nndb.com

The Last Remake of Beau Geste

The Last Remake of Beau Geste (15-Jul-1977)

Writers: Chris Allen; Sam Bobrick; Marty Feldman

From novel by: Percival Christopher Wren (characters based on)

Keywords: Comedy, Action/Adventure, Foreign Legion, Spoof, Marijuana

Name	Occupation	Birth	Death	Known for
Ann-Margret	Actor	28-Apr-1941		Carnal Knowledge
Ted Cassidy	Actor	31-Jul-1932	16-Jan-1979	Lurch on The Addams Family
Sinéad Cusack	Actor	18-Feb-1948		Stealing Beauty
Marty Feldman	Comic	8-Jul-1933	2-Dec-1982	Eye-gor in Young Frankenstein
Henry Gibson	Actor	21-Sep-1935	14-Sep-2009	Laugh-In
Hugh Griffith	Actor	30-May-1912	14-May-1980	Sheik Ilderim in Ben-Hur
Irene Handl	Actor	27-Dec-1901	29-Nov-1987	Matronly British character actor
Trevor Howard	Actor	29-Sep-1913	7-Jan-1988	Sons and Lovers
James Earl Jones	Actor	17-Jan-1931		Voice of Darth Vader and CNN
Roy Kinnear	Actor	8-Jan-1934	20-Sep-1988	Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Burt Kwouk	Actor	18-Jul-1930	24-May-2016	Cato in Pink Panther films
Ed McMahon	Talk Show Host	6-Mar-1923	23-Jun-2009	The Tonight Show
Spike Milligan	Comic	16-Apr-1918	27-Feb-2002	The Goon Show
Henry Polic II	Actor	20-Feb-1945	11-Aug-2013	Jerry Silver on Webster
Avery Schreiber	Comic	9-Apr-1935	7-Jan-2002	Burns and Schreiber
Terry-Thomas	Actor	14-Jul-1911	8-Jan-1990	Private's Progress
Peter Ustinov	Actor	16-Apr-1921	28-Mar-2004	British stage actor
Michael York	Actor	27-Mar-1942		Logan's Run

REVIEWS

Review by James I. Miller (posted on 29-Dec-2007)

In typical Marty Feldman fashion, "The Last Remake of Beau Geste" is such a broad farce that the origonal story is barely recognizable and the sight gags and slapstick action are worthy of Monty Python and the Three Stooges. It has been some thirty years since I saw this film, but several scenes are forever burned into my memory. We are first introduced to the Sahara Desert by the ever-classic mode of being conducted into a beautifully paneled library, where the host spins a large globe, stopping it with a gentle touch, and placing his finger on north Africa. The camera zooms in ever so tightly until we can actually see the grains of sand making up the desert. Enter a troop of the French Foreign Legion marching in perfect order, falling rank by rank into the hole left by the host's gigantic fingertip. Another scene, which I was sorely tempted to steal for my novel "The Four Hills of Sealoch," is shot in a great castle. The cold, stone interior is brought to elegance with heavy drapes, mahogany paneling, and huge, frosted windows. The walls are hung with an excessive array of hunting trophies, from wild boar and elephant heads to lions and tigers. The stone floor is elegantly covered with animal hides--polar bear, deer, and a giraffe pelt with its neck extending down a long hallway leading from the room. Feldman's bug-eyed comedy smashes its way through the vaguely familiar plot with all the elegance of a rhino in an art museum, but with such side-splitting antics that you tend to forget the story line anyway. This is not Feldman's best performance as a comic actor. It takes someone of Wilder's or Brooks' discipline to bring him into line with a real plot where he can better interact with his fellow characters, but it is certainly worth a couple of hours of your time to see him at his own creative best.

Have you seen this film? We would love to see your review.
Submit your review for this film

Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile