FILMS… Ashanti / Ashanti, Land of No Mercy (1979)

#1970s #All Posts

 

An amazing all-star cast candidly tells about the horrors of human trafficking in an eclectic way…

 

After a white Englishman’s Black American wife is kidnapped by a slave trader in Africa, he gains some stellar support to help find her and get her back.

 

Michael Caine and Rex Harrison

Beverly Johnson and Peter Ustinov

Ashanti (1979, trailer) [Beverly Johnson, Michael Caine, Peter Ustinov], Black Film History

 

It’s been a while since I reviewed a movie starring William Holden, so I’m rectifying that now with (yet) another of his 1970s movies. After watching Ashanti (1979), I learnt Holden – notably remembered as the Best Actor nominee for Sunset Boulevard (1950) – starred in just a few pivotal scenes in this all-star adventure film.

In Ashanti, Holden’s scenes are with two Oscar-winning actors – but neither winning for this film – Michael Caine and Rex Harrison. Ashanti’s predominately actor-led cast also features Peter Ustinov, Kabir Bedi and Omar Sharif. The only actress in this cast was Beverly Johnson.

The movie and its production are remembered differently by the cast. In his autobiography, Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life, Michael Caine said of this film,

What could go wrong? Everything. The director left. The female lead left. The script was rewritten. We were all contractually obliged to finish the picture and we did. Never heard of it? Good.

In contrast, Beverly Johnson – in her autobiography, The Face That Changed It All: A Memoir – was overjoyed to work with Caine and Holden in this film. She says it was initially “like a dream come true” working with these men after she replaced the leading actress. It seems that William Holden was genuinely happy with his part in the film, as Ashanti was primarily shot in his beloved Africa and Holden’s familiarity with this country is felt in his performance.

The cast is crammed full of mainly Oscar nominated actors and is accompanied by stunning African cinematography. These beautifully filmed landscapes are often blended with memorable culturally relevant scenes from this country. This African film location for the movie also meant Michael Caine, in the leading role, donned his safari suit once again after The Swarm (1978). Caine was cast as the white husband of a black American wife – of African descent – who is kidnapped by slave traders in the early scenes of this film leading to his search for her.

The Ashanti plot was also reflected in the inclusion of what seems initially like a really inappropriate film poster. This film poster featured the actress – a one-time inspiring black model for a woman’s magazine  – who plays Caine’s on-screen African American wife, Beverly Johnson chained and surrounded by camels. The poster, on my first impressions, seemed to deflect this serious content plot. On the Ashanti poster, this actress has her stunning presence and attributes plugged shamelessly in the apparently provocative “Slaves Can Be Sexy” themed film poster.

Her body language in the poster implies a romantic and sexy thriller like Harem (1985), which had a white American kidnapped by a Sheik in what sounds like a case of Stockholm Syndrome. However, Ashanti’s poster combined with the distinct 1970s film ambience – including the neon-coloured theme opening credits and 1970s soundtrack – indirectly reinforces that this horrific story can still happen to anyone, in any decade.

The film is set in an African Ashanti tribal village and we travel there by jeep during the opening credits. White English Doctor, David Linderby (Caine) and his Black American doctor wife, Dr Anansa Linderby (Beverly Johnson) work for the World Health Association. They set up a stall, with equipment to innoculate the Ashanti village inhabitants from some unspecified disease.

For Anansa it’s more of a personal mission as she is of Ashanti descent. As some villagers dance for this couple, Anansa tells her husband that their medical work has the villagers and their ancestors’ blessing. The Linderbys then carry out their medical tasks, with David charmed by the “prettiness” of one of the Ashanti children (this child is relevant in a later scene, but here it sounds a wee bit creepy in line with this plot).

Afterwards, as David takes photos of these happy dancing Ashantis, Anansa goes alone to the lake for a swim (for what becomes a skinny dip). These two scenes are intercut with each other as what seems an idyllic work trip turns into a nightmare. After she leaves the water and begins to get dressed, a man, Jamil, grabs her and with a friend drags her to a truck.

This man we discover is under the instruction of the evil human trafficker /slave dealer, the tanned and Arabic-accented, Suleiman (Peter Ustinov). Amanza is then bundled into the truck and then chained to some Africans. This truck then leaves the lakeside and leaves a tyre mark behind. En route to their destination, it’s implied in some subtle but brutal scenes, that one of this slave trader’s henchmen is interested in one of the African boys for sexual reasons.

David discovers that his wife has gone missing, and the Ashanti villagers show him evidence that suggests that his wife has been kidnapped. She’s believed to have been kidnapped by human traffickers. David then meets with the local police to get assistance in finding her. He finds they have sealed the airport and set up border checks, but that these slave traders can cross the border in other unofficial ways.

In this scene, these policemen simply explain human trafficking to him (and the audience). David is given further insights into this subject and shown possible slave routes using maps. He then travels by bus and meets a British man from the Anti-Slavery Society, Brian Walker (Rex Harrison). Walker advises they must try to stop this truck before it reaches the Red Sea border. Luckily for David, he knows just the man to help. 

After some great scenery, it’s over to Anansa’s story. She angrily tells Suleiman that he should let her go free as she works for the United Nations. The slave trader learns she’s a doctor, speaks English and is American. These reasons don’t help her bid for freedom. Because of these reasons, she’s now assigned to a “special customer” and Suleiman can sell her for more money. The greedy Suleiman is on his last trip before he retires.

The next scene has three Academy Award winning actors, as we meet William Holden as Jim Sandell. Holden adds his presence as a local mercenary who works for himself as a “soldier of fortune”. Jim meets with Brian and David. As he hears David’s story, he is surprised in a good way to find that David’s wife is black, and it seems she may have been kidnapped thinking she was from the tribe. In contrast, David is horrified at Jim’s profession, but Brian stresses the help of this mercenary may be the only way to get Anansa back. Jim appears to turn this job down saying,

I am expensive and I never get emotionally involved. My meter keeps on ticking through second sin. Nothing against you personally, doctors, but I cannot afford to work for an individual. More important, individuals can’t afford to hire me. I hope that you will recover your wife.

However, Jim seems to be a man with a heart, as at dawn, Brian takes David to meet Jim’s helicopter.  Jim flies David in the chopper towards the border, as he explains to  David – as your everyman on the street –  exactly where they might find her, flies him to the exact spot (and at the right time) and gives in-flight instructions on how to use a rifle. And for payment purposes, he has a Swiss bank account.

After flying near the lake, Jim and David see the raft with these evil captors, Anansa and the other captives on board approach the other side of the lake. As the helicopter swoops towards the raft, the Linderbys see each other. David gets (Michael Caine style) emotional just seeing his wife, and she gets super hopeful of escape. David shoots and misses the evil men in his panicky state as he struggles to use the gun. Suleiman shoots Jim in the chest with his telescopic rifle and kills him. The helicopter plunges toward the lake (and David saves a fortune in mercenary fees).

David escapes the helicopter as it falls and he swims to land as Jim’s helicopter explodes. We then cut to Arabia There by chance, David meets Brian in a local hotel in his hotel room. Later, Brian introduces him to an Indian, Malik (Kabir Bedi), who will guide him over the Sahara desert – by camel – and gives David fresh hope…

This film feels like a layman’s guide – with an all-star cast – on what to do if your (hot) husband / wife is abducted on holiday, but crossed with a tourist guide to Africa. Be it formal instructions through formal means – see the basic explanation scene with definitions, maps and route explanation – or the scene on how to hire a local mercenary.

Facts and figures explaining human trafficking are given by Rex Harrison’s Brian. This “theory” is balanced with bizarre comic scenes involving Caine attempting to mount a camel, cultural ones with (plot convenient) witch doctors and ethical ones where David makes some decisions for what he feels is right, but may be wrong.

There are also scenes which made no sense at all. The best of these crazier scenes are seen as, after swimming to the border, David has a change of clothes – having apparently ditched his safari suit – and it seems a waterproof wad of money and passport. At this point, Darlin Husband joked that the “film” desert always has a cash machine.

This cast was terrifically chosen and were convincing in their characters, in this at times cumbersomely told tale. William Holden was cast in the film after James Coburn – who had replaced Telly Savalas – turned it down. In Beverly Johnson’s autobiography, she commented on meeting this actor and Caine as a “high point” of this shoot. Due to Holden’s on-screen gravitas, he convinced me as quite unintentionally ruthless as he talked about Anansa’s abduction but in the quickest character arc in this movie, his character’s death was a heroic one.

David is credible and empathetically played by Michael Caine. Caine shows practically every emotion from shouty to emotionally bereft, to frustrated to loved up. This character’s emotional scenes are seen at its best as he encounters some children destined to become slaves as he and Malik come across them in the desert. David has to make an ethical choice in saving the kids by freeing them or leaving them for a life as slaves or possibly perishing in the desert. Or taking them home and missing the chance of finding his wife. Caine’s dilemma in this scene is seen in a raw, candid and credible performance.

Kabir Bedi as Malik proves himself a fine action man and an understanding ally, and he convinces you with these attributes as you learn his own personal agenda with Suleiman. Ustinov is credible as a bad guy and adopts an appropriate accent for Suleiman. Darlin Husband pointed out he also spoke good Arabic. Suleiman is also a rounded character as he sells himself as a man doing his last job before retirement (yes really), as a “father” to his henchmen, and then in contrast as a man who undermines his workers for his own monetary benefits. You can see the pound signs in his eyes as he calculates Anansa’s worth.

Ustinov’s scenes with Omar Sharif as a Prince – who wants to buy Amanza to tend to his ailing father’s sexual needs – are memorable for the wrong reasons. It’s darkly comical watching these two characters haggle over her worth which decreases rapidly. It is not helped by Johnson’s “drugged up” character sprawled on the bed like she was on a fashion shoot.

Johnson as Anansa was sadly unpredictable in her acting and went from good to less credible, but I believe she was not helped by those later scenes with this (surprising) cucumber sandwich loving Prince. Rex Harrison’s character was useful for explaining the plot expedition (and spouting relevant slave trade-related facts) and introducing David to some shady characters in his quest to find his wife.

Ashanti is not to be confused with Avanti! (1972), a Billy Wilder comedy or the panned Morroccan-based flop, Ishtar (1987). However, the latter film does have a few things in common with Ashanti. Both movies have awful musical numbers on their soundtracks in addition to the (painfully) comic scenes with the films’ leading men attempting to mount camels.

In Ishtar, songs are sung by Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman in line with the musical plot. Ashanti ends on a musical note, as the end credits “boast” Jimmy Chamber’s love song, Don’t Lose That Feeling. This original soundtrack song sounds very similar to Jack Jones’ The Love Boat (1977-86) theme in tone and presentation but is made worse with the additional lady backing singers.

It sounds as out of place as that opening song to another 1970s African based film, The Wild Geese (1978). Joan Armatrading wrote and performed this track named Flight of the Wild Geese. Ironically, this song sounds like a theme for a James Bond movie, and this movie stars Caine’s good friend, actor Roger Moore. So I am sure these two musical themes were discussed by these Knights and British National Treasures, in dream comic sketches for impersonators everywhere. 

Cinema Retro HERE reports that actress Beverly Johnson released a funky solo disco cover version of Don’t Lose That Feeling. This was after her then-husband’s persuasion (but now to her regret). This record, I feel was unjustified and insensitive, concerning the nature of her role and this film’s content. Beverly added in an interview that,

She also blames Sims, who was a high profile record producer, for the film’s awful song, heard over the end credits which he convinced her to sing in order to promote a record album that no one bought.

Surprisingly much more recently, a musical movie theme ballad was released for a much lauded, CGI-enhanced, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet movie. This film was based on a real life disaster and crossed with a fictional romantic movie. In the disaster, a celebrated liner met an iceberg in a disaster that claimed many lives and was sensitively referred to in underwater scenes which opened this movie. The powers that be then for the record, adapted this film’s Oscar Winning, Best Original Song to a disco one in a travesty of Titanic proportions.

 

Weeper Rating: 😦  😦 😦  😦 /10

Handsqueeze Rating:  🙂  🙂 🙂  🙂 🙂 🙂  🙂  🙂  /10

Hulk Rating:    ‎/10

 

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The 6th Golden Boy Blogathon: A William Holden Celebration, 2024. No 8

This post was added to In The Wonderful World of Cinema and The Flapper Dame’s The 6th Golden Boy Blogathon: A William Holden Celebration. Other posts with this cast include,

• Michael Caine in The Swarm, Bullseye, X, Y and Zee, The Fourth Protocol and more.
• Peter Ustinov in Death on The Nile, a Film and TV Detectives list, Evil Under the Sun and more.
• Kabir Bedi in Dynasty, Murder She Wrote and Magnum PI.
• Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago, Juggernaut, The Tamarind Seed, Top Secret and more.
• Rex Harrison in Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love, My Fair Lady and The Yellow Rolls Royce.
• William Holden in When Time Ran Out, Bridge on the River Kwai, Omen II, Network and more.
• Johnny Sekka in Woman of Straw.

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