RMeingast Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 BFI (British Film Institute) has a feed on Facebook today about desert films in honour of the 50th anniversary this year of "Lawrence of Arabia." So they have compiled a list of 10 desert movies they recommend: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/desert-films-10-try Just something to do for today... Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving (closest thing they have is Guy Fawkes Day on November 5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night)... And, of course, Canadians celebrated Turkey Day in October... Anyway, always liked "Ice Cold in Alex," one of the desert films above... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpompper Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Curious no "The English Patient" (1996)! . . . and no "Ishtar" (1987). (Just kidding about that last one . . . it isn't British.) Edited by: dpompper on Nov 23, 2012 5:02 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 The BFI had great pretenstions of artiness. Good subject, but so many good desert films left out. (Btw, the list includes non-British films as well.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansFin Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 I am disappointed to see so very many modern movies in their list. The selections hold little credibility for me as they omitted *Sahara* (1943). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted November 23, 2012 Author Share Posted November 23, 2012 > {quote:title=SansFin wrote:}{quote}I am disappointed to see so very many modern movies in their list. > > The selections hold little credibility for me as they omitted *Sahara* (1943). Oh well, it's only a list... And only a list of 10... Just like any list, mostly compiled to spur discussion... And to quote the immortal TCM Message Board doyenne Lzcutter: *"That's the wonderful thing with having opinions, where you see garbage, others see diamonds."* - lzcutter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Speaking of modern desert films, I'm a big fan of The Sheltering Sky (1990). Strange, sad, mysterious film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfp2 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 I was about to mention "Ice Cold Alex", myself, which is a very good one that I always enjoy seeing, especially being a huge John Mills fan. Unfortunately, it's not available on DVD in the U.S. so I got a nice region 2 from the UK. It has a poor history in this country. The genius who was running the film's U.S. distributor, Universal-International, at the time, apparently decided that American's wouldn't understand the title, would find it too long and probably had never heard of the cast. so he had it cut from 125 minutes to 79 and changed the title to "Desert Attack" then released with little or no promotion as the bottom half of a double-bill with an Audey Murphy western. I don't think the uncut version ever had a release here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolrob1955 Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 *ICE COLD IN ALEX* One of the great desert movies. One of the great war movies. One of the great beer movies. I don't think it's ever been shown on TCM. Best wishes Metairie Road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfpcc1 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 *Wrist Cutters: A Love Story* Most of this film Takes place in a desert like purgatory. It's probably my favorite film of the new millennium I think you can call the Mad Max films desert movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansFin Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Only a part of *Bedouin* (2012) is set in the desert but they are very moving scenes and it is as if the desert it also a character in the way that it affects the scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 > {quote:title=markfp2 wrote:}{quote}I was about to mention "Ice Cold Alex", myself, which is a very good one that I always enjoy seeing, especially being a huge John Mills fan. Unfortunately, it's not available on DVD in the U.S. so I got a nice region 2 from the UK. > > It has a poor history in this country. The genius who was running the film's U.S. distributor, Universal-International, at the time, apparently decided that American's wouldn't understand the title, would find it too long and probably had never heard of the cast. so he had it cut from 125 minutes to 79 and changed the title to "Desert Attack" then released with little or no promotion as the bottom half of a double-bill with an Audey Murphy western. I don't think the uncut version ever had a release here. I didn't know that. Thanks. I can't remember who aired it in Canada? Haven't seen it for a long time but have seen it a few times in the past... Title known to me is "Ice Cold In Alex." Never heard of "Desert Attack." Anyway, I like "Ice Cold in Alex." An excellent movie... I like Anthony Quail in the flick. I`m pretty good at foreign accents - something you pick up when you study foreign languages - and I remember having fun trying to master Quail`s Afrikaans accent his character had in the film, after I had seen it - I know, I`m a geek... If you know how South African Boers talk, or have seen the movie, you know what I mean... (This is probably more information than y`all need to know about me...) Anyway, "Ice cold" refers to the beers the characters want to drink once they manage to get back to "Alex" - Alexandria, Egypt. Stills and video clips from the movie here: *http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/464914/* Wiki article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cold_in_Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 > {quote:title=darkblue wrote:}{quote} > > Also, 'March or Die' (1977) is darn good. Haven`t seen that one in ages... Think I actually paid to go see it at the movie theatre back in the day... Typical Foreign Legion flick, I guess... Can`t remember much about it, just Gene Hackman and lots of action: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_or_Die_%28film%29 ``New York Times`` review here: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9405E7D6113FE334BC4E53DFBE66838C669EDE&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes My title heading is meant as a joke... Which is worse, to march or die or watch AMC... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 > {quote:title=darkblue wrote:}{quote}I don't agree that it's typical (I've not seen any other Foreign Legion movies like it). > > > > > Otherwise, I wouldn't be mentioning it 35 years later. > I didn`t mean ``typical`` in a bad way... It`s a Foreign Legion movie... They in desert, fight among themselves and generally get in trouble while resenting commander Gene Hackman all the while, then fight bad guys and get killed... Plus a little romance thrown in with Catherine Deneuve... I`m not denigrating it... And I`d watch it again if it was on TCM... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMeingast Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 > {quote:title=darkblue wrote:}{quote}There's something different about it. Must be - Foreign Legion movies have always bored me to tears. Maybe it's the stellar cast. Maybe it's Hackman's performance. Also, the tremendous battle - kinda the way 'The Wild Bunch' is best remembered for that part of the movie. > > > > > If only TCM would show it, I'd be grateful to see it again. > Yep, I haven`t seen it since I was a kid way back in `77, but I do remember it since you mentioned it... Worth a look on TCM... Why not... Maybe have a Foreign Legion day of films... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arturo Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Just something to do for today... Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving (closest thing they have is *Guy Fawkes Day* on November 5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night)... And, of course, Canadians celebrated Turkey Day in October... There is a scene in HANGOVER SQUARE where some kids remind Laird Cregar of the history of Guy Fawkes Day. It later gives Cregar an idea of what to do with Linda Darnell once he's strangled her...toss her body on the pyre that was built....which singed her during filming, ironically reinforcing Linda's lifelong fear of fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedya Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 I vote for *Scott of the Antarctic*. Antarctica gets so little precipitation that it's technically a desert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 I was all set to complain that they'd left out Greed, but now that I see they included it I'm a man with a dry crying towel. Won't someone have pity on me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 *Hell's Heroes* and *Flight of The Phoenix* could have replaced *Zabriski's Point* on that list as far as I'm concerned. And what about *Raiders of The Lost Ark* ? Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Has *Morocco* (1931) been mentioned? The scene of Dietrich going off into the desert, removing her high heels first, is iconic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Lets not forget to include desert plants in sci-fi. Any *modern* movie about Mars i.e. "Mission to Mars". The desert planets Arrakis (aka Dune) in the movie "Dune" and Tatooine in "Star Wars". *Arrakis* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Instead of Hell's Heroes, how about Three Godfathers--no, not the awful Ford/Wayne waste of time--The Boleslawski/Morris vestion? Not that HH is bad. Foreign Legion movies brings to mind Beau Geste. Any version of that appeal to anybody? Westward the Women takes place mostly in desert regions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaTodd Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 The ultimate desert-er! Sung by jealous husbands and boyfriends throughout the land! The mystique of the desert went "global platinum" with *Rudolf Valentino in The Sheik (1921) and The Son Of the Sheik (1926)!* The effect this character and setting had on women then caused much comment at the time, and still appears remarkable in hindsight. The women of the 20's had to have had something really missing in their lives, as this was a strange form of "sea water drinking" for their thirst! After the "buzz" they felt in the theater, the "crash" came, and the ordinary men in their lives felt themselves compared to, and competing with, something larger than life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpompper Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 <Foreign Legion movies brings to mind Beau Geste. Any version of that appeal to anybody?> Nope. But it has nothing to do with the desert. Just am not a Gary Cooper fan and have yet to discover what the attraction is for so many fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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