cynicschism

       Sahara is your basic WWII action movie, and a good one at that. After the German offensive in North Africa, a three-man tank crew finds itself cut off from the lines and must head south ahead of German forces.  The sergeant in command is played by Humphrey Bogart, his two men by Bruce Bennett and Dan Duryea.  As they head south they pick up a half dozen British Commonwealth soldiers from a bombed-out field hospital.  The small tank is getting crowded fast, but everybody climbs on for the ride, the alternative being dangerous.  The first priority is to head for a desert well to get water.  The first well is dry, so they head for another well.  When they reach it there is just a steady trickle of water, but’s it’s enough to give everybody some water.

       Naturally the much larger German force is also desperately in need of water and are heading for the same well.  So, at the climax of the movie, Bogie’s small crew will have to put up a defense against the much larger German force.  This is a plot familiar to anyone who has seen other WWII films.  As the small Allied force is picked off one by one by the Germans, Bogie sends Bruce Bennett out to try to get help from the nearest British army emplacement.  At the end Bogie is down to just one British Commonwealth soldier.  Then an German shell opens up the well and water gushes forth.  The Germans, desperate for water, now agree to accept Bogart’s earlier proposal of a pint of water for every surrendered German gun.  The Germans give up their arms and Bogie lines them up as POW’s and marches them out of the well head, meeting up with the British forces that Bruce Bennett had finally reached.  As the movie ends, the graves of those who died are shown, to remind all of the individual scarifice made so that the others could survive and go on to fight the war against Nazism.

       The films moves along at a good pace with enough conflict among the characters to keep things interesting when there is a lull in the fighting.  And the tank, despite numerous mechanical problems, just keeps on going along all throughout the movie.   Sahara is a fine WWII action movie on a small scale that still maintains a viewer’s interest and attention.

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