WWII movie

[Jack]

So this is an old black and white movie about the Allies vs. the Germans in the desert.  The Germans are trying to take some small military base (most of the movie is spent as these two groups are travelling through the desert to get to this base), but the Allied soldiers get there first.  I think it's abandoned when they arrive.  Even though the Allies are vastly outnumbered, the natural geography of the area allows them to make a pretty good defensive fortress out of the place.  There's a fairly large battle at the end.  I remember the Allied soldiers running around behind their sandbags, firing from one position after another.  They know it's a suicide stand, but they decide it's the only thing to do.

Anybody remember this?  I saw it a few years ago and would like to see it again.  Thanks.

[Andrew]

What jumps to mind is "Sahara" (1943).

[BoyScoutKevin]

Yeah, it does sound like "Sahara." One of the better WWII movies made during WWII. With a mixed group of allied soldiers (American, British, French, Irish, South African, Sudanese) racing the Germans to nearest water for miles around. The allies get there first, but the joke is that the waterhole has gone dry, and there is no water.

With a cast that included Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram, Dan Duryea, and Peter Lawford in an uncredited role.

It would be done ten years later as a western, called "The Last Comanche," w/ Broderick Crawford in the Humphrey Bogart part, and almost forty years after that, as a made for television movie, w/ Jim Belushi in the Humphrey Bogart part.

[Dennis]

Yeah, it does sound like "Sahara." One of the better WWII movies made during WWII. With a mixed group of allied soldiers (American, British, French, Irish, South African, Sudanese) racing the Germans to nearest water for miles around. The allies get there first, but the joke is that the waterhole has gone dry, and there is no water.

With a cast that included Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram, Dan Duryea, and Peter Lawford in an uncredited role.

It would be done ten years later as a western, called "The Last Comanche," w/ Broderick Crawford in the Humphrey Bogart part, and almost forty years after that, as a made for television movie, w/ Jim Belushi in the Humphrey Bogart part.

I think that of the 3 films. the original with Humphrey Bogart is by far the best, just can't picture Jim Belushi or Broderick Crawford as military men. As far as the original one thing that I've always been bothered by is that the German mechinized battalion didn't attack from more than one direction at once, always seemed to go straight at the heavy firepower, German officiers were not that dumb in the real world.

[Jim H]

Yeah, it does sound like "Sahara." One of the better WWII movies made during WWII. With a mixed group of allied soldiers (American, British, French, Irish, South African, Sudanese) racing the Germans to nearest water for miles around. The allies get there first, but the joke is that the waterhole has gone dry, and there is no water.

With a cast that included Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram, Dan Duryea, and Peter Lawford in an uncredited role.

It would be done ten years later as a western, called "The Last Comanche," w/ Broderick Crawford in the Humphrey Bogart part, and almost forty years after that, as a made for television movie, w/ Jim Belushi in the Humphrey Bogart part.

I think that of the 3 films. the original with Humphrey Bogart is by far the best, just can't picture Jim Belushi or Broderick Crawford as military men. As far as the original one thing that I've always been bothered by is that the German mechinized battalion didn't attack from more than one direction at once, always seemed to go straight at the heavy firepower, German officiers were not that dumb in the real world.

Watch for Jim Belushi in a small role in Thief, as James Caan's ill-fated partner.  It's a military esque role, and he actually does a very good job.

[Jack]

Thanks guys!  Now that you mention it, it was Humphrey Bogart.