that as a very big Bogey fan I was expecting to be let down by this movie, but surprise surprise, I wasn't. It was reasonably well acted, interesting story this time around as well, followed the original movie very closely, surprisingly well directed & well photographed for a TV movie and once again Belushi does a crack job. I'll be buying the DVD.

Too bad that this movie isn't any better known and appreciated. Perhaps it has to do that never hit cinemas or because that it's a remake of the 1943 Humphrey Bogart movie but fact still simply remains that this a good and entertaining little action flick.

The movie benefits from its great story. It didn't changed must in regard to the 1943 original but still it changed a couple of sequences and left out the more propaganda like aspects of the original but still leaving in the exaggerated heroism and toughness of the characters, which aren't all very likely but help to make the movie an entertaining one nevertheless. The concept of 9 men standing their ground against an army of 500 is always something that should get your testosterone running.

In terms of its acting and visual look it isn't a too impressive looking movie. You feel that with a much bigger budget the movie could had truly turned into a fantastic one, without now calling the movie bad or a disappointment.

Its action is simply good. The second halve of the movie gets action filled when the Germans start to attack the ruins that hold the only well within the wide vicinity in it. They don't know however that the well has dried up and the Allies are using it as a decoy so that the Germans can't march on to El Alamien and flank the British stronghold there.

It's nothing too impressive, it's simply just a good and entertaining unknown little WW II action flick.

7/10

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Acceptable adventure drama set in Libyan desert during WWII dealing with an Allied lost patrol battling Germans . Wartime film with powerful direction including scenarios set in Lybia desert but filmed in Outback desert , being based upon an incident in the Soviet film ¨The Thirteen¨ directed by Mikhail Romm and made about six years prior to this movie . "In June, 1942, a small detachment of American tanks with American crews, joined the British Eighth Army in North Africa to get experience in desert warfare under actual battle conditions. History as proved that they learned their lesson well" . While the WWII raged in Europe American/British troops were fighting in a far part of the world , North Africa . Small solitary patrols from all nations moved over the vast Libyan desert that seemed on fire with the sun . The molten sky gloated over them . The endless desert wore the blank look of death . Yet these men marched on without a murmur , fighting an unseen German enemy who always struck in the dark . Sergeant Joe Gunn (James Belushi , while classic version played by Humphrey Bogart) and his tank (called Lulubelle" ) , crew pick up five British soldiers . The group of Allied stragglers (all of them played by Alan David Lee as Bates , Simon Westaway as Williams , Mark Lee as Doyle , Jerome Ehlers as Halliday), a Frenchman (Michael Massae, an American actor, who was born in Kansas City to French parents, Masse convinced director at the audition) and a Sudanese man (Robert Wisdom , formerly played by Rex Ingram) with an Italian prisoner (D'Angelo) crossing the Libyan Desert to rejoin their army after the fall of Tobruk . A brave group of American and British soldiers rides a tank (it is an M3 Lee, but has features of the variety used by the Australian Army during WW2 , the standard US commander's cupola was deleted from the 37mm turret and a pintle mounted) across the Sahara in search of water and lost in the desert , being shot by Germans , one by one and some battered fighting men battle it out to the finish . They find it among desert ruins , only to realise that 500 Nazi troopers converging on them need it even more . Dead the official commander they are ruled by the sergeant , then arise boiling passions in the burning sands . The bunch works together to vanquish a much larger Nazi army that wishes the same water well that they have .

This dusty-looking remake of the Bogart classic gets brief psychological remarks about diverse characters , and although is completely developed on the wide desert , the tale results to be a little claustrophobic . The flick displays fierce action , drama , dominating performances , excitement , contrived heroic deaths and the most entertainment and thrilling scenes come fast in the last reel . Philip MCDonald (story's author being based the movie) had been recruited in the British cavalry during WWI (1917) and he ulteriorly wrote an intrigue and suspense tale , adding his war memories and taking an incident based on the Soviet Photoplay "The Thirteen" . The film contains a powerful and moving musical score . Glimmer and sunny cinematography from Port Stephens , New South Wales, Australia . Nearly all the extras in this film were from the Royal Australian Air Force and The Royal Australian Army. For authenticity, the director made them shave off their mustaches which apparently weren't allowed in the German army in WW2.

Good direction by the Australian Brian Tenchard Smith who transfers the action of the story with great effect and fine interpretations make this an entertaining film . This particular story was former and subsequently remade and reworked several times , being originally seen as a Russian movie titled ¨The thirteen¨ . Subsequently by John Ford in ¨The lost patrol¨ with Victor McLagen and Boris Karloff ¨ set in Mesopotamia ; ¨Bataan¨ by Tay Garnett with Robert Taylor in Philippines jungle ; ¨Last of Comanches¨ made by the same studio about a decade later , was loosely based on this movie , realized by Andre De Toth with Broderick Crawford in Califonia desert ; and even part of ¨Flight of Phoenix¨ by Robert Aldrich in Sahara desert . Britain also made a variation on the story titled ¨Nine men¨ . Rating : 6'5/10 . The motion picture will appeal to warfare moviegoers .