Lion of the Desert (1 Viewer)

[The General]

Bought this on DVD at Big W the other day for about AU$5.00.

Lion of the Desert (1980)
also known as (Omar Mukhtar)​

Rod Steiger plays Mussolini, Oliver Reed plays ruthless Italian General Rodolfo Graziana,
Anthony Quinn plays Omar Mukhtar and Sir John Gielgud plays a Bedouin sharrif.

It's a spaghetti warrie set in the late 1920's/early 1930's. It's centres around Italy's occupation of Libya
and the resulting war with, and oppression of, the Bedouin tribesmen.

The Libyan Army provided 10,000 extras for the film. It's worth a look just to see the many and varied
Italian uniforms, weaponry, staff cars, trucks, armoured cars and light tanks used in this desert epic.

I expected it to be really bad but ended up enjoying it.

 

[marco55]

This is a good movie.Especially liked the tanks and trucks of that time period.Suggested a few months back a range for this period as the French and Spanish were also fighting Moslem tribesmen at this time.
Mark

 

[maddadicus]

I stumbled onto the movie by accident at a toy soldier show years ago. Bought the vhs version, then later the dvd..An excellent war movie with decent acting and great ,near nonstop action..as well as authentic armor and armored cars...Michael

 

[lancer]

Good show that I haven't seen since it came out on tape. Time to revisit. -- lancer

 

[mikemiller1955]

I have seen this a couple of time...most recently a few months ago off Netflix...the movie is okay...but casting Sir John Gielgud as a Bedouin was a poor choice...he was a great actor...but this role was not suited for him.

 

[Scott]

Remember Lawrence Olivier as the Mahdi in Kartoum?

They might have picked these Shakespearean Actors because most had played Othello.


Look at Anthony Quinn! He's the all purpose ethnic.

I think I'll ad it to my NETFLIX queue. Thanks.


BTW...anyone seen The Message (Mohammed: Messenger of God)

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Message/768242?trkid=504326

 

[mikemiller1955]

Anthony Quinn..."the all purpose ethnic actor"....

Scott...I couldn't have said it better...

but he was just such a good actor he could pull anything off...

a Bedouin...
a Greek...
a Hunchback...
a Mexican...
a cowboy...
a Mafia boss...
a gunfighter...
a Gladiator...
a punchy boxer...

he could do it all...

if you ever get a chance and have not seen yet...

Requiem for a Heavyweight...his best work I believe...maybe Gleason's and Rooney's best too...


Warlock...The Hunchback of Notre Dame...Lawrence of Arabia...are must sees too if you like his work...

 

[pugio]

Anthony Quinn..."the all purpose ethnic actor"....

Scott...I couldn't have said it better...

but he was just such a good actor he could pull anything off...

a Bedouin...
a Greek...
a Hunchback...
a Mexican...
a cowboy...
a Mafia boss...
a gunfighter...
a Gladiator...
a punchy boxer...

he could do it all...

if you ever get a chance and have not seen yet...

Requiem for a Heavyweight...his best work I believe...maybe Gleason's and Rooney's best too...


Warlock...The Hunchback of Notre Dame...Lawrence of Arabia...are must sees too if you like his work...

Don't forget his portrayal of Crazy Horse in "They Died With Their Boots On"

 

[mikemiller1955]

if you add anyone at all to your Netfix...

make it Requiem To A Heavyweight....

Requiem for a Heavyweight
1962NR86 minutes
Based on a 1956 teleplay by Rod Serling (of "The Twilight Zone" fame), Requiem for a Heavyweight stars Anthony Quinn as aging palooka Mountain Rivera, who finds himself literally on the ropes in the late stages of his career. A wonderful supporting cast includes Jackie Gleason as Rivera's manager and Mickey Rooney as the fighter's trainer. A fabulous film adaptation from an award-winning TV play.

The film version is somewhat bleaker in its plotline than the original teleplay. Mountain is to interview for a counselor position at a children's camp, but he gets drunk with Maish instead. He embarrasses himself at the hotel where the interview is to take place, behaving drunkenly in plain sight of the camp owners. Grace follows Mountain home to try to understand what went wrong, and though they are attracted to each other, Mountain's aggression scares Grace off. She confronts Maish in tears, condemning him for controlling Mountain and ruining his chance to make a new life for himself.

To pay off Maish's gambling debts, Mountain agrees to perform as an Indian, "wrestling" dwarves in a staged match. Humiliated, he changes his mind and is about to leave when "Ma" Greeny and her thugs threaten Maish. In the last scene of the film, Mountain enters the ring, ridiculed by the crowd.



Muhammad Ali is actually in this movie too

 

[marco55]

I saw this movie too and it's a sad indictment of how promoters and agents use athletes and actors and then throw them away.
Mark

 

[lancer]

Thread going off course alert- Humphrey Bogart's last film was also about the crooked fight game. Don't remember the title but it had corrupt fight promoters, as well as fixed fights, creative accounting, and honest atheletes paying the price. It was quite a good movie. -- lancer

 

[marco55]

I remember that one too.Wasn't one of these movies suppose to be about what happened to Primo Carnera?
Mark

 

[Scott]

I watched part of it last night. Really good. I'd only seen a bit of it on TV in B/W years ago. There's a commentary and "the Making of" on the disc I received from NETFLIX. Funny that the director went on to make mostly "Halloween" movies. He also did the film The Messenger about Mohamed but the battle scenes in that film were poor.

What a cast besides those already mentioned. Rod Steiger as Mussolini again.
(Mussolini: The Last Four Days (1974))

Irene Papas as another sad ethnic woman.

Several really good action films made years ago have Muslims as the protagonists such as The Wind and the Lion, Lawrence of Arabia, The Beast, and Lion of the Desert. Must be the old theme of the freedom fighter. I think it was after the 6 Day War that Muslims became the new movie bad guys. Even Foreign Legion films had the Muslims as honorable opponents or just "the other side."

I'll bet the vehicle and gear people like this one OR have fun pointing out any flaws. The British weapons man for the film speaking in the "Making Of" section said that they tried to get it right so that people wouldn't write into the TIMES to complain. There's a nice assortment of Italian troops represented including African Colonial units.

The "making of" section also has period movie footage taken at the time. I think that this was only used once during the film when the concentration camp was recreated. Suddenly the music swells and you see the actual aerial footage of the camp.

 

[Scott]

Just found this military postcard on-line.....Isn't Imperialism "cute"?

 

[The General]

That is hilarious Scott. ^&grin

 

[Napoleon1er]

Just found this military postcard on-line.....Isn't Imperialism "cute"?

Awwww.... :tongue::tongue::redface2:%^V^&grin
-Sandor:salute::%^V

 

[Mitch]

Great images
Mitch