Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Beautiful, moving film.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

When I refer to we, I am referring to all of the nationalities involved in the French Foreign Legion, the famous military group made up of citizens of many countries who fought together for one common cause, mostly with a sense of adventure in the Middle East. World War I has come to an end, and there is unfinished business in Morocco. That involves the search for a treasure and precious artifact to learn about historical events that have yet to be discovered. They are from the United States, England, France, Russia, among others, joined together in one common cause-a need for excitement and a desire to serve in the military in places that they would most likely not see in their own countries. The invasion of sacred ground creates the conflict between the leader of the exposition (Gene Hackman) and the Moroccan leader (Ian Holm), once allies. It is a tough fight for the soldiers to get there, having internal conflicts between members of different nations and ultimately their frustration over a very cruel drill sergeant who has no compassion or caring, leaving one man in the desert to die after he complains that his shoes are too small to continue moving. "March or die!", he commands, tossing the shoes over his shoulder and forcing the man to march barefoot. When another soldier tries to help the uncomfortable shoeless marcher, the sergeant becomes even more cruel, and this is followed by some drastic measures for the various soldiers in dealing with their plight.Hackman's leader doesn't step up to the plate to discipline the evil drill sergeant, and in one scene when confronted by the Moroccan leader, who has taken prisoners of the European archaeologists, Hackman simply retaliates by shooting each of the prisoners in the head, getting that conflict with him out of the way. Little does he realize that one of the two men was the father whom the beautiful French Catherine Deneuve was traveling to meet. The conflicts continue to increase between the desert army's and the Foreign Legion soldiers and their leaders, and the finale is a tremendous battle sequence that will have you visited to the screen.Produced by Sir Lew Grade, the filmmaker behind "Voyage of the Damned" and "The Cassandra Crossing", this is an elegant and handsome adventure film that grabs the audience immediately. As the new members of the Foreign Legion start to get together, this doesn't let up in battles and action. This is "Beau Gesye", "Lawrence of Arabia", with a bit of the Indiana Jones saga thrown in as well. Max von Sydow is present in a major role as one of the leading archaeologist who travels with the group to meet up with those whom Hackman later kills.Outstanding photography and an excellent musical score add to the quality of this a great film which has somehow slipped through the cracks over the years. It is one of those major international releases that had attention when it first came out, but was overshadowed in a year dominated by "Star Wars", Saturday Night Fever" and "Annie Hall". Deneuve is strikingly beautiful and gives a performance quite restrained and dignified. For me however, the best performance was by Terence Hill as a scoundrel of a soldier who first get Deneuve's attention by stealing a pearl necklace from a passenger aboard the ship they are traveling on, and is disciplined by Hackman by forfeit liquor which make him lose his balance and fall down a flight of stairs in order to humiliate him in front of the other new members of the Foreign Legion. There are many moments of cruelty and bloodshed, and some of it seems a bit gratuitous. However in the long run, all of this is necessary, because this is not an Arabian Nights story. This is parallel to the conflicts that were going on between the Middle East and America at the time, and an example of how a world that does not understand diversity cannot survive.

The opening sequence is supposed to show the Legion arriving in Paris on 13 Nov 1918. The troops pile off the train -- wearing the uniform in which the French Army, including the Legion, marched off to war in 1914! This a sure sign that the war flick you are about to see will be a turkey. (The French Army realized by 1915 that going to war in red trousers and dark blue overcoats was not working. Metropolitan French troops were put into "horizon blue" and Colonial troops were put into khaki.) The Claude Van-Damme (sp?) remake at least got the uniforms more or less right. Really is too bad when directors make these sorts of mistakes when they then go to all the effort to get other things right.

This is a nice story of courageous men who have every gone out to face death ; dealing with an American Major named Foster (Gene Hackman) , recently finished WWI , he joined the French foreign Legion , and is assigned (by Max Von Sidow) to guard an archaeological expedition in Morocco desert . The ragtag team is formed by a rascal soldier named Mario (Terence Hill) , joined to avoid jail , a Russian corpulent (Jack O'Halloran) , a tough corporal (Vernon Dobtcheff) and a sadistic lieutenant (Marcel Bozzuffi) , among others . Following a full-clichéd plot with a brutal commanding , plenty of cruel punishments and brutality of training . Besides , the inevitable mystery woman (Catherine Deneuve) who falls in love with Mario . But the Foster's unit is attacked by Al Krim , an Arab leader who actually lived -in fact , he united the Morrocan tribes to battle French and Spanish army in the North of Africa until being defeated in Alhucemas- . The tiny garrison at the dig making a last stand against the assaults (in the wake to ¨Zulu¨ by Cy Endfield and ¨Dawn Zulu¨ by Douglas Hickox) .This adventure-epic movie contains agreeable acting , drama , noisy action , breathtaking battles and spectacular outdoors . Filmed on location in the Sahara desert , including an impressive production design by Gil Parrondo and marvelous cinematography by excellent cameraman John Alcott . The movie belongs to Foreign Legion genre , the story gets reminiscent with classic movies such as ¨Under two flags¨ (with Ronald Colman) , ¨Beau Geste¨ (Gary Cooper)¨and recently made ¨Legionnaire¨ (with Jean Claude Van Damme) . The pic was lavishly produced by the famous producer Jerry Bruckheimer along with Lew Grade . The motion picture was professionally directed by Dick Richards , and he gets efficiently to remain the adventure and action until the final . Before entering the film industry , Dick Richards was a contributing photographer for Life magazine , subsequently turning into filmmaking . Richards is a good craftsman who has directed a few films but of great quality , such as ¨The Culpepper Cattle¨, ¨March or die¨ , Death valley¨ , ¨Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins ¨and ¨Farewell my lovely¨ at his best . In addition , he found the script for 'Tootsie' and co-produced it with Sydney Pollack . Rating : Acceptable and passable . Well worth watching for Gene Hackman fans and adventure cinema enthusiasts.

I found this film underrated both by critics and specially audience.I mean,its the only film where you get the chance of seeing Gene Hackman and Terence Hill sharing the screen,not to mention Catherine Deneuve as lovely as always.Hackman's role is interesting and he never once fails in bringing it to life.Its touching,specially in the end where he dies.Hill does his best part ever without a doubt.I was surprised to see him pull off such a good role.A fine supporting cast includes Max Von Sydow and Ian Holm,as well as giant Jack O'Halloran in a memorable role as the Russian soldier Ivan.Anyway,i think the audience failed to see the real value here,as it often happens.It is a story of the Legion and its soldiers,but not just that.It includes strong issues such as imperialism,religious fanatism and the harsh army discipline,with a good love story thrown in.I dont know what else can you possibly want?A solid 8.