Ten Tall Men (1951)

If like me you prefer adventure movies that entertain and that don't have to engage the brain then this is probably right up your sand dune. Absolutely no message and defiantly old fashioned (because it was made in 1951?) full of corn and clichés but to the light hearted also full of fun and frolics. Most of today's audience will also notice there's no cgi cartoonery that has to be in every film made nowadays.Swashbuckling Legionnaire Burt Lancaster gets out of jail on the understanding he will delay by 5 days the naughty Riff's attack on their stronghold at Tarfa, picking 9 men fairly good and true to help. He finds an "easy" way to accomplish this: by abducting a sultan's pretty and pretty feisty daughter with the strange gravelly voice and thus getting the Riff's to chase all over the place. Although Lancaster initially seemed to me to be missing Nick Cravat he turned in some fine non-acrobatic comedic moments – as the supposed father to 2 ugly daughters, dodging Princess Mahla's bullets, and one of my favourite split seconds from any film ever made is when he lustily roars out "Murderers!" to the aghast wedding party. During the chase a corny variation on Beau Geste is used, Abbott & Costello are referenced, and the tribal division sown in Road To Morrocco is continued to good effect. Because of this film I've always had a little trouble adjusting if I've seen Gerald Mohr without a turban. But what the red blooded Mike was supposed to see in Mahla was beyond me though as she wasn't a very friendly lady - even at the end if she'd ever said I Love You to Lancaster I'd take it to mean Take That!So, it's nothing heavy and has absolutely no significance at all – but every few years it's a pleasant time passer for me, 97 minutes of witty and romantic middlebrow entertainment. By the way that's not something I'd put about The Hobbit, having recently watched that for the first and last time.

"3 Men in White" director Willis Goldbeck's "Ten Tall Men" is a rip-snorting adventure in the Errol Flynn tradition about recklessly brave heroes and slimy villains running loose in the dunes. Basically, the Roland Kibbee & Frank Davis screenplay, based on a story by James Warner Bellah and Goldbeck, is a French Foreign Legion escapade against murderous desert tribes that want to wipe out the French. The light moments outweigh the dark moments in this nimble actioneer that looks like it is a 19th century epic until the heroes find an abandoned French supply truck in the last quarter hour. Nevertheless, this is fast, furious and frivolous nonsense with Lancaster in command at all times supported by Gilbert Roland and Kieron Moore. Lancaster fans will love this opus. He specialized in swashbucklers after he made some film noir thrillers at Universal. This Columbia Pictures release is in glorious color and the cast is first-rate."Ten Tall Men" opens with French Foreign Legion Sergeant Mike Kincaid (Burt Lancaster of "All My Sons") masquerading as an Arab merchant. Kincaid trudges along a desert trail with his two veiled daughters, in reality Corporals Luis Delgado (Gilbert Roland of "Camille") and Pierre Molier (Kieron Moore of "Mine Own Executioner") in disguise waiting to catch an enemy Rif warrior. They manage to catch one and they return after being gone for two weeks. Anybody who looks with lustful eyes at the new exotic dancer in town, Marie DeLatour (Mari Blanchard of "Jungle Heat"), ostensibly the sweetheart of martinet French Lieutenant Kruger (Stephen Bekassy of "Hell and High Water"), gets put in poky. Not surprisingly, while Kruger is interrogating the Rif prisoner that Sergeant Kincaid provided him, Kincaid is making time with DeLatour. Meanwhile, the savvy Rif prisoner informs on Kincaid so that he can avoid any more of Kruger's probing questions. Kruger marches a squad to DeLatour's apartment and finds Kincaid. Predictably, Kincaid winds up in the clink with his Legionnaire buddies, Londos (George Tobias of "Objective, Burma"), Mouse (Nick Dennis of "Spartacus"), and Roshko (Mike Mazurkia of "Murder, My Sweet"), and learns from the Rif prisoner that Tarfu is going to be wiped out. Kincaid tells Kruger about the enemy plans and insists that he can save the garrison as well as the town if Kruger will give him ten men. Naturally, Kruger has his doubts and cannot spare the manpower so Kincaid settles for men in the stockade.Our heroes descend onto the enemy camp deep in the desert by an oasis. They spot what they believe is a munitions tent and decide to blow it to smithereens. Instead, they discover that the tent belongs to a beautiful girl, Mahla (Jody Lawrance of "Mask of the Avenger"), who is not only about to marry Khalif Hussein (Gerald Mohr of "Invasion, U.S.A.") but also unite two tribes intent on running the French out of Morocco. Kincaid and his men snatch Mahla and Hussein and company pursue them. Mahla tries to escape, but she cannot get away from the tenacious Sergeant Kincaid. Eventually, each earns the grudging respect of the other. Hussein means to kill Kincaid slowly, but Mahla demands that he release Kincaid or she will not wed Hussein. Reluctantly, Hussein capitulates to this demand. No sooner has Hussein freed Kincaid than he dispatches two Rif guards to kill him. Happily, the two guards are none other than Delgado and Molier in disguise again. They rescue Kincaid, spoil the marriage, rout Hussein and save the town. The commandant of the Foreign Legion orders Lieutenant Kruger to administer full honors to Kincaid after he pins on the medal. This includes the ceremonial French embrace. Kincaid gives the medal to Mahla and tells her that it belonged to his mother.Fistfights, shoot-outs, horse chases, and more enliven this adventure film. The diminutive Frenchman who plays Lancaster's orderly is future "Hogan's Heroes" star Robert Clary making his film debut. Die-hard Lancaster fans will not his acrobat buddy Nick Cravat in the wedding scene. Forget your troubles and enjoy this movie.

In those last years before the French finally cleared out of North Africa, Foreign Legion films seem to have been popular with the movie going public. Ten Tall Men is a typical example of such a film. Even though ultimately and soon the French would be driven out of the area the Foreign Legion patrolled before the decade ended.Burt Lancaster is a sergeant of American background in the Foreign Legion and typically we don't know what drove him to join. His two corporals are Gilbert Roland and Kieron Moore and a bit of lese majeste involving Mari Blanchard got these guys some stockade time. Still they and others break out and hear of both an impending attack by the Riffs while the regiment is away on their post. It will be at the conclusion of a marriage between Jody Laurence the daughter of one sheik and Gerald Mohr another sheik. Once these tribes are united nothing stands in their way.What to do but kidnap the daughter and hold her until the regiment returns. That proves easier said than done and once done a lot harder to tame this desert wildcat. But Burt with that smile and those pecs is the guy for the job.None of the players in Ten Tall Men took this one real seriously and neither should we. Ten Tall Men is like a combination of The Desert Song and The Road To Morocco without songs.Don't believe me, well check out the end and you can't tell me The Road To Morocco didn't inspire that.

This is a great movie for just watching and enjoying. No overwhelming drama, no thought to guess the plot or who-done-it, just good old fashioned entertainment. Burt Lancaster shines in a way only he can. The jokes are funny, lines memorable (mamasita, what a rap she gave me... Khassein is a lump of evil smelling goat cheese) the girls are pretty and it rolls along as you "listen to the squeaking of the little mouse". Just enjoy yourself, if you miss a few minutes in the kitchen it won't throw you off the plot. It's great to see REAL actors displaying their craft in a time period when talent was more important than looks, bra size and CGI. If you want drama, go find Wuthering Heights and get your fill.