Zurlini, Valerio, Gassman, Vittorio, Gemma, Giuliano, Griem, Helmut, Noiret, Philippe, Perrin, Jacques	...	(Director)
Dino Buzzati, André G. Brunelin	...	(Writer)
Vittorio Gassman	...	Filimore
Giuliano Gemma	...	Mattis
Helmut Griem	...	Lieutenant Simeon
Philippe Noiret	...	General
Jacques Perrin	...	Drogo
Francisco Rabal	...	Tronk
Fernando Rey	...	Nathanson
Laurent Terzieff	...	Amerling
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Le médecin-major Rovin
Max von Sydow	...	Hortiz
Shaban Golchin Honaz	...	Soldat Lazare
Giuseppe Pambieri	...	Lieutenant Rathenau
Bryan Rostron	...
Kamran Nozad	...	Capitaine Sern
Manfred Freyberger	...	Caporal Montagne

Comments: DIT 172

Summary: BEAU GESTE meets WAITING FOR GODOT in this haunting adaptation of renowned Italian writer Dino Buzzati’s controversial 1938 novel about life, honor, mystery, paranoia and death during wartime. For his first commission, infantry lieutenant Drogo (Jacques Perrin) is stationed at a remote desert garrison on the mist-shrouded border of the North Kingdom. Filling their days with endless drilling, the soldiers of Fortezza Bastiani spend the long nights wondering about an enemy no one has ever seen. As the days stretch into months, the strain of waiting for attack takes its toll on Drago’s comrades: sadistic Major Mattis (Giuliano Gemma), sardonic Lieutenant Simeon (Helmut Griem), cynical medic Rovine (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and humiliated Captain Hortiz (Max von Sydow). Rarely screened outside Europe since its 1976 premiere, Il Deserto dei Tartari (DESERT OF THE TARTARS) was the last film from Italian director Valerio Zurlini before his death in 1982 and also features legendary actors Vittorio Gassman, Philippe Noiret, Fernando Rey, and Francisco Rabal. A multi-national co-production, DESERT OF THE TARTARS makes atmospheric use of Iran’s 2000 year-old Bam Citadel, where Zurlini filmed on the eve of the 1979 revolution that changed world politics forever. As timely now as the day it was made, DESERT OF THE TARTARS is a study of the madness of warfare in the tradition of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and APOCALYPSE NOW. Included an exclusive ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK by Ennio Morricone