Le Lion du désert

Original title: Lion of the Desert

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

18K

YOUR RATING

In 1929, Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani as colonial governor to Italian Libya with orders to stamp-out all resistance from Libyan nationalists led by rebel guerrilla leader Omar Mukhtar.

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Historical Epic Biography Drama History War

In 1929, Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani as colonial governor to Italian Libya with orders to stamp-out all resistance from Libyan nationalists le... Read allIn 1929, Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani as colonial governor to Italian Libya with orders to stamp-out all resistance from Libyan nationalists led by rebel guerrilla leader Omar Mukhtar.In 1929, Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani as colonial governor to Italian Libya with orders to stamp-out all resistance from Libyan nationalists led by rebel guerrilla leader Omar Mukhtar.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

18K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:20

Trailer

Photos60

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Storyline

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Trivia
The production's obsession with authenticity extended right down to the same barber who used to shave Benito Mussolini's head being hired to shave Rod Steiger's, the actor who played him.

Goofs
Mussolini is talking to Graziani in the opening when he looks the map of Libya, and says that all the green land is for Italy, but this is a topographical map that shows land greener as it becomes lower by sea level. Ninety percent of the area of Libya is desert.

Quotes
Omar Mukhtar: We will never surrender. We win or we die. And don't think it stops there. You will have the next generation to fight; and after the next, the next. As for me, I will live longer than my hangman.

Alternate versions
The U.S.A. Home Video VHS release in the '80s runs 160 minutes. Footage has been added in the Director's Cut released on Anchor Bay Video. This version, released in 1998, runs 206 minutes.

Connections
Featured in Sneak Previews: Windwalker, Tell Me A Riddle, Friday the 13th Part 2, Lion of the Desert (1981)

Soundtracks
Giovinezza
(uncredited)
Music by Giuseppe Blanc
Lyrics by Salvatore Gotta

User reviews90

Featured review

8/10

A great epic!

I believe that one needs to be made of a special material to direct/produce such an epic. Moustapha believed in what he was doing when shooting the movie. He went to out of his way to make sure that everything he filmed was as real as possible. The battle scenes were planned with all detail but also the small scenes with Tony Quinn, Irene Papas or any other actor. It is a real pity that death has taken him before he could produce/direct "Salahadin", his long wanted project that would have shown the world another face of Islam. He tried with Omar Muhktar but I am sure that he would have done much better with Salahadin. Moustapha Akkad and his work as a film maker will be remembered.