This epic adventure-drama based on James Michener's best-selling novel concerns a young American embassy official who is sent into the Middle-Eastern desert to find the missing daughter of a US Senator. The young woman has left her husband, a Colonel in the Shadom - she was his number two wife - and has opted for the lifestyle of a nomadic tribe. When the diplomat locates the girl he joins the caravan and attempts to persuade the girl to return.
Acting
Anthony Quinn commits 110% to nonsense.
Production
Actual Afghan locations pre-Soviet invasion.
Director
James Fargo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in Afghanistan during the last stable months before the 1978 communist coup and Soviet invasion. The locations are genuinely unobtainable now.
Michener's novel was already dated by 1978; the film amplifies every Orientalist trope while pretending to critique them. It's a fascinating artifact of Western guilt and desire.
US
