Lion of the Desert (1981)

Director:

Moustapha Akkad

Writer:

H.A.L. Craig (writer)

Release Date:

25 September 1981 (Finland)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | War

Tagline:

A giant of a man against a general seeking glory...a spectacular adventure of arch enemies in battle.

Plot:

This movie is about Omar Mukhtar, a Muslim and Arabian rebellion who fought against the Italian conquering of Libya in WWI...

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Libya | Colony | Italian History | Machine Gun

Cast

Anthony Quinn	...	Omar Mukhtar
Oliver Reed	...	Gen. Rodolfo Graziani
Irene Papas	...	Mabrouka
Raf Vallone	...	Colonel Diodiece
Rod Steiger	...	Benito Mussolini
John Gielgud	...	Sharif El Gariani
Andrew Keir	...	Salem
Gastone Moschin	...	Major Tomelli
Stefano Patrizi	...	Lt. Sandrini
Adolfo Lastretti	...	Colonel Sarsani
Sky Dumont	...	Prince Amadeo
Takis Emmanuel	...	Bu-Matari
Rodolfo Bigotti	...	Ismail
Robert Brown	...	Al Fadeel
Eleonora Stathopoulou	...	Ali's Mother

Also Known As:

Omar Mukhtar (UK) (closing credits title (pre-release title))
Omar Mukhtar: Lion of the Desert

Runtime:

173 min

Country:

Libya | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Libya

Company:

Falcon International Productions

Trivia:

The film cost approximately $35 million but only managed to gross about $1 million worldwide, making it one of the largest financial disasters in film history.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Mussolini was talking to Graziani in the opening when he looked to the map of Libya, and he said that all these green land is for Italy. In fact he was looking at a topographical map that shows land greener as it become lower by sea level. For Libya is 90% of the area is desert.

Quotes:

[Omar Mukhtar protects two surviving Italian soldiers]
Omar Mukhtar: We do not kill *prisoners*!
Arab Warrior: *They* do it to *us*!
Omar Mukhtar: "They" are not our *teachers!*

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 'Halloween': A Cut Above the Rest (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Giovinezza

One man lead resistance against the imperialist designs of the Italian dictator.

7.1 is a ridiculous rating. This movies deserves much higher and I can assure those who have not seen it that they will agree with me once they have seen it.

Almost all aspects of movie making are amazingly rendered. It will easily compare with any movie about war and politics. The savagery, otherwise recorded only in books, is depicted marvelously. I want to praise a couple of actors but it would not be correct to leave anyone out so I am just saying that they were all tailor made for their roles. There is some real reel footage in the movie and that drives home the points raised in this movie.

On a tangent – it is interesting that the so called civilized countries continuously plumbed new depths of uncivilized actions only for land and riches…. It is an amazing display of imperialistic debauchery.