Ashanti (1979)

Powerful

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

ASHANTI is one of those films that has plenty of excellent little moments (Caine rescuing the children and having to abandon them in the desert, the small boy's and the gorgeous Ms. Johnson's escape attempt, and Kabir Bedi getting revenge on an old enemy) but overall is a fairly dreadful mess of a film. The main problem is in its execution. Nobody seems too excited about this potentially quite exciting material, including the director and most of the cast.Although he does steal the film, Peter Ustinov feels tremendously out of place to me as he channels a lot of the same larger-than-life pathetic / comedic energy he displayed as the villain in Disney's animated ROBIN HOOD and as the Caliph in THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD made around the same time. It just doesn't fit in with the dark and serious undertones of the film, and how everyone else underplays as much as he overplays.The direction by the usually reliable Richard Fleischer is adequate but filled with moments of bizarre incompetence, such as the final showdown on the boat with Bedi just standing there waiting to get shot. There's plenty of other flaws including some bad dubbing, poor special effects involving an airplane crash, a dreary and dated musical score, and a lot of uninspired cinematography.While the cast is certainly top notch, featuring Omar Sharif returning to LAWRENCE OF ARABIA territory along with the Indian actor he famously shot at the beginning of that movie (marking the start of his international career), most of the performances are unbelievably weak. Rex Harrison and William Holden seem wholly unenthusiastic about every bit of dialog, while star Michael Caine goes through the entire film with an annoyed wince on his face, like he just can't wait to cash his paycheck and get back to England and out of the sun.Nicely, this film takes place almost entirely outdoors and showcases some splendid African locations. The pacing is fairly leaden but picks up later in the film, and Kabir Bedi's performance as Caine's vengeful guide ranks among his best and gives the film an air of gravity and authenticity. Not to mention Beverly Johnson is one of the most outrageously attractive women ever filmed, so her scenes alone are worth the price of admission.Writer Alberto Vasquez Figueroa covered similar ground involving modern slavery in the period pieces MANAOS and IGUANA which are both worth checking out for those lucky enough to find them. He also wrote TUAREG THE DESERT WARRIOR, one of the few more original Italian B-movies from the early 80's (as in not an obvious cash-in) featuring some similarly fascinating expose on North African culture, though distilled into cheap action movie conventions and the odd casting of NCIS's Mark Harmon as an African chieftain (??)! Of all Figueroa's works, this may be the one to reach the widest theatrical audience and fail the hardest, but I can appreciate it along with all his other works for their relative originality.

I saw this recently with my wife and discovered it's better than Caine believes, although it's not much cop. Britain's greatest ever screen actor does not seem too interested in this role, which is a pity as he might have elevated it with more conviction in his playing. Rex Harrison seems even less bothered, perhaps unsurprisingly, as his character is very poorly written. William Holden is better, but his screen time is fleeting and, again, his character is not well scripted.Beverly Johnson is as beautiful a woman as I have ever seen, but is given very little to do, the film might have gained a great deal by concentrating more on her story. Ustinov steals the show, but basically by playing a comic character quite out of keeping with the film's serious tone. The music is poor and Omar Sharif makes one of his many pointless cameos (his career has been based on this for decades now).Richard Fleischer has to be blamed for not directing this more effectively, he was an infuriatingly unpredictable film director, and this is one of his weaker movies.

There seem to have been any number of films like this released during the 70's. And the fact that I cannot recollect the title to a single one of them off-hand is a measure of their impact. These are what novelists would call 'pot-boilers'. They are scarcely more than a vehicle for keeping movie-stars in the public eye.We have Micheal Caine, Peter Ustinov, Omar Sharif, Rex Harrison and William Holden; more than enough names to get bums on cinema seats. Every taste in hero is catered for. Though one suspects that most of the audience still went away disappointed.Their talents are simply thrown away, and I wonder that stars with so much money and such reputation can be yet so desperate or lacking in good sense. This sort of movie hardly adds gilding to a CV. Sometimes maybe actors should choose their director instead of the other way round.It was pretty obvious that it would be crap even from the outset. That ludicrously mismatched jaunty-jazz theme music, which also percolated up every time some incidental noise is needed, had all the atmospheric conviction of elevator Muzak. Who imagined employing a jazz band when a scene depicted the steamy jungles of central Africa, or the endless Sahara with camels and palms as a backdrop? Definitely a serious goof-ball. Ennio Morricone would have known what to do; and his results would have oozed enough atmosphere and tension to raise my rating a good two points. This director should have taken the trouble to watch 'Lawrence of Arabia', or even Sergio Leone's westerns; he might have learnt a few things. But then again, probably he wouldn't.Alfred Hitchcock played the disappearing wife theme to good effect in his film 'Frantic'. It was later remade with equal panache staring Harrison Ford. In each case the confusion surrounding her loss and the tension of the chase was tangible. Here, when Michael Caine might be otherwise compelled to employ a little brain and bravado, Rex Harrison kept popping-up out of no-where like some wily old genii, to put him back on track whenever the narrative stumbled. At least the photography was rather good, with excellent use of the often beautiful environment. But then the dumb music must pipe-up and blow to atoms what little ambiance this created.Action scenes were also contrived and stilted, with such ineptly choreographed fight sequences that they might have been staged in a first-year drama class. And, of course, the players must fight to a jazz accompaniment - as you do.And that's about as much comment as this item deserves. Except to say that the script was pretty wretched as well.Stick with your hobby on this one. Even if it contained your favourite movie-stars, you're sure to be disappointed too.

ASHANTI is a somewhat typical movie from the late 70s/early 80s starring Michael Caine . It's certainly watchable in an undemanding way but no more than that but neither is it bad enough to be virtually disowned by its star .The story itself is intriguing an Afro-American doctor working for the UN is kidnapped by slave traders and it's up to her English born husband to track down the kidnapped woman . I guess the movie could have concerned itself more as to dispelling or building myths about the present day slave trade but it's not that type of movie and rightly concentrates on action and adventure One can't help thinking that maybe Caine's dislike of the movie is down to the fact that he's playing a hero and as everyone knows heroes are by their very nature boring . Undoubtedly Malik played by Indian actor Kabir Bedi is the most interesting character while Peter Ustinov as Sulimen gets by far the best lines and scenes like " A father , a father , a father " . Very frequently Caine gives the impression that as soon as the movie is finished and the cheque is in the bank he'll be firing his agent ASHANTI is a movie that demands very little from and offers little to its audience except to sit back and be enthralled . Film buffs might complain that this is a poor movie considering it was directed by the legendary Richard Fleischer , well maybe but I think the only thing the director can be criticised for is casting an obviously unwell William Holden in a needless cameo