Ashanti (1979 film)

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Ashanti
Michael Melvoin
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • April 12, 1979 (1979-04-12)
Running time
118 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Switzerland
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7.5 million[1]
extras
on the set of "Ashanti".

Ashanti (also called Ashanti, Land of No Mercy) is a 1979 action

slave trading
, with a man who determinedly takes on a perilous journey in order to find his beautiful wife, who has been kidnapped by brutal slave traders.

Despite its impressive cast and setting (on location in the Sahara, and in Kenya, Israel, and Sicily), Ashanti was widely panned by critics upon release. Michael Caine was reportedly very disappointed with the project and claims it was the third worst film along with his previous films The Magus and The Swarm (despite appearing in other failures in the 1980s). It was one of Holden's final films, and the final film of cinematographer Aldo Tonti.

Plot summary

David and Anansa Linderby are doctors with the

Ashanti local. The police can do nothing to find her and David has almost given up hope when he hears rumours that Anansa has been kidnapped by Suleiman to be sold to an Arab, Prince Hassan. The African authorities deny that a slave trade even exists and David must find help in a shadowy world where the rescuers of slaves are as ruthless as the traders. As David tracks Anansa across Africa and the Sahara desert, he is helped by a member of the Anti-Slavery League, a mercenary helicopter pilot and Malik, an Indian who seeks revenge on Suleiman.[2]

Cast

Production

The project was announced in January 1978 with

Richard C. Sarafian to direct, Michael Caine, Omar Sharif, Peter Ustinov and Telly Savalas to star.[3] Ken Norton was offered a role in the film but turned it down.[4][5]

The film was shot on location in Kenya starting in April.

Richard Sarafian was sacked and replaced by Richard Fleischer. The female lead and cinematographer were fired. Telly Savalas who was in the cast had to drop out.[1] Fleischer arranged for the script to be rewritten. George MacDonald Fraser, who had recently adapted Tai Pan for the producers, was commissioned to work on the script to help boost Sharif's part.[7][8]

Director Fleischer and co-star Beverly Johnson were supposedly both removed from filming two-thirds of the way through the shoot due to sunstroke.[9] However, an interview with Ms. Johnson included on the 2013 Severin Films Blu-ray edition of Ashanti makes no reference to these "removals", suggesting that they may belong to myth.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Beautiful Kenya has a new national goal: To turn itself into the Hollywood of Africa Storey". David. Chicago Tribune. July 10, 1978. p. a9.
  2. user-generated source
    ]
  3. ^ "Four Star's Cast In 'Ashanti' Film". New York Times. Jan 5, 1978. p. C18.
  4. ProQuest 158593395
    .
  5. ^ Mann, R. (Mar 14, 1978). "Richard harris: Ain't misbehavin'". Los Angeles Times.
    ProQuest 158530458
    .
  6. ProQuest 123689311
    .
  7. ^ George MacDonald Fraser, The Light's On at Signpost, HarperCollins 2002 p205-206
  8. ProQuest 158520135
    .
  9. ^ Citizen Caine film review

External links

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