There's some common ground with both ZULU and THE SANDS OF THE KALAHARI . Both were financed by Hollywood executive Joseph Levine , both were co-produced by Stanley Baker and Cy Endfield and Enfield scripted and directed both films which were distributed by Paramount pictures and both have South African locations . ZULU is rightly regarded as one of the greatest movies Britain has ever made ( For the sake of argument ZULU is a British movie regardless of its Hollywood involvement ) and airs on British network TV at least once a year . However SANDS is almost totally unknown . I saw it one afternoon about 15 years ago and until today that was certainly the last time it was broadcast . A pity because although I had very vague memories of it being good I hadn't realized how great it was until today . I was actually speechless after " THE END " caption came up on screen . This is every bit as exciting and entertaining as ZULU
I would describe this movie as THE NAKED PREY meets 28 DAYS LATER . A strange combination I know but where as Alex Garland's script tried rather unsuccessfully to mix twin themes involving human nature and survival here Endfield's script explores how far human beings can go in order to survive . Monkeys are also important to the plot believe it or not ! Seeing as the script for THE NAKED PREY was Oscar nominated I can't help feeling that Cy Endfield was short changed at award ceremonies . THE NAKED PREY deserved its accolades but the script here is slightly more dramatic since there's more characterisation involved and there little digs at the human condition if you look closely enough you'll see lust , greed , ignorance and even the old excuse of " I was only following orders " come in for criticism . I would love to discuss the script in more detail but that would involve spoilers and I wouldn't want to spoil this movie for anyone who hasn't seen it . All I will say is ....
WATCH THIS MOVIE IF YOU GET THE CHANCE . It's intelligent , exciting , very well paced and criminally underrated . The fact that this page and its related message board is composed mainly of people crying " Please release this on DVD " should tell you what a great movie this is
I would describe this movie as THE NAKED PREY meets 28 DAYS LATER . A strange combination I know but where as Alex Garland's script tried rather unsuccessfully to mix twin themes involving human nature and survival here Endfield's script explores how far human beings can go in order to survive . Monkeys are also important to the plot believe it or not ! Seeing as the script for THE NAKED PREY was Oscar nominated I can't help feeling that Cy Endfield was short changed at award ceremonies . THE NAKED PREY deserved its accolades but the script here is slightly more dramatic since there's more characterisation involved and there little digs at the human condition if you look closely enough you'll see lust , greed , ignorance and even the old excuse of " I was only following orders " come in for criticism . I would love to discuss the script in more detail but that would involve spoilers and I wouldn't want to spoil this movie for anyone who hasn't seen it . All I will say is ....
WATCH THIS MOVIE IF YOU GET THE CHANCE . It's intelligent , exciting , very well paced and criminally underrated . The fact that this page and its related message board is composed mainly of people crying " Please release this on DVD " should tell you what a great movie this is