thejcowboy22 My second review of this all-male cast movie. The first being Lord of the Flies. This gritty forgotten Bogart movie was made under Columbia pictures as Bogey was on loan from Warner Brothers. Coming off of his two previous films, Action in The North Atlantic and the classic Casablanca Boogie AKA Joe Gunn, Tank commander from parts unknown is hunkered down in a Tank with his remaining crew of only two, Waco (Bruce Bennett) and Jimmy (Dan Duryea). Retreating, heading south in the hot desolate Libyan desert. Away from any Nazi stronghold. For they were one of the few American tanks to partake in the Battle of Tobruk under the British 8th army. Along the way with little water in supply they pick up allied British soldiers, Italian and a German POW plus an one of the most engaging characters to hit the screen Major Tambor played by the versatile Rex Ingram. Imgram plays a Sudanese soldier who knows the dessert like the back of his hand. Tambor feels if heading south they will come across a fort which has a well. The unmistakable voice of Rex Ingram resonates. Who could forget the colossal genie in the movie The Thief Of Baghdad. Another actor that stood out was the forthright Italian prisoner Giuseppe played by J. Caroll Nash. It was also my first experience to see Dan Duryea playing a guy on the winning side for a change. Duryea's roles were related to gangsters and foils. It was nice to see a very young looking Lloyd Bridges without his frog suit crawling through the sand. Watching this makeshift crew in the blazing sun made me parched as water was scarce and at a premium as the Nazi were closing in but Bogart and his crew have an Idea that will save everybody. Smoke em if you got em!!

utgard14 Excellent WW2 film about a small group of soldiers fighting off Nazis in the Sahara desert. Humphrey Bogart plays an American tank commander who, along with his crew, picks up several Allied soldiers and a couple of Axis prisoners. Eventually they find water in a well by the ruins of an old fort. When the Nazis come looking for the same well, the soldiers have to decide whether to run or fight.Terrific cast backing up Bogie. Special mention for Rex Ingram, J. Carrol Naish, and Bruce Bennett. Solid script and direction. Nicely photographed by Rudolph Maté with a good Miklós Rózsa score. Humphrey Bogart starred in some great WW2 movies. Most of them were made for Warner Bros. but this one was made at Columbia. I think this is the best WW2 movie they put out and it's on par with anything made at the other studios. A strong dramatic film with great characters and exciting action. One Bogie fans won't want to pass up.

Tad Pole . . . were titled similarly to the more recent movie, it would be called LULUBELLE--not SAHARA. Set about two years earlier than FURY, there's no room for the kind of fun and games with the ladies enjoyed by Brad Pitt's tank crew. Humphrey Bogart's team already has been whittled down to just three (including his own character, Master Sergeant Joe Gunn) when this story begins. Unlike Pitt, "Bogie" doesn't enjoy the luxury of fresh reinforcements, either. No local gals are plying Bogie's men with food and drink; there are NO females, NO food, and--worst of all--almost NO water available to survive the torrid zone desert heat. The one similarity between "Fury's" battle and "Lulubelle's" is that they both involve a lone piece of American armor facing a seemingly overwhelming Nazi horde. The difference is that the cast of SAHARA look like actual soldiers--NOT playboys pretending to be soldiers for two hours. Bogart's self-defined mission in SAHARA is easy to comprehend; Pitt's orders in FURY are murky at best. SAHARA ends with unconditional German surrender (just like what happened in real life). FURY closes with the victorious Nazis marching away whistling, like SNOW WHITE's SEVEN DWARFS. If FURY made you furious, it's time to salute a superior SAHARA.

GManfred Regardless of whether you like war pictures, there is a lot to like in "Sahara". Normally speaking, war movies are riddled with 2-dimensional characters, are either good guys or bad guys, and get killed or survive. But here, Director Zoltan Korda has fleshed out each player so that we are familiar with their backgrounds and motives. They are not comic-book soldiers because Korda has imbued the film with heart - we have a particular rooting interest for each character.Humphrey Bogart, 2 films removed from "Casablanca", is the anonymous hero, from "No place. The Army", just as in Casablanca. Sgt. Tambul, played by Rex Ingram, is despised by the captured German flier because of his race which he deems to be inferior, but Tambul proves to be the better man. Even the Italian prisoner, (J.Carroll Naish) we find, has a family and does not believe in Fascism - he just wants to go home.There are several gun battles for action fans and the films tense moments are heightened by background music written by Dmitri Tiomkin and directed by Max Steiner. Korda has overlooked nothing to bring us a great war picture, as I stated in my headline. This picture was on TCM recently. I have seen it several times and feel it is several cuts above the average war movie.