Sahara- Cassandra Johnson
Sahara:
I didn't enjoy Sahara nearly as much as Citizen Kane. It was pretty dull and the only parts that were really that entertaining to me were the ones that really illustrated how old the movie is. It was sort of funny at the end when the well was full and they were all surprised. If anything I think it kind of downplayed the seriousness of war and made it into a light hearted predicament. The sergeant, Joe never really seems to get that upset and the ending is far too elated for a story about war.
However, Sahara does adhere very nicely to the six guidelines set by the government for Hollywood films. The first one being the "Issues of War." In the movie the characters never quit even when things seem impossible. They stay overly upbeat and no matter how hopeless things get at the end when it is just two of them left against the countless number of Germans they never surrender. This illustrates the first guideline because it set an example for the American public to support the war effort no matter how hopeless their situation seemed to be because it would all pay off in the end.
The second guideline was "The Nature of the Enemy." Throughout Sahara there are all sorts of references to Hitler and the Nazi's along with the Italian. In the beginning when Joe and his gang come across a British soldier with an Italian prisoner. Joe is set on leaving the prisoner stranded out in the desert to die. His exact words are "I'm not taking a load of spaghetti," even after the prisoner begs and talks about his infant child at home. After they are attacked by a German plane and the plane goes down in flames they go to question the German soldier. The black soldier of their troop goes to search the man and the German snaps that he will not be searched by an "inferior race." I think the purpose of this must be to show the character of the Germans. There is also more than one reference about Nazi's being like "mad dogs."
Sahara also adheres to the other guidelines in at least one way, the first two just stuck out to me.