Sahara (1995) - Brian Trenchard-Smith

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This is a story set in 1942, in the WWII African front, about a ragtag bunch of allied surviving soldiers (Free France, ANZAC, GB, USA), guarding a dry well in the desert, surrounded by an Elite unit of Rommel's Afrika Korps.

This a 1995 australian remake of a 1943 american remake of a 1937 Soviet remake of a 1919 Silent British Film.

The plot thickens...

There is a very old portuguese expression that goes like this:

"Quem conta um conto, acrescenta um ponto."

In english this means: The storyteller allways adds a new plot, in each telling.

Let me explain: In 1937 the soviet remake inserted the plot theme "Water for Guns", it was copied in 1943 by the americans, and then copied in 1995 by the australians, but as far as I know it was not present in the original british silent film or book. I have not checked this thoroughly, and I might be mistaken, since I have not watched the 1919 british silent film or read the book "The Lost Patrol".

Some You Tube clips:


The cheese scene above affected me, for over 20 years, because I'm from Southern Europe, and I love sipping red wine, while eating a bit of cheese, and some bread, perhaps an olive, and a piece of onion if the wine is strong from Portugal or Italy, but no onion if the red wine if from France or Spain. I allways remember this film scene I watched in the 1990's, whenever I'm doing what the actor describes.



Comment

While the main "Hollywood" actor James Belushi is there to atract the audience, and does a decent job, it's the supporting cast that grabs your attention, and does a spectacular job, with all the different nationalities and accents.

This film is great, because it relies on strategy and intelligence, not on battle scenes and action.



Yeah it's a half decent movie considering Belushi was making oddball and screwball comedies in the lead-up to this.

Surprised me at how serious he played it and how well, and also managed to squeeze a couple laughs at the same time by playing it dry ('scuze the pun).

Underrated movie.