''Sahara'' is a 1983 British-American

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Andrew McLaglen Andrew Victor McLaglen (July 28, 1920 – August 30, 2014) was a British-born American film and television director, known for Westerns and adventure films, often starring John Wayne or James Stewart. According to one obituary "His career ...

and starring

Brooke Shields Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress and model. She was initially a child model and gained critical acclaim at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film ''Pretty Baby'' (1978). She continued to model into ...

Lambert Wilson Lambert Wilson (born 3 August 1958) is a French actor, singer and activist. He is best known internationally for his portrayal of The Merovingian in ''The Matrix Reloaded'', ''The Matrix Revolutions'' and ''The Matrix Resurrections''. Biograph ...

Horst Buchholz Horst Werner Buchholz (4 December 1933 – 3 March 2003) was a German actor who appeared in more than 60 feature films from 1951 to 2002. During his youth, he was sometimes called "the German James Dean". He is perhaps best known in English- ...

John Rhys-Davies John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944) is a Welsh actor best known for portraying Sallah in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise and Gimli in ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. His other roles include Michael Malone in the 1993 series ''The Untoucha ...

and

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

. The original music score was composed by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

Plot

In 1928, Gordon ( Steve Forrest) develops a new racing vehicle, a

hot rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimised for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and made ...

, but dies in a practice run before he can compete in the 'Trans-African Auto Race'. To save her father's dream, and win the prize money, Gordon's

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...

daughter, Dale (

) disguises herself as a man and takes the place of her father in the race through the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

, with the help of her father's friends. Dale is an excellent driver and has a good chance to win the male-only race. After she crosses the start line, she takes off her wig and mustache and reveals her true sex to the other participants in the race. While taking a short-cut, she comes close to a tribal war between

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

factions. Another racer, the German Von Glessing (Horst Buchholz), also takes the same short-cut in order to supply weapons to the evil leader of the two warring tribes. Dale and her crew are captured by Rasoul (John Rhys-Davies), the uncle of the good leader of the warring tribes. The good leader,

Sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

Jaffar (Lambert Wilson), had seen Dale from afar and desired her, so he rescues her from his uncle by claiming Dale as his bride. Dale marries Jaffar and escapes the next morning in her car to attempt to finish the race. She is captured by the evil leader before she can complete the race, but a stowaway gypsy child runs back to Jaffar to tell him of Dale's capture. Meanwhile, Dale is thrown into a pit of leopards. Jaffar rallies his men, rescues her and allows her to return to drive in the race. Dale wins the race, and when celebrating sees Jaffar's horse nearby. She bids farewell to her crew, mounts the horse, and returns to Jaffar.

Cast

as Dale Gordon *

as Sheikh Ahmed Al Jaffar *

as Heinrich Von Glessing *

as Rasoul *

as Cambridge *

Ronald Lacey Ronald William Lacey (28 September 1935 – 15 May 1991) was an English actor. He made numerous television and film appearances over a 30-year period. His roles included Harris in ''Porridge'' (1977), Frankie in the Bud Spencer comedy '' Ch ...

as Beg *

Cliff Potts Cliff Potts (born January 5, 1942 in Glendale, California) is an American television and film actor whose roles include John Keenan in the 1972 science fiction film, ''Silent Running'' starring Bruce Dern. Potts starred as Sergeant Eugene Allar ...

as String *

Perry Lang Perry Lang (born December 24, 1959, Palo Alto, California) is an American director, writer and actor. Acting Lang has appeared in several films and television shows, such as '' Teen Lust'', and directed himself in '' Men of War'' (1994). He had ...

as Andy *

Terrence Hardiman Terrence Hardiman (born 6 April 1937)Biographical detail

Steve Forrest as R. J. Gordon * Tuvia Tavi as Enrico Bertocelli * David Lodge as Ewing *

Paul Maxwell Paul Maxwell (born Maxim Popovich; November 12, 1921December 19, 1991) was a Canadian actor who worked mostly in British cinema and television, in which he was usually cast as American characters. In terms of audience, his most notable role w ...

as Chase *

Yosef Shiloach Yosef Shiloach ( he, יוסף שילוח; July 9, 1941 – January 3, 2011) was an Israeli actor. Biography Yosef Shiloach was born in Kurdistan. He immigrated to Israel at the age of nine.Mark Thatcher Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born 15 August 1953) is an English businessman. He is the son of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, and Sir Denis Thatcher; his sister is Carol Thatcher. His early career ...

, who became lost in North Africa in 1982 during an auto rally. It also came about due to the box office success of ''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...

'' and

Menahem Golan Menahem Golan ( he, מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He was best known for co-owning The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon sp ...

's fondness for the

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...

film '' The Sheik'' (1921). In May 1982 it was announced

Guy Hamilton Mervyn Ian Guy Hamilton, DSC (16 September 1922 – 20 April 2016) was an English film director. He directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films. Early life Hamilton was born in Paris on 16 September 1922, wh ...

would direct Brooke Shields in ''Sahara'' with a $15 million budget. It was one of the biggest budgeted films from Cannon Films. Shields' fee was reportedly $1 million or $1.5 million. Her mother Teri was executive producer with a fee of $25,000. Terri said she wanted the film "to be cute and light and I wanted a fatherly director, who would play with her, smack her around, have fun. I don’t want anyone looking at her like a woman yet. It’s not time.” There were reportedly eight rewrites at the behest of Shields' mother and two directors quit before filming started. Finding the male lead took over a year. “I wanted someone as handsome as could be with an unusual accent,” said Teri. Among those considered were

Ted McGinley Ted Martin McGinley (born May 30, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jefferson D'Arcy on the television sitcom '' Married... with Children'' and as Charley Shanowski on the ABC sitcom ''Hope & Faith''. He was a late regular ...

(“I darkened his hair and had him grow a beard, but he couldn’t get the accent” said Teri);

Adnan Khashoggi Adnan Khashoggi ( ar, عدنان خاشقجي, ‘Adnān Khāshuqjī; 25 July 1935 – 6 June 2017) was a Saudi businessman and arms dealer known for his lavish business deals and lifestyle. He was estimated to have had a peak net worth of ...

's son Khaled (“He is a gorgeous boy, but he’s not an actor”); and John Kennedy Jr. (“He’s dark, handsome as hell and what a physique, but can you imagine the press if he co-starred with Brooke? The film would get lost. Besides, I didn’t think his mother would let him”).

Vincent Spano Vincent M. Spano Jr. (born October 18, 1962) is an American film, stage and television actor; he is also a film director and producer. Early life Spano was born in Brooklyn, New York to Italian-American parents Vincent Sr. and Theresa. Career ...

, who had played a character called "The Sheik" in ''

Baby It's You "Baby It's You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach (music), Luther Dixon (credited as Barney Williams), and Mack David (lyrics). It was recorded by the Shirelles and the Beatles, and was a hit for both. The highest-charting version of "Baby I ...

'' said he was offered the role but turned it down. "I wondered if it would be good for my career to play another sheik," he said. "Also, didn't want to be standing around in the Sahara Desert waiting for Brooke to fix her eyelashes." Eventually Lambert Wilson got the role. "Brooke is the most beautiful creature on earth," said Golan. "She is the genie of the desert and Lambert is a wildman, but educated. He wants to rape her, but he controls himself. We are not afraid here of clichés. I want a beautiful romantic blockbuster where all American kids will identify.”

Shooting

Filming began in August with Andrew McLaglen as director. ''Sahara'' was partially filmed in the Negev Desert of southern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

near the city of Elat. The fashions were designed by Valentino, who said 1925 was one of his favourite years: "It was a fantastic moment, full of fantasy and ideas. A time when women changed for tea, and then for dinner and then for a ball." Shields later said, "It was fun being in Israel for four months and driving a car." She was injured during filming when she was thrown from a car she was driving, landing on her back and bruising her ribs. She stated that this incident was the closest she'd ever come to death. Filming ended in February 1983, after which Shields enrolled in Princeton University. "It was enjoyable to be in the Negev desert and in Eilat and sort of in the Dead Sea, but the experience of it and living there for that long was definitely more memorable than the movie itself was," said Shields.

Reception

The film was meant to come out in December 1983. The release was delayed until February 1984. "We couldn't get the theatres we wanted at Christmas so the decision was to wait," said an MGM/UA spokesman. Other reports said the decision to push back a release were made after poor previews. It was released only in the West Coast states. "We decided to open it in half the country to see what we had," said MGM. It made $550,848 on 344 theaters on the West Coast - a per screen average of only $1,601. The ''Chicago Tribune'' called the film "a dog"MOVIES: Will Chicago ever see Brooke Shields' 'Sahara'--and do we want to? Siskel, Gene. Chicago Tribune 25 Mar 1984: k8. It ended up making $1.2 million.

Accolades

At the 1984 Razzies, Brooke Shields was nominated for Worst Actress and won Worst Supporting Actor as "Brooke Shields (with a moustache)", making her the first and only actress to win this award. One of the cars made for the film, a replica 1932

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

H6C, was put up for auction in 2015.

References

External links

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Review of film
at Variety {{Andrew V. McLaglen 1983 films 1980s adventure drama films 1983 romantic drama films American adventure drama films American romantic drama films American auto racing films British adventure drama films British romantic drama films 1980s English-language films Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films directed by Andrew McLaglen Films set in 1927 Films set in Africa Films set in deserts Films shot in England Films shot in Israel Golden Raspberry Award winning films American interfaith romance films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Golan-Globus films 1980s historical drama films American historical drama films British historical drama films Films produced by Menahem Golan Films with screenplays by Menahem Golan Films produced by Yoram Globus Flappers 1980s American films Films set in the Sahara 1980s British films