Sahara (1943)
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(2 votes, average: 2.50 out of 5) 
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Tanks, desert, combat, Bogart.... put those all together and what do you get? The unbelievable picture that is Sahara. It pits tank commander Sgt. Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) against the desert, and against the Nazi Afrika Corps in a battle for survival, with a bit of a twist ending that you won't see coming.
Gunn's (what a name) tank, "Lulubelle," gets separated from the rest of his unit, and on top of that, gets the order to retreat from the present situation. The cold fact is there's no where to retreat to, except to go even further inland, running low on fuel, and more importantly... water.
Along the way he runs into a stranded group of British doctor types (why are there always British doctor types in these desert war pictures?!) and they join Gunn on his quest for water. They manage to assemble an even more motley gang, as they run across a Sudanese national with an Italian prisoner. They first leave the Italian behind, but conscience gets the better of them and they stop and take him with.
To complicate matters even more, they're shot at by a wayward German airplane, which they shoot down, and take the pilot prisoner. According to the Sudanese soldier, there are places to get water, you just have to know where to look. So they follow his directions, and come across the first. Dry as a bone. The only solution: continue on!
Nearly destroying the tank in the process, they manage to find an outpost with a well, but, you guessed it, it's also dry. Well, nearly anyway. The strange group collects some of the dripping water and take up residence, figuring out what to do next.
Then the real fun begins, as a column of German infantry has tracked them to this location. They see them coming, and decide rather than return to their units, to occupy the Germans long enough for reinforcements to arrive. They send one of the Americans off into the desert to find somebody to help them.
Well, the Germans aren't aware of just how few of the band there are, or that there is no water to speak of. So the fighting rages on, with the handful of Allied soldiers holding their ground, being whittled down to just Gunn and one other. There are moments of negotiation, and in the end the Germans surrender, to the surprise of Gunn and his comrade. "Help yourself!" yells Gunn.....
Of course what happens next, you'll just have to see for yourself.
In this picture, Bogart does what he does best: Play the gruff macho man. His monotone, short delivery is everything its cracked up to be and more. The rest of the cast does OK, but is plainly outdone by Bogey.
Honestly this is a perfect example of your classic war movie. Bogart. That's about all you need to know, really. Put Sahara up on the shelf next to "Sands of Iwo Jima" et. al. in the WarMovieBlog gold collection!!!
Technorati Tags: war movie review, sahara, 1943, humphrey bogart, afrika corps, north africa, world war ii 2, classics
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Description
There's plenty of top-notch, explosive action in this 1943 Bogie classic about a ragtag battalion stranded in the great African desert during World War II. After the fall of the Libyan city of Tobruk, Sergeant Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) and his crew - Waco Hoyt (Bruce Bennett), Fred Clarkson (LloydBridges) and Jimmy Doyle (Dan Duryea) retreat in their tank across the Sahara. Along the way they pick up six Allied stragglers and Tambul (Rex Ingram), a Sudanese corporal and his Italian prisoner. Tambul directs the group to a desert fortress, where they hope to find desperately needed water. A detachment of German soldiers arrives and attempts to barter food for water, but Gunn and his followers refuse. When the Germans attack, Gunn leads his desert-weary men in a desperate battle, hoping that British reinforcements can arrive in time.
Hollywood made few movies about the desert conflict during World War II--and curiously, two that they did (Five Graves to Cairo is the other) were remakes of films set elsewhere. John Howard Lawson based his script on a prewar Russian film (Lawson would later be blacklisted, incidentally) about a military patrol besieged by Asian bandits. The situation readily lent itself to a wartime parallel and became one of the most engrossing story lines of its era. A U.S. tank crew and their commander (Humphrey Bogart), separated from the main force, make their way through the desert, accumulating a veritable United Nations of stragglers as they go: a few of Montgomery's tommies (including that old limey Lloyd Bridges) and a towering African (Rex Ingram) and his prisoner--a garrulous Italian (Oscar-nominated J. Carrol Naish) who can't wait to tell his new friends about his relatives in "Peets-a-bourg Pennsylvania." They come upon a ruin, the onetime site of an oasis, and almost immediately find themselves defending it against a small army of Germans who believe there's still water to be had there. Yes and no--there's a biblical wrinkle to this tale--and the standoff between the polyglot democrats and the Nazis who far outnumber them is a fine, sun-baked study in suspense. For Bogart, this Columbia picture was a rare furlough from Warner Bros., where he always felt embattled. His pleasure must have seeped into his work, because Sgt. Joe Gunn is one of the most sympathetic and heartfelt characterizations the actor ever gave us. This is one good movie. --Richard T. Jameson
DVD Information
Binding: DVDAspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Brand: BOGART,HUMPHREY
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Original Release Date:
Actors:
- Humphrey Bogart
- Bruce Bennett
- J. Carrol Naish
- Lloyd Bridges
- Rex Ingram
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