Sahara

OK, I am a big Brooke Shields fan (that's why I have bought a DVD of this movie), but, honestly, I can understand why she was nominated for a Razzie award for this one... But it's not only the unfortunate Brooke, (except for C. Lambert, who plays the Arabic sheik in love with Brooke's character) the acting is uniformly bad in this movie. The parts where there are attempts at "humour" are the worst parts. The parts where there are attempts at drama come a close second worst. Or maybe the parts where there are attempts at romance. Nevertheless, the movie picks up some strength towards the end. The tribal battle scene is very good and the scene where Brooke is placed in a pit with black panthers and leopards is marvelous. For a western-made movie set in the Orient, I also liked the idea that the male protagonist was a non-westerner: you don't have a heroic white guy saving the white damsel in distress. Brooke's character is not the typical weakling damsel in distress either, she is a strong character herself.

Dale Gordon (Brooke Shields) is the falpper heiress to an American car company in the 1920s who upon her father's death takes it upon herself to enter an auto race across the Sahara dessert to prove the mettle of her father's car. Once there Dale and her two companions become embroiled in a tribal war between two factions and a sheik (Lambert Wilson) who becomes infatuated with her.

Sahara was one of a number of attempts by b-movie production company Golan-Globus to break out of their profitable but derided niche and break into the mainstream. Many of these films (Lifeforce, Superman IV, Over the Top) were big budget attempts to compete in the blockbuster field of the big 6 studios but all were failures (though Lifeforce has come to appreciate a cult following). Sahara was one of Golan-Globus' earliest attempts at trying a blockbuster and was inspired not only by popular adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark but also the 1921 silent drama The Sheik of which producer Menahem Golan was a fan. The movie tries to be part rousing adventure, part romance, and part comedy and it fails at all three.

Easilly the biggest drag on the film is Brooke Shields. Shields exploded onto the scene with the hits The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love, but Shields unfortunately is not a good actress. She cannot carry an adventure film because she can't bring the needed enthusiasm and investment needed to bring in the audience investment. But even if Shields were replaced with a more competent actress, they'd still be dragged down by a script that is equally parts messy, unfocused, and jarring. The movie is allegedly about a cross country road race, but the race is really only used as a book end since the majority of the movie involves a feud between two desert tribes that are both violent and sadistic, but one's slightly less sadistic than the other one meaning they're this movie's "heroes". Why we the audience are supposed to care about the sheik falling in love with dale or defeating the rival tribe is anyone's guess as the romance feels cringey and the tribal warfare lacks any stakes or reason to care.

That said, the movie does have merit to it. John Rhys Davies and Lambert Wilson are genuinely good even if they are unsympathetic despite the movie's attempts to make us think otherwise. The movie is also well shot with some beautiful shots of the Sahara as well as a genuine sense of scope and scale in the racing and battle scenes. The movie's budget was $25 Million (of which it made back $1 Million) and you can see the money in the movie, it's just a shame it's for a movie that is lacking in character or story.

Sahara is a bad movie made well. It's about as good as a bad movie can be made. While the performances range from good to bad, and the story is a cluttered unfocused mess, there is entertainment value to be had from the technical aspects on display. It's not good, but it is watchable.

The TV was on while I was busy with a household chore, so I missed some of the beginning. Then the story started to catch my attention and boy am I glad to have discovered Lambert Wilson. Someone else already said it... his eyes, his lips, his sheik's stature. He was mesmerizing and had great chemistry with Brooke. Her acting was better than I've seen her in later films. She handled the character role rather well, except for the boy/moustache sequence. Definitely a cheesy movie, yet I couldn't stop watching. The fantasy story drew me in and swept me away... yes, kind of like a Harlequin romance. Did I mention that Lambert Wilson is breathtakingly handsome? As soon as the credits rolled and I caught his name, I ran to google the web. He's French?! Mais certainement!

Okay, so it's no Academy Award winner. The writing is poor, some of the movie is just plain silly, but there is a lot to enjoy.

I love the chemistry between the Brooke & Lambert Wilson... the seductive and emotional nature of their scenes together. Lambert Wilson takes my breath away! He did in 1983 when I first saw the film (okay, I'll admit -- a few times). I just finally found a copy recently and watched it again for the first time in 23 years or so, and he STILL takes my breath away! Brooke is beautiful and he is terribly handsome -- his face, his eyes, his voice -- he looks at her as if he's going to drink her. It's incredible. Mesmerizing. In my book, this is one of the sexiest movies ever (and without actually having any sex in it).

I looked up Lambert Wilson on IMDb and realized I didn't recognize him 20 years later in "Matrix Reloaded" or the newer "Sahara" (but it had been a long time -- the french accent and clean-shaven face threw me off). It looks like he's been working steadily in France all along, thank goodness. I'm thrilled to know he's been a success. I hope he'll do more American films. Oh, and the score was haunting. It added a lot to the film.

And one more thing: Brooke was practically a child when she did this film. I thought her acting was fine, especially considering her age and the poor script with which she had to work.

(1983) Sahara ACTION ADVENTURE

The movie is supposedly takes place during the year of 1924 which at the opening has a young lady, Dale (Brooke Sheilds) driving her car around a track, with sponsors looking onward. For the celebration of the new model car, is a party and when the father goes for a ride, he gets into an accident and dies. Before he dies, he tells his only child, Dale to compete into the race called the Sahara rally for the intention of impressing sponsors, except that only men are allowed to enter. So she disguises herself as a young man so that she can meet an old rival of her dad's, Von Glessing (Horst Buchholz). During the Sahara race each contestant are warned about a war that is brewing on the desert between two factions of the Chambra tribe and the Hamancha tribe. And it is not long before she begins to cross paths with the Chambra tribe with the senior uncle Ibrahim Rasoul (John Rhys-Davies) abducting Dale and her two crewman. And she begins to meet and eventually fall for his uncle's nephew sheik, Ahmed Al Jaffar (Lambert Wilson) while captured.

Although, there are no cringe worthy scenes, that upon watching this, the movie can't seem to know what it wants which at the opening show cases a group of gypsies mercilessly killed by the Chambra tribe for no reason. Then the next thing you know, they are then supposed to be the side, viewers are supposed to root for since it is the same tribe the Brooke Sheilds character falls in love with. This is one of those movies in which producers may have seen actor John Rhys-Davies in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and loved his performance so much that they may have intervened during the making of this one, and try to become directors themselves by replicate the same tone as the Indiana Jones movies.