Caravans is a 1978 Iranian-American

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by James Fargo based on the 1963 novel by

James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales ...

. Nancy Voyles Crawford wrote the screenplay. This film represents people of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and their tradition in Qandahar,

Badakhshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising the Wakhan Corridor in northeast Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic ...

cities in that time and the Kochi people of Afghanistan. The film was shot in

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and starred

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...

Jennifer O'Neill Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American author, model, and former actress. Born in Brazil, and moving to the United States as an infant, she first came to prominence as a teenaged model (person), model, and for he ...

, and Michael Sarrazin.

Plot

The story is set in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Zadestan in 1948. Mark Miller is stationed at the American Embassy in the fictional city of Kashkhan and is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a young woman, Ellen Jasper, the daughter of a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

, who vanished after her marriage to Colonel Nazrullah several months previously. Nazrullah is desperate to find her and becomes defensive when Miller asks about her, for which he insists that he never laid a hand on her. By law, Ellen has given up her rights as a US citizen by becoming his wife. Miller traces her to a band of nomads led by Zulffiqar who are illegal gun-runners. She doesn't want to leave, being estranged from both her parents and her husband; her parents having forced her into an arranged and loveless marriage. Miller doesn't want to return without proof she's alive and well, which she refuses to give. Nazrullah lures the gun-runners into a trap. He separates Miller from the nomads and asks his wife to return to him but she refuses. Ellen at last gives Miller a note for her family. As the nomads leave, Nazrullah orders his troops to fire on them and Ellen is killed trying to rescue a child. A heartbroken Nazrullah carries away the body of his dead wife.

Cast

as Zulffiqar * Michael Sarrazin as Mark Miller * Christopher Lee as Sardar Khan *

as Ellen Jasper * Behrouz Vossoughi as Colonel Nazrullah * Joseph Cotten as Crandall * Barry Sullivan as Richardson *

Jeremy Kemp Edmund Jeremy James Walker (3 February 1935 – 19 July 2019), known professionally as Jeremy Kemp, was an English actor. He was known for his significant roles in the miniseries '' The Winds of War'' and '' War and Remembrance'', the film ''T ...

as Dr. Smythe *Duncan Quinn as Moheb *Behrouz Gramian as Peasant Boy (Behrooz Gueramian) * Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz as Shakkur *Parviz Gharib-Afshar as Nur Mohammad *Fahimeh Amouzandeh as Mira *Mohammad Kahnemoui as Maftoon (Mohammad Taghi Kahnemoui) *Khosrow Tabatabai as Dancing Boy

Production

In the MGM Lionpower featurette in 1967 it was advertised as one of many coming attractions in development at the time. MGM later dropped out of the film's distribution. The film later was distributed by Universal.

Changes from the source novel

The film was not well received by James Michener as it strayed wildly from the plot of his book, even eradicating its main character, a Nazi war criminal on the run who falls in love with the female lead character. This omission and other story changes caused Michener to take legal action.

Music

Mike Batt wrote the score, which has been the most successful element of the film, the album remaining a bestseller for many years after the film's release. The main instrumental theme "Theme From Caravans" has been widely used in media, for example by East German ice-skating star Katarina Witt in her World Championship-winning routine. It was also arranged as a march (marcha mora) for the Moors and Christians festival of Villena (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) since it was used as the opening theme for the annual radio program dedicated to that festival since its first emission in 1983. The vocal song "Caravan Song" was written by Mike Batt and sung by the British singer

Barbara Dickson Barbara Ruth Dickson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include " I Know Him So Well" (a chart-topping duet with Elaine Paige), " Answer Me" and " January February". Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK ...

. It peaked at No. 41 in UK charts and was included on her album '' All for a Song''.

Reception

Harold C. Schonberg of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' panned the film as a "fake epic," adding. "It has a fabricated plot, based on the James Michener novel, it has bad acting, it has unbelievably inane dialogue, and it has every cliché in the books, including an ending with the caravan silhouetted against the sunset. Even so reliable an actor as Anthony Quinn looks idiotic; he displays his macho by grunts and muttering, and occasionally there is a peculiar look on his face that suggests what he really thinks of all this nonsense.""Arts".
''

''. November 6, 1978. 54. '' Variety'' wrote, "The main trouble with 'Caravans' isn't the Iranians, it's Hollywood. Almost every fake moment in the film, and there are lots of them, has the touch of Hollywood laid on with a heavy coating. Take away the Americans, of course, and you wouldn't have such a slick film, but you might have a more honest one."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film 2 stars out of 4 and wrote that it was "slow and obvious, and at the end rather pointless," but "if you're facing a slow Sunday afternoon with a lot of time before the roast is done, 'Caravans' could, in its own way, be fun."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' gave the film 1 star out of 4 and called it "a thoroughly laughable desert adventure" with the relationship between Quinn and O'Neill getting "short shrift" and the movie lacking "an action scene of any merit. Only at the very end is there a battle of sorts. But director James Fargo ... shoots these scenes in boring medium shots. They are as exciting as if they had been shot with models in a sandbox." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called the film "a stirring romantic epic on a grand scale marred by patches of truly terrible dialogue. As a result, despite all that this Universal release has going for it in the way of visual splendor and high adventure, it is likely to be entertaining only for the least discriminating (or most indulgent)." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' wrote, "'Caravans' will be lucky if it's remembered as an expensive flop ... Ironically, the film's emptiness is magnified by the contrast between its drab, flimsy plot and vast, majestic landscapes. 'Caravans' is too inert to be salvaged by the photogenic advantages of impressive scenery." Tim Pulleine of ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote that "Ellen's twofold defection remains resolutely undramatised and the gun-running sub-plot is mainly demoted to a few cryptic reference to off-screen action. The movie thus becomes a tiresome exercise in anti-climax."

References

External links

* * * {{James Fargo English-language Iranian films 1978 films Films set in the Middle East Films set in Asia Films set in 1948 Universal Pictures films American adventure drama films 1970s Persian-language films Films shot in Iran Iranian multilingual films American multilingual films 1970s adventure drama films 1978 multilingual films 1978 drama films Iranian adventure films Iranian drama films Films directed by James Fargo 1970s English-language films 1970s American films English-language adventure drama films Iranian-American films