Caravans

I have fond memories of watching 'Caravans' as a youngster. I remember the soundtrack and still enjoy it today. The soundtrack makes the movie. Mike Batt composed one of cinema's most recognizable and most beautiful scores ever!

Michael Sarrazin stars as Mark Miller, who is sent to Kashkhan (fictional) in the Middle East to find Ellen Jasper, a Senator's daughter who was last seen 10 months ago. She is an American who married Nazrullah, and now has to live according to his and his country's rules.

Mark soon finds Ellen travelling with a caravan. When she refuses to leave, Mark travels with the caravan, as he needs proof that Ellen is alive and well. But when the leader, Zulffiqar (Anthony Quinn) decides to transport guns in the caravan, things get a bit more complicated. To make matters worse, Nazrullah is also desperate to find Ellen and he, too, is in pursuit of the caravan.

The film is set in 1948 and mostly takes place in a desert. I enjoyed the adventure element, and I always love watching movies about other cultures. Unfortunately, 'Caravans' was met with negative response. As for me, I really enjoyed it. Maybe because I never read the book and therefore didn't have anything to compare it with. Or maybe it wasn't well received because of the film's ending. I agree, I wasn't happy with the ending either, and I believe the film might have done better with a different ending. At least the soundtrack was a hit.

Despite the ending - which ruined some of the film's magic - I enjoyed it and still regard it as one of my most enjoyable adventure movies. Off course the stunning score helped a great deal.

This certainly isn't a great film, but it is entertaining, and even more so since it takes place in Iran. Most, if not all movies that take place in the Middle Eastern are set in Arabic countries. So much so that even in this day in age most people in the West associate the Mid-East solely with the Arabs.

But this movie is unique in that it not only takes place in Iran, a non-Arab country, but it was also filmed there as well, right before the Revolution, which technically began in '78 but was firmly established the year later.

The turmoil of the Revolution took place in the major urban centers, which this movie was filmed far away from, in the desert areas of the province of Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan. The Baluch are an Iranian people, related to the Persians, Kurds, Azari's, etc. with their own distinct culture and heritage.

What really makes this film interesting is that they portray the Baluch and their dress and customs fairly accurately. It's obvious the filmmakers did their homework and actually put some effort in learning about the various Iranian ethnic groups and the differences between them. For example, the Baluch have had plenty of conflicts with the central government for quite some time, and this fact is made good use of in the movie. Even today the Baluch create problems for the central government every now and then, what with all the smuggling going on, which is their primary trade.

All in all, if you're looking for something unique, give this movie a shot. Don't expect too much in the way of story or acting, but you're sure to find the scenery and the exposure to a different culture interesting.

As a sidenote, it's interesting (but not surprising given Western ignorance) the two other reviewers were under the vastly mistaken impression that the movie was concerned with an Arabic or "bedouin" tribe, since there are no such tribes in Iran and also despite the fact that the film quite emphatically makes it clear that the tribe is Baluchi. You'd think people would realize that Iran is not an Arab country by now.

I had the exceptional opportunity to be one of two Americans in-country to witness the filming of Caravans. It was filmed outside Isfahan, Iran and I was then the American Vice-Consul in Isfahan (read: second banana, of two). Our Consul, my lovable, affable boss, was David McGaffey and he and our wives enjoyed several opportunities to visit the set and to dine with the cast. The real setting of the story, I believe, was in Afghanistan. My tiny claim to fame is that my desk was the one used by Joseph Cotton, who played the American Ambassador. I had inherited the ambassadorial-size desk as a result of the closing of a consulate in Khoramshar many years earlier -- it filled my tiny office such that I had to squeeze to get by and sit at it. The crew borrowed several other props from our consulate, including, most notably, our official metal seal, which they masked over to say Embassy instead of Consulate, as best I recall.

The actors were superb, as was the costuming. It is hard to imagine, for example, that only one or two actors had "real" guns and the rest of the army had cleverly-painted sticks. Alas, the direction sank the movie, to my everlasting disappointment. Caravans is a great Michener read, but the movie died and my "6" is, I think, charitable and a salute to the fine folks who graced Isfahan with their presence back then, for several fun-filled weeks.

The movie, Caravans, was filmed in Isfahan, Iran, and near by the city out in the desert. I had the opportunity to visit the sets on several occasions. Some of the film was shot at what was then called the Shah Abbas Hotel, the best hotel in town and one which used to be a Caravanseri. It was and still is a beautiful hotel, with much blue and white tile walls and brass chaise lamps. Across from its landscaped Persian garden courtyard is an alcove where one of the scenes of the movie was filmed. It was a tight fit, with many cameras and crew packed into its small space. They did a number of takes that day. Most of the cast stayed at this hotel. Rumors claimed Anthony Quinn didn't like his mattress and threw it out his window. My Time Magazine mentioned that Jennifer O'Neill complained about the lack of dry cleaners. I found these stories amusing. I also got invited to a desert filming near Isfahan and I had a wonderful day on the set. That day, they were shooting the caravan going by as well as Jennifer O'Neill in a tent with some other women. I was able to get some photographs of some of the actors, but when I asked Anthony Quinn if I could take his picture, he asked me not to since he wasn't wearing makeup. There was a good bit of time to kill between filming, and near sunset, some of the Iranian extras started doing a spontaneous mock dance fight using sticks. I heard group singing from Jennifer O'Neill's tent. It was a magical day, one I will never forget. I didn't have the chance to see Caravans until years later. Unfortunately, the movie itself isn't nearly as exciting as watching it get filmed.

I actually watched this movie being filmed while living in Isfahan, Iran in the last 1970s. My father worked for an American company, and I was in high school---there were actually 10,000 Americans living in Isfahan, (including families with children) before the revolution got underway and the evacuations of non-essential personnel started.

I haven't seen the movie since the time it first came out, but I do remember that (a) the score was quite good (b) although the plot of the original Michener novel dealt with Afghanistan, and although the adaptation may have put the "location" of the action near the Pakistani border, the filming of exterior sequences took place within an hour's drive of Isfahan, VERY far from the Pakistani border.