The Sahara -- Years Ago! Land of Sand, Riffs, Adventure, and beaded curtains! Also fairy tales like this story. Burt Lancaster is a sergeant in the French Foreign Legion, head of a pack of madcap ne'er-do-wells including some of the leading lights among the supporting players of the 40s and 50s. There's Gilbert Roland, Mike Mazurky, George Tobias and John Dehner. Yes, they will fight over a pair of socks but share the last drop in their canteen with the others. When they die, it's with a joke on their lips. ("Why does the chicken cross the road?") One for all; all for one. For added thrills and laughs, there is Mari Blanchard in a canary yellow dress and a fluffy hair do of the same tint.Lancaster and his men capture a Riff prisoner and bring him back to Lieutenant Kruger in temporary charge of the base at Tafra. Kruger is played meanly by Stephen Bekassy. Bekassy was a Hungarian but no matter. One foreign accent sounds much like any other to Hollywood's ears, and it's as well that the mean guy should be a German because 1951 was only six years after the end of World War II and we still hadn't forgiven the Nazis. Bekassy and Lancaster hate each other. And while Bekassy is busy torturing the Riff prisoner, Lancaster's Sergeant Kinkaid does roughly to Bekassy's girl friend what Lancaster's Sergeant Warden did to HIS captain's wife in "From Here to Eternity." Result: Lancaster and his musketeers are sent on a dangerous mission through the desert in order to avert a Riff attack on the undermanned base. They kidnap a princess who is the cause of it all and gallop off into the wasteland. This is some princess too, well worth kidnapping, even if it doesn't prevent a war. Jody Lawrance, in dark makeup, is sublimely beautiful and sexy. She burns with hatred for the Legionnaires. She glares at them with irises the color of obsidian. When she speaks her voice is low, throaty, piercing, menacing, bitter, conjuring up personal images of marriages past. And she's awfully cute when she's mad. The men, of course, all want to ravage her -- except for Lancaster, who saves her from their brutality. For a moment, Lancaster and princess clinch while the ghost of Rimsky-Korsakoff plays a romantic tune in the background.Situation Report. The half-dozen or so legionnaires are hustling across the desert with the sultry princess in tow, pursued by a multitude of black-robed, outraged, and frustrated Elf Kings. The chase is not without its hazard. Three of the legionnaires are picked off, each after some heroic deed, expiring in the arms of a comrade, always cheerful. "Londos, you're hurt bad." "I'm cashing in my chips, Mike, but why -- why -- did Descartes suddenly disappear in the wine shop? (Gasp.)" The ending is a Donneybrook in the enemy camp, so comic it could be Bing Crosby and Bob Hope instead of Lancaster's men. There are tense moments when a Riff has Lancaster pinned under him, both men straining against the Arab dagger, only quivering inches from Lancaster's taut face. Do Burt and his men save the fort? Does Burt get the girl? Is that supposed to be a joke? Burt Lancaster is at his best here. With a few exceptions like "Atlantic City," he was never much of a serious actor but he was great in these early adventure roles. He pulled out all the stops to magisterial comic effect. His grin is filled with Chiclets. He bounces around as if he were half his actual size, limber but not muscle bound. Off the screen he was an equally admirable altruist. Lots of fun.

This is a typical Hollywood action-adventure movie of the 1950's. It is a vehicle for Burt Lancaster to show case his sly romantic, tongue in cheek comedic, and of course his bravura talents. This film also has a bunch of well known Hollywood character actors, most as reprobate Legionnaires who are sent on a mission to delay the Riff from attacking the town of Tarfa. There is the promotion hungry lieutenant who has been left in command while most of the regiment is away. He and Burt ( a sergeant well liked by the major but NOT the LT.) are at odds over a saloon singer. This gets Lancaster in trouble as he belts the officer and gets thrown in the gaol. His only way out is to go on the probable suicide mission This where Hollywood rears it special effects head. Burt's revolver is capable of more than six shots with out a reload!! They steal the chieftain's daughter to prevent a uniting marriage between two tribe of Riff. During the course of their flight the girl of course falls for the handsome, charismatic sergeant. Everything turns out well in the end with Burt getting a medal that the lieutenant must present to him with full honors (kiss on the cheeks)!!

Despite the presence of Burt Lancaster, this is a very ordinary sort of French Foreign Legion film. You certainly WON'T be reminded of "Beau Geste" when you see "Ten Tall Men".Lancaster plays a trouble-loving sergeant. However disrespectful and crazy he behaves, however, he's loyal and very brave. So, when he hears that the evil Hussin is planning an attack, he's quick to volunteer to take a group of nine men and try to delay Hussin's men. But, when they arrive in his camp in disguise, they learn that Hussin is about to marry the daughter of his hated rival from another clan. And, in doing so, he'll united the clans and be strong enough to beat the Legion. So, they impulsively decide to kidnap the lady--figuring that this way the two tribes will not become one. Much of the rest of the film consists of Lancaster and his men running from the pursuers.I assume that if you love the colonial system, you will be more favorably disposed towards this film. After all, if you think about it, you could just as easily root for the rebels as they are trying to rid their land of foreign invaders. As for me, the deciding factor for not loving the film had much more to do with the very pedestrian nature of the movie. Nothing caught my interest and it seemed more like a B-movie with color than anything else. It had a lot of clichés (such as the falling in love bit that came from out of no where) and an ending that just seemed rushed and, again, clichéd. Not a terrible film--just not a good one either.By the way, look for Robert Clary (of "Hogan's Heroes" fame) in a small part as one of the natives.

In those last years before the French finally cleared out of North Africa, Foreign Legion films seem to have been popular with the movie going public. Ten Tall Men is a typical example of such a film. Even though ultimately and soon the French would be driven out of the area the Foreign Legion patrolled before the decade ended.Burt Lancaster is a sergeant of American background in the Foreign Legion and typically we don't know what drove him to join. His two corporals are Gilbert Roland and Kieron Moore and a bit of lese majeste involving Mari Blanchard got these guys some stockade time. Still they and others break out and hear of both an impending attack by the Riffs while the regiment is away on their post. It will be at the conclusion of a marriage between Jody Laurence the daughter of one sheik and Gerald Mohr another sheik. Once these tribes are united nothing stands in their way.What to do but kidnap the daughter and hold her until the regiment returns. That proves easier said than done and once done a lot harder to tame this desert wildcat. But Burt with that smile and those pecs is the guy for the job.None of the players in Ten Tall Men took this one real seriously and neither should we. Ten Tall Men is like a combination of The Desert Song and The Road To Morocco without songs.Don't believe me, well check out the end and you can't tell me The Road To Morocco didn't inspire that.