Actors - Sahara

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	Actors - Sahara

Sahara is a 1943 war film directed by Zoltan Korda. The film starrs Humphrey Bogart as a tank commander of an American expeditionary force assigned to British forces during the North African campaigns of World War II. The cast includes Lloyd Bridges, J. Naish (as J. Carroll Naish), Bruce Bennett, and Dan Duryea.

Plot

When a tank, lead by Sgt. Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart), is separated from the main force during a retreat before Rommel's forces, the crew picks up stragglers (British doctor and troops, Free French soldier, a Sudanese, and an Italian POW) and begins seeking water for survival. They eventually find an almost dry desert well, and are then visited by a German scouting party also desperately seeking water. They coerce the survivors in the party into telling them how desperate their battalion is. They then decide to trick the Germans into trying to either fight or negotiate for water: the deal is "guns for water". The two surviving Germans are sent, on foot, back to their battalion to communicate the proposal to their superiors. The trick works, but a standoff and battle of willpower ensues.

The movie's final third is the dramatic standoff and fight for control of the well, which has utterly dried up by the time the German forces arrive. Thinking they could at least delay these Germans from attacking the main Allied forces, the heroes pretend the well is still active and try to trade water for the Germans' guns. Eventually the Germans attack, and most of the Allied troops die heroically. The conclusion turns on two 'miraculous' plot points: the final German assault turns into a full-blown surrender as thirsty Germans claw across the sand toward the well, and everyone discovers that all the shelling has shaken the ground enough for the well to tap into another bountiful water source. The movie ends with news of Montgomery's victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein, implying the dead heroes have not died in vain.

War movie clichés

The movie is filled with standard war movie clichés, most obviously as in most American war movies that the heroes are culturally and ethnically diverse (with the black Sudanese covering the fact that U.S. forces were segregated during the war). All of the characters have distinctive traits (British, French, African, Italian, German) reflecting the international scope of Allied efforts against the Nazis (even the captured Italian soldier becomes an ally, unlike a captured German pilot who remains evil throughout) except for Bogart's heroic leader, who simply refers to himself as an 'American'. The movie, however, excels in working with the clichés to make for effective characterizations.

The script was worked on by John Howard Lawson who was later part of the Hollywood Ten accused by HUAC of promoting Communist propaganda.

Awards and recognition

The movie earned three Academy Award nominations in Best Sound, Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) and Best Supporting Actor by J. Naish for his role as the Italian prisoner.

The movie has gone on to be something of a cult film, considered one of the better at-war movies made during the Second World War itself and is regularly shown on the cable channel American Movie Classics. A television remake starring Jim Belushi in Bogart's role was filmed in 1995.

Cast

Humphrey Bogart as Sgt. Joe Gunn
Bruce Bennett as Waco Hoyt
Lloyd Bridges as Fred Clarkson
Rex Ingram as Sgt. Tambul
J. Carrol Naish as Giuseppe
Dan Duryea as Jimmy Doyle
Richard Nugent as Capt. Jason Halliday
Pat O'Moore as Ozzie Bates
Louis Mercier as Jean Leroux
Carl Harbord as Marty Williams
Guy Kingsford as Peter Stegman
John Wengraf as Maj. von Falken
Hans Schumm as Sgt. Krause

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Actors - Sahara

Plot

War movie clichés

Awards and recognition

Cast

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