Sahara

i don't understand why this film has been given so much stick.it is a corny 1983 adventure like all the others in the eighties and does a good job as a film of it nature and genre. there's lots of cheese,granted,but isn't that what these kind of films are suppose to be full of? Brooke Shields looks absolutely stunning through out,and although her gender bending sequence was a bad idea,its not her fault.how can you make such a stunning woman pass for a man.the water fall scene makes up for it all though. Brooke's performance was fine,as were the performances of her co stars though nobody stands out.

this was a fun and enjoyable adventure film,just as it was made to be and deserves a lot more credit.

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!

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.

Ludicrous bodice-ripper starring the wooden Brook Shields as the kind of plucky romantic heroine who can change outfits in mid-kidnapping. Features such silliness as nomadic Bedouin chiefs who keep stone dungeons on hand, other Bedouin who have frosted lipstick and gold lame party outfits lying around, more Bedouin going on a human hunt using leopards instead of hounds (the leopards are kept on leashes where they can't chase anything), hairstyles that range from 1910 to 1983 (story set in the 1920's), incredible continuity problems with the trans-Sahara race that forms the basis of the plot (Brooke spends about a week in one spot, and suddenly the other drivers all appear at once; her two assistants appear and disappear randomly) etc. etc.

Just about the dumbest, silliest, most badly acted, worst plotted excuse for a movie you'll ever see. Young Brooke Shields is so bad that you swear she couldn't get the lead in a a high school play, much less a real movie. Even by the low standards of the romance genre, it's pathetic.