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Sadly Over-hyped

People are voting emotionally.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

I can't believe someone like Albert Vazquez-Figueroa would allow anyone to translate one of his books into such an embarrassing mess of a film. I read several of Figueroa's books and they are extremely entertaining. And with such a good cast I was expecting something at least watchable. But this film is appalling. It looks like everybody (including the director) could not wait to wrap things up and get out of there. Even the illustrious cast could not save it. Caine sort of sleepwalks through the whole thing. Holden is just too old for the role. Harrison looks understandably embarrassed. Kabir Bedi is great to look at, but he is not asked to do much more. Ustinov is the best of the lot as the Arab slave-dealer (Arabs were the ones who were most involved in the slave trade in Africa, but of course we can't say that these days, so it's more politically correct to blame the Jews; and let's see if IMDb has the guts to post my opinion).However, it's the utter fantastic situations that makes one throw one's hands in the air. Caine drops into a river in the middle of the African jungle (a place totally alien to him) after the helicopter carrying him crashes and the pilot of course dies, and in the next scene we see him clean and healthy in an airport ready to board a plane. How the blazes did he get there?! People walk barefoot in the burning sands of the desert for miles without getting so much as a blister. Sand troughs in oases contain crystalline water. In abundance. I could go on, but you get the general picture. And how about the sound track? Elevator music! I kid you not.A total mess. Get the book and avoid this silliness.

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.

My rating considers the subject matter, modern-day slavery (!), some good photography ( captives walking through Lawrence's desert, a couple of good cameos), and gives Caine, and the director, a pass for execution. I agree that there could have been a much better musical score, however, this film tickled my imagination when I first saw it in 1980; not just about how it could have been a better film, but simply by the fact that slavery, and a slave trade, continues to exist: a fact later confirmed and documented by activists as recently as 2001. As this film was originally released in 1979, I wonder how much of a budget the film would have had it been made more recently, in light of current knowledge about this phenomenon. I have ordered this film to be included in my collection. Some films' impact is only realized over time, perhaps with repeat viewings, or some time after viewing to consider their whole; some have their greatest impact upon first or second viewing, with subsequent consideration or viewing either reducing said impact, or by that impact's simply not continuing to swell. This is a film that, while it didn't continue to grow in significance for me, neither did its significance decline. It could certainly have been better, and it's unfortunate that Michael Caine, an actor whose work I largely admire, wasn't happy to have worked on this film, but I do believe that it is much better than many other b- films to be found.