Details

Release year: 1977

Storyline

During the 1920s, French Foreign Legion Major William Foster's (Gene Hackman's) unit is protecting an archaeological dig, but the discovery of an Arab sacred burial site prompts the angry Arab tribes to attack Foster's small garrison.

Top credits

Directors

Dick Richards

Writers

Cast

Gene Hackman — Major William Sherman Foster
Terence Hill — Marco Segrain
Catherine Deneuve — Simone Picard
Max von Sydow — Francois Marneau

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Did you know

• When Gene Hackman started having back pain, the movie's insurance company refused to allow shooting to continue because a permanent injury to Hackman could have cost it a lot of money. The insurers suggested shooting the movie in the United States, but sand dunes in Nevada were not the same color as sand dunes in Agadir. Several big American transport planes were used to transport tons of sand from the Agadir dunes in to camouflage the sand of Nevada. (Source: Beyond Casablanca, Page 131).

• This movie was filmed in Spain at the same time Marty Feldman was making The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977). The productions for both movies fought over the supply of horses, camels, costumes, and shooting locations. Some extras appeared in the wrong movie on one occasion.

• El Krim was based on the Moroccan revolutionary Abd el-Krim (1882-1963), leader of a large-scale armed resistance movement in the Rif, a Berber area of northeastern Morocco. He became the first president of Rif Republic (1921-26).