Am I the only one who has seen this war film?

Has anyone else seen Lion of the Desert? (1981)

I saw this back in the early 80s when I was a kid and remember really liking it. I just rented it through Netflix recently and the movie has held up-- it has held up brilliantly. It is the best war movie I have ever seen.

It takes place between WWI and WWII, with the Italian military trying to seize and occupy Libya. But they cannot overthrow a particular group of Bedouin people led by the tenacious and erudite teacher/warrior Omar Mukhtar (Anthony Quinn).

Mussolini sends his most accomplished field general, Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed), to conquer the feisty Omar and his determined yet simple army.

The movie is very closely based on historical events-- the main players were real. It is beautifully filmed ala Lawrence of Arabia. The movie has a wonderfully satisfying combination of war action, cerebral drama, and historical interest.

If any of you have seen this ridiculously underrated film, I would like to know your opinion. If you haven't seen it, you must put it on your list of must-see films.

It is a masterpiece which has held up admirably in these 22 years.

No, you're not the only one who's seen the blasted thing, Karl.

I'd grade it a solid B.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Sorry, never heard of it.

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Everything I do, I do to make my second stepdad proud.

hey Karl, I too dug Moustapha Akkad's LION OF THE DESERT.

Anthony Quinn is in top form and Rod Steiger is as usual also solid. Oliver Reed and John Geilguld also feature in this high quality cast. Fabulous cienmatography, uplifting score and a well reserached script all come together and deliver and epic vision.

My only complaint about the film is that it could have done with some fine tuned editing, but other than that a good film that is certainly worthy of dicussion in the war genre.

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******"The Majority Is Always Wrong" Steve Mcqueen in Enemy Of The People******

I currently have this movie in my Netflix que, was curious to see what you all thought of it. On an interesting side note, this movie was financed by Muhammar Quaddafi (too many different spellings of his name, so I went with a phoenetic version hehe), although alot of reviews feel it still managed to come out as a balanced view of the events (hmm, who to hate more? Quaddafi or Mussolini's Italy? thats a toughie imo).