John Wayne set against an azure African sky, with the gentle thrum of Henry Mancini's score for accompaniment in search of wild animals to capture in the veldt. What else do you need?
Not much, if you are director Henry Hawks. Which is what you get in this picturesque travelogue entertainment.
Wayne is Sean Mercer, whose business is collecting dangerous Tanzanian wildlife for zoos. Already behind schedule, he is thrown for a loop when a Swiss zoo which buys many of his animals sends a beautiful photographer, Anna Maria D'Alessandro, a. k. a. "Dallas" (Elsa Martinelli), to tag along.
"Rhino, elephants, buffalo, and a greenhorn," huffs Sean.
As other reviewers here rightly note, "Hatari!" is another in the Hawks mold featuring a group of adventure-ready characters coming together to handle adversity. Truth is, there's not much adversity here. Of course, the animal-catching is dangerous, something established right at the start when we see Sean's deputy Little Wolf (Bruce Cabot) get his leg gored by an angry rhino. But for the most part, this is a light entertainment with little story to interfere with the ambiance.
Wayne is in his Grand Old Man mode here, leading a game supporting cast that includes Hardy Krüger and Red Buttons, who amiably vie for the attentions of young Brandy (Michèle Girardon), the daughter of Sean's former boss.
Wayne gets off some choice one-liners. When a Frenchman nicknamed Chips (Gérard Blain) and Krüger's character come to blows, Sean tries to settle things peacefully. "You can't whip us all," he tells Chips.
"I can try!" Chips replies.
"Well, bring your lunch!"
Not sure what that means, but it is a fun scene. There are many fun scenes in "Hatari!" In fact, the whole film is a collection of fun scenes cobbled together with long interludes of Mancini music, wisecracks, smoking, and drinking. I wouldn't recommend this 150-minute- plus film to just anyone, even with the very real-looking capture scenes to keep your attention. It just ambles along in its unhurried way, as if Hawks thought "Rio Bravo" was too quick breaking up the chatter with shoot-outs. Wayne only once fires a weapon, and that is to warn off a mother elephant who gets too close to Dallas and three orphan elephant calves who have adopted her.
The cinematography by Russell Harlan got a deserved Oscar nomination; he was earning his keep even when Leigh Brackett's script devolves into an inane soap opera in the bush. Will Buttons' annoying Pockets character catch Brandy, or 500 monkeys in a tree? Will he know what to do with either if he does? The film doesn't seem to, and throws everything up in the air at the end with a merry chase involving a suddenly despondent Dallas that will please the ten-year-olds who like shots of elephants running through a hotel lobby.
But since I am a Wayne fan, and enjoy beautiful scenery and entrancing music, I'm not much for complaining. Just a warning that this is more a jaunt than anything meaty, and that both patience and a fast-forward button may well come in handy.
Not much, if you are director Henry Hawks. Which is what you get in this picturesque travelogue entertainment.
Wayne is Sean Mercer, whose business is collecting dangerous Tanzanian wildlife for zoos. Already behind schedule, he is thrown for a loop when a Swiss zoo which buys many of his animals sends a beautiful photographer, Anna Maria D'Alessandro, a. k. a. "Dallas" (Elsa Martinelli), to tag along.
"Rhino, elephants, buffalo, and a greenhorn," huffs Sean.
As other reviewers here rightly note, "Hatari!" is another in the Hawks mold featuring a group of adventure-ready characters coming together to handle adversity. Truth is, there's not much adversity here. Of course, the animal-catching is dangerous, something established right at the start when we see Sean's deputy Little Wolf (Bruce Cabot) get his leg gored by an angry rhino. But for the most part, this is a light entertainment with little story to interfere with the ambiance.
Wayne is in his Grand Old Man mode here, leading a game supporting cast that includes Hardy Krüger and Red Buttons, who amiably vie for the attentions of young Brandy (Michèle Girardon), the daughter of Sean's former boss.
Wayne gets off some choice one-liners. When a Frenchman nicknamed Chips (Gérard Blain) and Krüger's character come to blows, Sean tries to settle things peacefully. "You can't whip us all," he tells Chips.
"I can try!" Chips replies.
"Well, bring your lunch!"
Not sure what that means, but it is a fun scene. There are many fun scenes in "Hatari!" In fact, the whole film is a collection of fun scenes cobbled together with long interludes of Mancini music, wisecracks, smoking, and drinking. I wouldn't recommend this 150-minute- plus film to just anyone, even with the very real-looking capture scenes to keep your attention. It just ambles along in its unhurried way, as if Hawks thought "Rio Bravo" was too quick breaking up the chatter with shoot-outs. Wayne only once fires a weapon, and that is to warn off a mother elephant who gets too close to Dallas and three orphan elephant calves who have adopted her.
The cinematography by Russell Harlan got a deserved Oscar nomination; he was earning his keep even when Leigh Brackett's script devolves into an inane soap opera in the bush. Will Buttons' annoying Pockets character catch Brandy, or 500 monkeys in a tree? Will he know what to do with either if he does? The film doesn't seem to, and throws everything up in the air at the end with a merry chase involving a suddenly despondent Dallas that will please the ten-year-olds who like shots of elephants running through a hotel lobby.
But since I am a Wayne fan, and enjoy beautiful scenery and entrancing music, I'm not much for complaining. Just a warning that this is more a jaunt than anything meaty, and that both patience and a fast-forward button may well come in handy.