''Sahara Cross'' is a 1977

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by Tonino Valerii. It is the first Italian film to use

steadicam Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation. The Steadicam brand was acquired by Tiffen in 2000. It was designed to isolate the ...

.David Ballerini, ''Steadicam. Una rivoluzione nel modo di fare cinema'', Falsopiano, Alessandria 1999, p. 70.

Plot

Cast

Franco Nero Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), which made him a pop cul ...

as Jean Bellard * Michel Constantin as Carl Mank * Pamela Villoresi as Nicole * Mauro Barabani as Hamid *

Antonio Cantafora Antonio Cantafora (2 February 1944 – 20 April 2024), also known professionally as Michael Coby, was an Italian film and television actor. Life and career Born in Crotone, Cantafora studied acting with Alessandro Fersen, then he made his fi ...

as Georges (as Michael Coby) * Nazzareno Zamperla as Captain Zaft *

Geoffrey Copleston Gerald Geoffrey Copleston (18 March 1921 – 6 October 1998) was an English actor, voice actor, and translator who worked primarily in Italian genre cinema. He worked on more than one hundred films beginning in 1956, including many English-langu ...

as Colonel Brown * Pietro Valsecchi as Arab terrorist

Production

The film was originally very different than the completed film. Valerii stated that the film was originally titled ''Arissa Ballerina'' and written by

Adriano Belli Adriano Belli (born August 25, 1977) is a Canadian former professional gridiron football, football player who played in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Belli is nicknamed "The Kissing Bandit" for his penchant for kissing people on thei ...

. Valerii commented that "In short, everything was the opposite of what Hitchcock recommended, that is, that characters must ignore what the viewer knows. I told the producers I would make a film out of that script, because it just made no sense!" Gastaldi and Valerii re-wrote the script, but struggled as the Tunisian co-production signed on to Belli's script. Gastaldi's contribution added new motivations for characters and included a few new scenes such as the battle between two bulldozers. Valerii wasn't initially happy with casting Pamela Villoresi, stating that "Sometimes you have to make do with compromises or economical limitations, Villoresi is a very good actress, but I wouldn't cast her as a terrorist, if it weren't for a pre-signed agreement." The film was shot in nine weeks. It was shot at Cinecitta with exteriors shot in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. Valerii used a

for the desert shots. As it was a very first model, director of photography

Franco Di Giacomo Franco Di Giacomo (18 September 1932 – 30 April 2016) was an Italian cinematographer. Life and career Born in Amatrice, Province of Rieti, Di Giacomo started his career as assistant of Aldo Tonti. For many years he worked as an operator, ...

and cameraman Gianfranco Transunto were sent for special training in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

to use it.

Release

''Sahara Cross'' was released in Italy on 7 September 1977 where it was distributed by F.A.R. The film grossed a total of 706,960,000

Italian lira The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different s ...

on its theatrical run.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
''Sahara Cross''
at Variety Distribution 1977 films Italian action films 1977 action films Films set in Tunisia Films shot in Tunisia Films about terrorism Films scored by Riz Ortolani Films set in deserts Films directed by Tonino Valerii Films with screenplays by Ernesto Gastaldi 1970s Italian films {{1970s-action-film-stub