The Age of Commercialism

not horrible nor great

Dreadfully Boring

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

While helping her husband, "Dr. David Linderby" (Michael Caine) vaccinate an isolated African village "Dr. Anansa Linderby" (Beverly Johnson) is kidnapped by slave traders. But before the notorious leader named "Suleiman" (Peter Ustinov) can collect his money for her his small party must first travel 3000 miles across Africa to a port in the Red Sea. Realizing that David is going to need all the help he can get to rescue his wife, an anti-slavery official named "Brian Walker" (Rex Harrison) arranges to have a mercenary by the name of "Jim Sandell" (William Holden) and later a desert nomad named "Malik" (Kabir Bedi) to assist. But time is of the essence and Africa is a big continent. Anyway, rather than detail the entire plot and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a fairly interesting action movie. Both Michael Caine and Peter Ustinov performed rather well but it was Kabir Bedi who really stole the show. I also enjoyed the scenery provided by Beverly Johnson. On the flip side though, I thought the enormous talents of Rex Harrison, William Holden and Omar Sharif (as "Prince Hassan") weren't fully utilized as much as they should have been. Even so, this was an enjoyable movie for the most part and I rate it as slightly above average.

Beverly Johnson and Michael Caine as an interracial marriage of doctors try to help some African kids when the woman is abducted by a ruthless slave hunter (Peter Ustinov). Seeing that the local officials are not too willing to do anything about it, Caine decides to take the justice into his own hands and starts chasing Ustinov across the vast deserts of Maghreb.Despite all the warnings, not that bad movie. The pace is somewhat slow, and the acting somewhat absent (though both Malik and Ustinov try to do their best), but generally, an acceptable filler on a rainy afternoon. The high points are the shots of North African desert and the Omar Shariff's short appearance.Beverly Johnson is pretty chick, but she's seen only periodically (still she has one scene of full frontal nudity, although very brief). And the grimy subject definitely deserved a better treatment. All in all, not a definitely bad movie; just nothing really memorable, exceptional and shining here. 5/10.

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.

Richard Fleischer was a very prolific director with a simple style but he was brave enough to enter films in all genres ("The Vikings", "Barabbas", "Compulsion", "Blind Terror", "The Boston Strangler", "Soylent Green", "Tora, Tora, Tora") with very good and acceptable results indeed.With "Ashanti" he gets a watchable film and a sort of testimonial one dealing with slavery in the XX Century as a pretty female Doctor rendering services for the United Nations among primitive tribes in Africa is kidnapped to be sold in the eastern Arabian markets; her husband goes on a long pursuit of the slave traders to recover her. Shoot in jungle and desert wide-open outdoor locations the film is sort of slow at times but it also has some good moments.An all star cast is a plus. Michael Caine renders an acceptable performance as the willing husband and model Beverly Johnson does too as his abducted wife. Peter Ustinov steals the show as the fiendish chief slave dealer Suleiman in what is probably the most interesting character in the film. Rex Harrison and William Holden not at the peak of their careers back then make correct appearances in small roles. Omar Shariff and Kabir Bedi are there too.Not a great film at all but worth a watch in my opinion. It's a 6 out of 10 for me.