A romantic return to the Foreign Legion

Press, 21 February 1980, Page 14

A romantic return to the Foreign Legion

The last time we went toreking with the Foreign Legion into the trackless Sahara we were misled by Marty Feldman. Therefore, it is a thoroughly refreshing change this time to go in the company of such trustworthies as Gene Hackman and Max Von Sydow in “March or Die,” which begins at the. Carlton tomorrow.

This romantic epic aims to tell its story against the backdrop of the French Foreign Legion as it really was — a group of men who had come to hide their pasts and who had been moulded, brutally and without pity, into a. magnificent, fiighly .disciplined fighting force.

At the end of the First World War, when “March or Die” takes place, the legion had become an object of great fascination and an irrestible magnet for those who wanted escape, action and adventure at any price; This story is about the obsession of the curator of the Louvre Museum to bring back to France precious artifacts from Morocco — and the determination of a Moroccan leader to stop the subtle rape of his country by France using the Foreign Legion as its instrument. Conceived and produced on a spectacular scale, “March or Die” was filmed on location in Morocco and Europe, and stars Gene Hackman, Terence Hill, Catherine Deneuve and Max Von Sydow. A year and a half of meticulous research by Dick Richards

and his co-producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, preceded production itself. With photography by the Academy Award winner, John Alcott (“Barry Lyndon,” “2001”), production design by Gil Parrondo (“Nicholas and Alexandra,” “Patton”), and music by Maurice Jarre (“Lawrence of Arabia,” “Dr Zhivago”), “March or Die” should add up to a top quality movie.

Oscar-winning Gene Hackman is Major Foster, a West Point reject and veteran of 16 gruelling but dedicated years in the Foreign Legion, 12 of them in the 'desert. A martinet, he also has his soft side as he weakens for a beautiful woman. Terence Hill, one of the world’s top grossing stars, has the role of Marco, an agile gypsy catburglar with a great sense of humour and a zest for life, who joins the legion to escape the police. Catherines Deneuve, as Simone, is the . seductive but troubled beauty who is strangely attracted to the mystery of file desert, hopelessly in love with Terence Hill but physically attracted to Gene Hackman, possessed temporarily by both but won by neither. Max Von Sydow, Sweden’s top actor and star of many of Ingmar Bergman’s classics, plays Francois Mameau, the Louvre curator who believes that excavating a priceless Berber tomb in Morocco is worth the risk of his life as well as those of Foster and his men.

El Krim, the fanatic Arab chieftain who rallies the tribes of his country to drive out the foreigners, is portrayed by one of Britain’s foremost Shakespearian actors, lan Holm. Among the international talents cast for feature roles were Rufus, Jack O’Halloran, Marcel Bozzuffi, Andre Penvem, Wolf Kahler and Vernon Dobtcheff. Richards had casting directors in London, Paris, Madrid, Rome and Munich searching out just the right artists. “March or Die” captures the stark reality of the Foreign Legion through the practiced eye of a director who is convinced that the time is ripe for the type of colourful actionadventure picture that used to thrill and move an earlier generation. “Movie audiences are ready for a great, exciting film along the lines of ‘Gunga Din’ and ‘Four Feathers’,” says Richards. “We have captured the romance of the legion, the incredible spirit of it, without trying to hide the brutality and the tough conditions that prevailed.”

“March or Die” successfully takes the feeling of many of the old actionadventure film classics and blends it ■with modem moviemaking to bring a new experience to the screen. There are huge battle scenes with thousands of Arabs, but most of all a good story which will hold one engrossed for the entire movie.