Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

moonspinner55 Five men of disparate nationalities work an oil station in the sweaty Sahara; just as tempers begin to boil over within the group, a sexy girl and her ex-husband invade their territory (or rather, crash it--seems this reckless dame harbors a death wish for herself and her former spouse). Brian Clemens and Bryan Forbes, adapting Jean Martet's play "Men Without a Past", invest the dialogue exchanges with interesting give-and-take, but their scenario isn't inventive or enlightening or even titillating (despite the ads). Certainly the basic thrust of the material--when will the men take advantage of their new arrival--is salacious, however the writers are more interested in probing the human condition and all its faults (although there is some sex involved). Director Seth Holt ably delineates the disintegration of morality and decency among the men, but this woman is something else: a willing pawn in their company, she's both tease and temptress. Actors Studio alum Carroll Baker seemed to get stuck in a revolving door of sexually-uninhibited characters after "Baby Doll", yet this role does call for an actual dramatic performance and she delivers. ** from ****

JasparLamarCrabb A virtually forgotten potboiler directed by Seth Holt. A disparate group of men working an oil refinery in the Sahara get company in the form of foxy car crash victim Carroll Baker. Sexual tension ensues as Baker leads on at least two of the men, including group leader Peter van Eyck, who's desperate to get out of his miserable existence. Adding to the mix is Baker's possessive husband (Biff McGuire), who, though bedridden, refuses to let Baker go. Extremely well acted but perhaps a bit too melodramatic to really be taken seriously, there is nonetheless plenty to recommend...Baker is in peak form and Van Eyck is great. Ian Bannen steals the show as a crass bully and Denholm Elliott is his uptight foil. There's a great music score by Ron Grainer. The script was worked on by Bryan Forbes.

pjc7992 As you look at the evolution of film through the 50's and 60's, one trend readily observed is that of increasing use of sex and nudity - as earlier boundaries began to expand. This film, coming in 1965, appears on the cusp of a change from more veiled hints of sex to more explicit scenes as the 60's closed and we moved into the 70's and beyond.A few themes run through this film, one being that of the overbearing boss many of us have been saddled with in our careers - one who knows that the men have signed on for an extended stay under his "command" and plays his hand to the hilt. A boss who has little or no regard for his men and motivates through intimidation.Clearly, the director reaches out to the farthest boundaries of the times (and mores) to inject the sexual tension of Ms. Baker arriving on the scene. She is beautiful and sexual and is never out of control of the situation. There is nothing explicit here (but oh so close); nevertheless, the suggestive nature of visits from members of the crew works just as well. In the end, she stands up to the crew commander in a way none of the men (save one) ever had.I think the film is a well-acted little gem.

Kirasjeri Sexual and other tensions at a Sahara pumping station heat up when a female is added to the mix. A turgid little B&W potboiler of no meaning notable only as it ran as the 'B' feature in theaters in 1963 for the wonderful "Topkapi".