Lion of the Desert (1981)

In the Fascist Italy Pre-World War II of Benito Mussolini, the cruel General Rodolfo Graziani is directly assigned by Il Dulce to fight in the colonial war in Libya to vanquish the Arab ... See full summary »

Director:

Moustapha Akkad

Writers:

David Butler (additional material), H.A.L. Craig,

Stars:

Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, Irene Papas

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 du Mont	...	Prince Amadeo (as Sky Dumont)
Takis Emmanuel	...	Bu-Matari
Rodolfo Bigotti	...	Ismail
Robert Brown	...	Al Fadeel
Eleonora Stathopoulou	...	Ali's Mother

Storyline

In the Fascist Italy Pre-World War II of Benito Mussolini, the cruel General Rodolfo Graziani is directly assigned by Il Dulce to fight in the colonial war in Libya to vanquish the Arab nation. However, his troops are frequently defeated by the national leader Omar Mukhtar and his army of Bedouins. But the Butcher of Ethiopia and Libya uses a dirty war against the natives, slaughtering children, women and aged people, to subdue Mukhtar.

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Plot Keywords:

desert | rebel | libya | mussolini | muslim | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Libya USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1981 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Omar Mukhtar: Lion of the Desert

Filming Locations:

Libya

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Falcon International Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

173 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Black and White Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Publicity for this picture stated that director Moustapha Akkad intended to make another multi-million epic after this movie, 'Saladin', about the life of the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. The film was to be filmed in Turkey and Morocco, but this never eventuated due to this film's massive failure at the box office.

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Goofs

During the narrated introduction immediately following the opening credits, the Earth is depicted revolving backwards - west-to-east instead of east-to-west.

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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!*

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

"Marcia Reale"
(uncredited)
Music by Giuseppe Gabetti

User Reviews

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.