In the 70s Hollywood went spoof crazy, kicked off by the popularity of the Mel Brooks films - so much so that Gene Wilder then went and turned director for some spoof movies and also Marty Feldman.
This is an insane, joyous, off the wall movie - very surrealistic at times. It's dense with jokes, which is great. It doesn't have heart and a solid basic story, which I feel feature length comedies need - so we care.
It has a solid source material - Beau Geste - but every thing is so broad. Michael York is perfect and brave until he does a 180 at the end, Ann Margret is seductive and vixenish until she does a turn around at the end. Feldman has pop eyes and is nutty but I was never sure of where his character was coming from. He seems to like York, and... that was about it.
The cast is great Peter Ustinov as a sergeant, Spike Milligan as a servant, Terry Thomas as a warden, James Earl Jones as an Arab. Ann Margret is great fun. Sinead Cusack feels wasted - I wish she'd had more of a character to play.
There are also brilliant gags: a bling legionnaire reading braile centerfolds, the bug eyed kid who plays little Marty, Feldman meeting Gary Cooper from a film, the horse with a fake leg (comic props and art department are very big in this film).
Still, there is something hollow at the core.
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