There were two movies released in 1965 that followed a group of plane crash survivors in the middle of the desert; I know, Hollywood isn't fair. Where The Flight of the Phoenix is inspiring and makes you stand up afterwards to applaud, Sands of the Kalahari is creepy and a total downer.
There's a key difference between the two films which might explain the two paths: a woman in the cast. With James Stewart at the helm, there wasn't a single woman in the film, so the men could just band together and try to fix their airplane. In the Stuart Whitman version, the other survivors are Stanley Baker, Nigel Davenport, and Susannah York. With a beautiful blonde in possession of a shapely figure, the men have an extra distraction and lose their camaraderie. Perhaps aided by a feeling of "it's now or never", all the men try their turn with Susannah. To be fair, Harry Andrews and Theodore Bikel are also survivors but they keep their hands to themselves.
I don't know why Stuart Whitman took this role. After an Academy Award nomination in 1961, he could have continued to headline heavy dramas. After this movie, however, he quickly became typecast in creepy, oddball films. Didn't he read the script? Didn't he know what his character would have to do in the later part of the movie - and why didn't he take a pass?
I really wouldn't recommend this movie, especially since there's another far, better choice with an extremely similar plot. This movie is downright disturbing, and there's no way anyone would stand up and cheer when the end credits roll. However, there is one reason to watch it: Nigel Davenport. My whole life, I'd only known him as George C. Scott's father in A Christmas Carol. The naïve child in me didn't even know he'd made other movies; I thought he was just hand-picked for the holiday classic. But twenty years earlier, he was young and able to pour his heart out on the screen. I can't talk about his character's path without spoiling plot points, but I had no idea he was such a talented actor. His tour-de-force scene is incredibly emotional, and it makes you want to watch other movies solely because he's in them. It was a very tough decision for Best Supporting Actor at the Hot Toasty Rag Awards of 1965, and even though Nigel didn't end up taking home the newspaper trophy, we were very proud to nominate him, which the Academy never did throughout his career.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence and upsetting scenes involving animals, I wouldn't let my kids watch it. Also, there may or may not be a rape scene.
There's a key difference between the two films which might explain the two paths: a woman in the cast. With James Stewart at the helm, there wasn't a single woman in the film, so the men could just band together and try to fix their airplane. In the Stuart Whitman version, the other survivors are Stanley Baker, Nigel Davenport, and Susannah York. With a beautiful blonde in possession of a shapely figure, the men have an extra distraction and lose their camaraderie. Perhaps aided by a feeling of "it's now or never", all the men try their turn with Susannah. To be fair, Harry Andrews and Theodore Bikel are also survivors but they keep their hands to themselves.
I don't know why Stuart Whitman took this role. After an Academy Award nomination in 1961, he could have continued to headline heavy dramas. After this movie, however, he quickly became typecast in creepy, oddball films. Didn't he read the script? Didn't he know what his character would have to do in the later part of the movie - and why didn't he take a pass?
I really wouldn't recommend this movie, especially since there's another far, better choice with an extremely similar plot. This movie is downright disturbing, and there's no way anyone would stand up and cheer when the end credits roll. However, there is one reason to watch it: Nigel Davenport. My whole life, I'd only known him as George C. Scott's father in A Christmas Carol. The naïve child in me didn't even know he'd made other movies; I thought he was just hand-picked for the holiday classic. But twenty years earlier, he was young and able to pour his heart out on the screen. I can't talk about his character's path without spoiling plot points, but I had no idea he was such a talented actor. His tour-de-force scene is incredibly emotional, and it makes you want to watch other movies solely because he's in them. It was a very tough decision for Best Supporting Actor at the Hot Toasty Rag Awards of 1965, and even though Nigel didn't end up taking home the newspaper trophy, we were very proud to nominate him, which the Academy never did throughout his career.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence and upsetting scenes involving animals, I wouldn't let my kids watch it. Also, there may or may not be a rape scene.