Desert Sands

Ah, the French Foreign Legion, where men can be men and no one can judge them for it. Yes, I'm rewriting my western posse lead so deal with it. Originally created in 1831, the Legion is a unit in the French armed forces that allows for foreign nationals to join the Legion, not an exclusively French group of soldiers. This very unique, very interesting military force has provided a long list of films to tell their story. Check out the list HERE. The most famous is Beau Geste, but there are many, many more, including 1955's Desert Sands.

At an isolated outpost in northern Africa, Fort Valeau, the French Foreign Legion garrison is readying for relief, for a break from its year-long posting. The commanding officer (an uncredited Ben Wright) is set to be replaced as well, medical concerns beginning to weigh on him. His replacement? A legend among the Legion, Capt. David Malcolm (Ralph Meeker), an American who has gained quite a reputation over the years as an impressive, more than capable fighting man. Malcolm arrives at the outpost ahead of his relief company (by helicopter too, oooh!), surprised they haven't arrived yet. Malcolm and the garrison soon find out why. A young shiekh, El Zanal (Keith Larsen), has been lying in wait for 15 years, building and planning and preparing for an all-out assault that will wipe out the Legion, starting with Fort Valeau. Malcolm's relief company has been massacred, and the garrison is very much on its own with no help in sight.

There is a certain charm to French Foreign Legion movies that have always appealed to me. The portrayal of these fighting men is usually of misfits and screw-ups looking for a chance to redeem themselves through battle, sometimes through their own death. It's magnified for movies obviously, the Legion a legitimate fighting unit in the French military. But as movies would have it, it seems garrison after garrison of Legionnaires are wiped out by warring tribesmen across Africa and around the world. This short, 87-minute B-movie from director Lesley Selander certainly has its moments. The isolated outpost is a very cool set, and while there isn't a ton of star power, there's some fun characters on-hand. 'Sands' is content to be fun and entertaining, but some script issues really prevent it from being a good movie.

The positives are pretty obvious for me. Isolated outpost, impossible odds, eccentric group of legionnaires forced to fight together, putting aside their differences and rivalries. Fun, right? Meeker is okay as Capt. Malcolm, a little wooden for a guy known for his dark roles. I would have liked a little more background about his legendary status as a Legionnaire as well. His garrison is full of some cool characters that lack star power, but that's a minor concern when you're having fun. They include Sgt. Diepel (J. Carroll Naish), the longtime fighter and tough as nails sarge, Pvt. Tyle (John Smith), the fiery Texan, Havers (Ron Randell), the hard-drinking Brit, Lt. Mackie (Jarl Victor), second-in-command, Gabin (Otto Waldis), the likable vet, Lucia (Peter Mamakos), the amiable Italian, Ducco (Albert Carrier), the cowardly Frenchman, Woloack (Mort Mills), the radioman, Sandy (Philip Tonge), the friendly Scotsman, and Kleiner (Peter Norman), the outpost's doctor. A fun, cool group of disparate characters.

One would think that with an 87-minute movie, there isn't a whole lot of time available to really screw things up. One would be wrong. This movie was good, really entertaining, good action, for the first 45 minutes. Then it wasn't good. Larsen could be the most wooden actor ever, his epic, diabolical plans for revenge coming across as a pretty weak plan....that took 15 years to plan. Meh, what's time anyways? That's one thing though, not a deal-breaker. How about Zanal's sister, Zara (Marla English), also seeking revenge? Well, kind of. Mostly, she instantly falls in love with the not so charismatic Capt. Malcolm. She's like putty in his hand when she finds out his wife and child were killed in a car accident. The ladies do like a tortured bad boy, don't they? A story about a last stand, about honor and loyalty and camaraderie in the Legion? Money in the bank. But no. Let's make it a love story. Sound thinking if you ask me.

Now getting to the 45-minute mark is pretty fun. Good tension, good mystery as we meet the garrison's men, start to question what exactly is going on just out of view over the horizon. Zanal's attack on the fort is a gem, well-choreographed and surprisingly dark for a 1955 flick. For a B-movie in general, it's a pretty solid action sequence. That's ruined in the finale as the Legionnaires fight off a second massacre, defeating the evil invaders with awful strategy. Surrounded on all sides by expert marksmen from positions of height, the Legionnaires stand in the open in square formation, shooting back....and winning!!! It's such a stupidly put together finale, wrapping things up far too quickly. A disappointing end result, mostly because it was pretty decent early on. Also look for John Carradine as Jala, a treacherous, conniving wine merchant. Oh, an evil wine merchant!

Desert Sands (1955): **/****

Ten Tall Men

The Dirty Dozen may be the most well-known, but director Robert Aldrich's WWII convicts-turned-commandos adventure is just one in a long list of movies that used the same basic formula. Start with a suicide mission that is almost certain to fail -- but almost always succeeds in the end -- and add in a heavy dose of unwilling participants who want nothing to do with it. A good place to start? Go to the local prison/penitentiary and recruit some convicts. They come cheap and can't really make demands, and if they don't make it back, well too bad.

Aldrich's classic perfected this formula with Lee Marvin leading a group of 12 prisoners sentenced to death or extended prison sentences. But to say that formula is limited to just war movies would be wrong as westerns, historical movies, and action/adventure also put their own personal spin on the idea. Even Michael Bay's The Rock used Sean Connery as a prisoner turned savior. Making this premise easier to spin comes easy for French Foreign Legion stories, like 1951's Ten Tall Men, where this international group of soldiers often came from the dregs of society to begin with.

So starts Ten Tall Men where Sgt. Mike Kincaid (Burt Lancaster) and his two corporals and close friends Luis Delgado (Gilbert Roland) and Pierre Molier (Kieron Moore) return to their Foreign Legion post in Tarfa with a prisoner. Kincaid gets thrown in the stockade for going after the acting unit commander's girlfriend (Mari Blanchard). Put in the cell next to the prisoner he brought in, Kincaid finds out the Rif tribes are organizing and plan to attack the city in less than a week.

Approaching the unit commander, Lt. Kruger (Stephen Bekassy), Kincaid offers a proposition; let him take out a group of prisoners currently rotting away in the cells and slow up the Rif tribes until the regiment can return to help defend the city. Kruger somewhat suspiciously approves so Kincaid rides out with Luis and Pierre and seven prisoners in tow. Now, the tough sergeant must figure out how to slow up the upcoming attack while also keeping his guardhouse squad under control. Kincaid decides on a risky plan, kidnap the daughter (Jody Lawrance) of one of the chieftains who is responsible for bringing the previously warring tribes together.

'Tall Men' was released a year before another Lancaster movie, The Crimson Pirate, that while dealing with vastly different subjects, is similar in tone. Both movies were made to be as entertaining as possible with no deeper meanings or awards aspirations. Filmed in Technicolor, this Legionnaire story is colorful, full of action and over the top characters. Even when the evil Rif tribesmen, led by Gerald Mohr's Khalif Hussein, start to track down Kincaid's squad there's never a real sense of danger because in the end you know Kincaid's going to get the job done, and of course, get the girl, the Rif princess who hates him at first but ultimately falls for him. Totally didn't see that twist coming, right?

This is the type of role that Lancaster was born to play, extravagant, over the top, a lover of life who's always ready to flash his famous grin at whatever is put in front of him. Later in his career, Lancaster played a fair share of more serious, low-key characters, but this is him at his best. And less than five years removed from his screen debut in The Killers, Lancaster -- a circus performer before he got into movies -- does almost all his own stunts. In the Beau Geste/Gunga Din vein of the trio of friends, Roland gets to be the flamboyant 'Mamacita'-shouting Spanish legionnaire and Moore plays the equally nutty Frenchman. The convict squad Kincaid puts together includes Michael Pate, John Dehner, Mike Mazurki, George Tobias, and Nick Dennis.

With a Foreign Legion story, there isn't as much action as one might expect where its predecessors like Beau Geste and Gunga Din (even if it isn't Foreign Legion) were heavy on the gunfights and shootouts from the start. What's here is decent although a lot of it is tongue in cheek. As opposed to the Legionnaires gunning down Rif tribesmen, there's a lot of fistfights and hand to hand struggles. Let's face it, what solves a dispute better than a good old-fashioned brawl with crazy sound effects? The story though is a lot of fun, giving star Lancaster and the cast a chance to ham it up for some exciting action. A nice enough way to pass 90 minutes.

Ten Tall Men (1951): ** 1/2 /****