Dirkie
Dirkie
| 06 November 1969 (USA)
Dirkie Trailers

An 8-year-old boy and his dog are left to face a vast desert wasteland alone after a plane crash, while an army of men and machines penetrate the desert searching for them. Based on true events.

Reviews
Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?
Cleveronix A different way of telling a story
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
s-hartland-210-103662 I too saw this film as a double bill with 'The Golden Voyage of Sinbad' back in 1974. I remember nothing of the Sinbad film but this film stayed with me all my life. I remember being terrified that the boy and his pet dog would be killed at any minute, either by the harshness of the Kalahari Dessert or by being attacked by the Hyena that stalked them throughout the film. Some scenes in the film i.e. where the boy is stung, injured, dying of thirst and blistering in the heat and then his dog was attacked and savaged were just too much for me as a young child to handle. When the film was over I sat in shock all the way through the main feature film and have never forgotten Lost in the Dessert. I have just watched it again as an adult and I still find it a bit of a seat gripper though it is very dated. The acting and script is appalling though the little boy who plays Dirkie is outstanding and totally believable.
pol-ster This is more of an IMDb support group for adults who suffered severe trauma in their childhood than a review centre. I saw this film when I was 5 in the cinema, and have never ever forgotten it. It was a trailer movie to The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in 1974, which I didn't recall at all until I looked it up on Wiki today. For a children's movie it manages to tap into every single fear a child could have, think Jaws for swimmers, The Descent for pot-holers, Lost in the desert for impressionable kids. Where to start? First of all the fear of being LOST. Not just lost, but lost in the Kalahari Desert, with the kid repeating "My Dad will find me, he loves me..." I got lost in a shopping centre when I was 4, that was pretty bad. There's the plane crash, dead uncle, endlessly walking in circles, rampaging stalking hyaena, the cute dog, dead puppies, temporary blindness from a snake, scorpion bite, dehydration, starvation, near death, and the horrible realisation the kid may have eaten his bar-b-qued dog(my sympathies to the poster on here who spent his whole life believing this happened). I've just re watched part of this film online with my boyfriend wiping away my tears while I was mumbling the words "the dog, the dog...!" I'm 43 for Gods sake. It would have been more appropriate to have shown The Exorcist before The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. I look forward to re-watching this again in full some time soon, will definitely be an exorcism.
mrtnkray .....in its original widescreen aspect ratio, then by all means let me know at the above e-mail addy so that I may arrange it for you. As pure, unpretentious and unassuming a micro-budget cinematic labor of love as you'll ever see. Jamie Hayes, clearly as proud and doting a parental unit as has ever shared on-screen billing with an offspring, wrote, produced and directed this loving tribute to his young son, Dirkie. The result is a unique motion picture as intimate as it is panoramic on both physical and metaphysical levels. Compelling enough at face-value with a geo-spiritual vision and tone worthy of Nicholas Roeg's "Walkabout" (thus best seen in Cinemascope), what really sticks with you in the wake of having seen "Lost in the Desert" is the residual strength of its testament to the power of paternal love on both sides of the camera. Not a perfect achievement, but extraordinary nonetheless and deserving of far better than to have languished in obscurity.
beckystodd You can find this at cvmc.net - I ordered one and it's an excellent copy. It's format 0 so it will work on most DVD players. It was $39.99 plus $5.00 s/h. It comes with a labeled case and is very professional looking. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the movie. I have been looking for this movie forever and this is the first professional copy I've found that works in U.S. players. I found a couple of people willing to make and send a copy but no one ever came through for me and the quality offered was questionable. I hope this helps everyone who loved this movie as a child and who has been looking for it. This was a great movie and I'm so happy that it's finally available.