Cinco Homens a Desejavam

A quite wonderful discovery. Intelligent and involving with well drawn characters and everybody performing well with precise direction, brilliant editing and exciting musical score from Ron Grainger. This fascinates from the very start and explodes when Carroll Baker bursts upon the scene. Based upon a play by Frenchman Jean Maret with a screenplay by Bryan Forbes and Brian Clemens this smoulders like crazy and contains one of Baker's finest performances.

This film begins with a young man named "Martin" (Hansjörg Felmy) being driven to a remote oil pumping station in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Upon arriving he is then gradually introduced to the other members of the small team with which he will spend his time every day and night. As one might expect this small group of men have their own personalities with two of them, "Fletcher" (Ian Bannen) and "Macey" (Denholm Elliott) constantly at odds with one another. But it isn't until a beautiful young woman by the name of "Catherine" (Carroll Baker) accidentally arrives that these personalities come out in the worst way possible. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a very good film which captures the loneliness of men cutoff from society and forced to endure each other's company in a remarkable manner. Likewise, having such an attractive actress like Carroll Baker certainly didn't hurt this film in anyway either. In short, although not a great film necessarily, it was still quite interesting and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

Only got to view this Film by accident as it followed another Film whose conclusion I was viewing, so frankly my finger was always hovering next to the Switch-Off Button but something held me there, you really couldn't quite figure out what it was all about but you constantly felt that something was going to happen but you had no idea what. So full marks to the Script-Writers, Brian Clemens and Bryan Forbes, and the splendid acting from all the Crew including, of course, the ever delightful Carroll Baker, but my personal favourites were Denholm Elliott as Ex-Major Macey and Peter Van Eyck as The Sahara Desert Oil Station Boss, Mr. Kramer. The feeling of foreboding I had throughout this Film is exemplified by the ending, it is Shocking, Grim, and emotionally draining, in the tradition of those Half-Hour shows that Robert Stephenson used to put on for Alfred Hitchcock, so give it a go and stick with it, the story-line might seem off the planet, but the Script, the Acting, and the Plot will leave you reeling, shocked, and I suspect very much lost for words, at the end. Banality, Mundaneness, Drudgery, Loneliness, and Frustration analysed to an entirely New Level in the Film.

A rather strange film made by Artur Brauner,whom I briefly knew and who died aged 100 last year.As usual this is a combination of UK and continental stars.All ending up at this lonely pumping station.Everyone is covered in sweat except Baker.Ian Bannen chews the scenery with relish whilst Denholm Elliott underplays

Five men of disparate nationalities work an oil station in the sweaty Sahara; just as tempers begin to boil over within the group, a sexy girl and her ex-husband invade their territory (or rather, crash it--seems this reckless dame harbors a death wish for herself and her former spouse). Brian Clemens and Bryan Forbes, adapting Jean Martet's play "Men Without a Past", invest the dialogue exchanges with interesting give-and-take, but their scenario isn't inventive or enlightening or even titillating (despite the ads). Certainly the basic thrust of the material--when will the men take advantage of their new arrival--is salacious, however the writers are more interested in probing the human condition and all its faults (although there is some sex involved). Director Seth Holt ably delineates the disintegration of morality and decency among the men, but this woman is something else: a willing pawn in their company, she's both tease and temptress. Actors Studio alum Carroll Baker seemed to get stuck in a revolving door of sexually-uninhibited characters after "Baby Doll", yet this role does call for an actual dramatic performance and she delivers. ** from ****