This remake of the 1943 film begins in North Africa with an American M3 tank crew commanded by "Sergeant Joe Gunn" (James Belushi) having been cut off from their headquarters after a ferocious battle with the enemy. Since they are the only tank crew to survive the battle they decide to rejoin the British Eighth Army which has retreated several hundred miles to the south. Along the way they come across some British soldiers who have also been stranded and together they continue on their way with the hope of finding some water to replenish their dwindling supply. Not long afterward they encounter an allied Sudanese soldier named ""Sergeant Major Tambul" (Robert Wisdom) and his Italian prisoner "Giuseppe" (Angelo D'Angelo) who are allowed to ride with them. It's during this time that Sergeant Major Tambul tells them of a well a certain distance away and based on that information Staff Sergeant Gunn makes a detour for it. However, they soon encounter a German airplane which strafes them and even though one of the Americans is killed in the process they manage to shoot it down and take the German pilot "Captain von Schletow" (Julian Garner) prisoner. What they soon realize, however, is that the German army is close by and they are just as desperate for water. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this remake followed the previous version quite well with James Belushi putting in as good of a performance as Humphrey Bogart did in the original film. Along with that, I also thought that Robert Wisdom was slightly better than Rex Ingram in the previous film as well. And while it may have lacked originality the fact that it was in color certainly didn't hurt either. Be that as it may, I thought that this was a pretty good movie for the most part and have rated it accordingly. Above average.
