I love this film. It's got a cool story, great locations, good actors and great music. Check out a lot of those scenes, all real, no CGI involved.
Jambo my friends.
Does anyone know the year and model of the Willys Jeep used as the herding car?
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I totally agree with RivenWinner, some might question the story line, the length, but I love it and yes, the Mancini score is wonderful! Just a fun story for 'children of all ages!' Miss this kind of movie these days.
Oh, no. This is a totally boring movie. Overlong and dull.
shareWell, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I happen to really disagree with you. It's so funny! Pockets is definetly one of my favorites!
I agree with YOU. Just watched it again after not seeing it for a while, and really enjoyed it. I especially liked Red Buttons and Elsa Martinelli, along, of course, with the Duke. It was a little long, but boring? No way. Not with those great animal capture shots.
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well, here is my opinion: I loved the movie, but when it was over, I was like 'I just wasted two and a half hours of my life'....and you know what, I've probably seen that movie about ten times since then. I like it, but like ya'll have said, there is really no point. It's fun though, I like it.
shareThis movie is pure escapist fluff, and I love it! Duke and his male cohorts are so macho and cool, each and every one attactive in his own way.
Am I the only one who thought the Duke's May/December romance in this was a bit unbelievable? I could picture Dallas with one or 2 of the other, younger guys. But with a guy Duke's age, it's a little creepy.
I love this movie, though. It's one of those that make you wish you could step into the movie, and hang out with these interesting, exciting, attractive people.
While watching this, it occurred to me that if it was a current film, you'd be able to buy many different "Hatari"-related items, from the clothes, to toys of the animals and cars, to even a toy set-up of the house and complex. And, of course, the action figures. It's a marketing dream!
Am I the only one who thought the Duke's May/December romance in this was a bit unbelievable? I could picture Dallas with one or 2 of the other, younger guys. But with a guy Duke's age, it's a little creepy.
I actually think the Brandy / Pockets May-December romance was much more unbelievable, despite the fact that Pockets (Red Buttons) was an extremely likeable character. You did have the two younger guys, Chips, the expert marksman and Kurt, the racecar driver vying for her, but I guess she, like Dallas, preferred older men.
Could it have been trimmed down? Perhaps. I don't think the ostrich scene added anything to the story other than giving us a good Henry Mancini score to accompany it.
But when it comes down to it, it was indeed a top-notch escapism movie that someone like a Howard Hawks could only pull off. Though I do feel sorry for the animals getting captured, it made for some truly great action sequences, especially the rhino.
I doubt a picture like this could be made today because A). This was a colorful fun film. Today, the emphasis is to make everything dark. A gloomy, sinister HATARI just wouldn't be the same. B). It wouldn't be politically correct to see animals getting caught and C). Even if they did show them being captured, most of the scenes would be in CGI, pretty much ruining the reality Hawks' movie had.
John Wayne is a bit too old. They should have gotten Charlton Heston.
I watched this just the other day because of Red Button's passing. This is one of his best appearences.
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Heston was very good at comedy. Very believable and funny. Usually got his laughs, like Wayne, being the straight guy. See The Private War of Major Benson, The Pigeon that Took Rome, and parts of Will Penny for starters.
shareDo you know who owns the rights to Hatari? I called the Batjac office and I was told they do not own the movie.
-Julius
I actually think the Brandy / Pockets May-December romance was much more unbelievable, despite the fact that Pockets (Red Buttons) was an extremely likeable character. You did have the two younger guys, Chips, the expert marksman and Kurt, the racecar driver vying for her, but I guess she, like Dallas, preferred older men.
It was a good film. I don't think I'll be watching it again in the near future, but it was entertaining for what it was.
"Have you been drinking a little?"
"No Ma'am, I've been drinking a lot."
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"Attempted murder? Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?"
Yes it is a great Movie. I like all the scenes with the animals. The romance and the love story round the hunters is ok and it is always fun to watch women in Hawkes Movies.
shareYou sound like a simpering little ageist.
shareI was probably around 7 or 8 when I saw this movie for the first time...my dad was watching it. I have to admit I was bored by old movies but I was fascinated by this one. I still love it and just watched this month. And I love my dad.
shareAll I can say is that it's a sad thing that Hawks' style of filmmaking did not survive his passing. All of his movies are so enjoyable to watch, and all give evidence of a sophisticated artist with an amazingly diverse range of interests, a natural gift for entertaining, and a feeling for character that hasn't been matched to this day. Today's movies are all about technique. Today the camera is constantly on the movie (which doesn't have to be a bad thing, but in today's movies it usually is), and today no shot lasts longer than a few seconds (unless it gives the director a chance show how clever he can waltz the camera around ). As a result, actors don't get a chance to create an inner rhythm in a scene--the rhythm is imposed by the editing. Thus the films of today have a sort of numbing quality, you sit on the roller coaster and get buffeted and spun until the ride is over and you stagger out having gotten a certain visceral kick, but no real emotional gratification. Many of the reviewers of Hatari! mention feeling that they'd like to hang out with these people. I doubt whether 40 years from now there will be many who will make that statement about the actors of today's big hits.
Incidentally, although I think CGI has actually revitalized the industry in many respects, I too miss the days when "they did it for real."
I remember the last time I watched this movie - and the ski sequence in The Spy Who Loved Me - I thought: "nowadays they'd use CGI for this - and it wouldn't work."
CGI has its place - usually where there is no other way to produce a scene - such as with Lord of the Rings. But now CGI has become the reason for making some films. Bizarre.
Just wondering where you found the story at, I looked everywhere across the african landscape and found notta. Also, did that woman shoot a single photo the entire film? I think I saw the camera twice, some photographer.
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I like it too, though Hatari is about 45 minutes too long. Still, it's a very fun film. One would expect that since Hatari is directed by Howard Hawks.
I remember reading that Hawks wanted both John Wayne and Clark Gable to star in this film. However, there Paramount didn't put up the money to bring Clark in. Gable was out, unfortunately. In addition, he died not too long before this film was made. One could only imagine Wayne and Gable in an adventure film like this directed by Howard Hawks.
"Watch me run a 50-yard dash with my legs cut off!"
That would've been something to see: The King and The Duke in the same movie.
Even though the film is essentially rehashing Hawks' favorite plot (a group of tough professionals' world is interrupted by the arrival of an outsider of both gender and homeland. Snappy one-liners and sparks fly when the emotionally closed-off leader starts to fall for the Hawksian Woman) and Elsa Martinelli is a very weak Hawksian Woman, but everyone else is in fine form from John Wayne (I never think of him as a great actor, but his presence is indisputable, and I love his confident voice as much as I hate his politics) to the baby elephants to Henry Mancini's bouncing score. And the color cinematography of Africa is stunning.
A much better treatment of this plot is Hawks' earlier underrated Only Angels Have Wings and classic To Have and Have Not, but this is still a great movie.
I was born when she kissed me
I died when she left me
I lived a few weeks while she loved me
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>>John Wayne (I never think of him as a great actor, but his presence is indisputable, and I love his confident voice as much as I hate his politics)<<
I don't understand why Wayne's "politics" always has to come up in a discussion about his films. Can't you talk about the man's craft without dragging this dead horse out for yet another beating? Besides making a comparison between his "confident voice" and his politics is just plain silly.
Except Gable was dead before they even started production. He died in 1960.
Maybe that's why Paramount wouldn't put the money up?!!
From the trivia section:
"Howard Hawks originally wanted to make the film with John Wayne and Clark Gable, but Paramount would not raise the budget to finance Gable."
"Director Howard Hawks had long intended to make Hatari! (1962) with Gable and John Wayne. However, by the time filming began Gable was already dead."
I believe that Howard Hawks also mentioned this to Peter Bogdanovich in an interview in the 1960s.
"Watch me run a 50-yard dash with my legs cut off!"
I was 12 or 13 years old when I saw this in the theater and loved it. I still like the movie, but am aware it's no more than good escapist fluff.
Good characters, nice action, funny bits and baby elephants... a fine afternoons entertainment.
~LjM
Step on it! And don't spare the atoms!
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My dad worked on this movie, I was to young to go, but I heard all the great storied when he got back. It was more like a great vacation for everyone because everyone had so much fun on this movie. And I think you can see it on film. yes, the actors did participate in many of the animals scenes as they were being captured.
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