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Hatari!

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Wikipedia article




'Hatari!' (, Swahili for "Danger!") is a 1962 American adventure romantic comedy film starring John Wayne as the leader of a group of professional game catchers in Africa.McCarthy, Todd. 'Howard Hawks: the grey fox of Hollywood', New York, Grove Press, 1997, pg 572, Directed by Howard Hawks, it was shot in Technicolor and filmed on location in northern Tanganyika (in what is now Tanzania). The film includes dramatic wildlife chases and the scenic backdrop of Mount Meru, a dormant volcano.

At the 35th Academy Awards, Russell Harlan was nominated for Best Color Cinematography for his work on 'Hatari!', but the award went to Freddie Young for his work on 'Lawrence of Arabia'.

Plot



In Tanganyika in the 1960s, the Momella Game Company captures animals for zoos and circuses using off-road vehicles, lassos, and cages. The company consists of Frenchwoman Brandy de la Court, the unofficial "boss"; tough Irish-American Sean Mercer, who heads the catching expeditions; retired German race car driver Kurt Mller; Mexican Bullfighter Luis Francisco Garcia Lopez; Native American sharpshooter Little Wolf (aka "The Indian"); zoophobic former NYC cabbie "Pockets"; and several native staff.

Kurt and the Indian use a herding car to force the animals toward the larger catching truck driven by Pockets. One day, an aggressive rhino gores the Indian in the leg; the crew makes the five hour journey to Arusha hospital, where French marksman Charles "Chips" Maurey arrives, eager to take the Indian's place in the crew. Kurt, offended, punches him. Chips later turns out to be the only one present with the blood type required to save the Indian's life; he agrees to undergo a transfusion, and Sean offers him a job.

Back at their compound, the crew finds Italian photographer Anna-Maria "Dallas" D'Alessandro, who had been corresponding with the Indian. Everyone is surprised to learn that "A.M. D'Alessandro" is a woman, but she shows them a letter saying she has been sent by the Basel zoo, which is Momella's biggest client. Sean reluctantly lets her accompany the crew as they capture a giraffe. Despite many rookie embarrassments, Dallas enjoys herself, and everyone except Sean votes to let her stay.

Chips arrives at the compound; after a sharpshooting contest, he and Kurt become friends. As time goes on, Dallas and Sean begin to develop feelings for one another, though Sean, having been jilted by his first fiance, resists. Meanwhile, Brandy is courted by Kurt, Chips, and Pockets. The Indian, shaken by his experience, is released from the hospital, and makes Sean agree to not pursue any more rhinos until the end of the season.

On a multi-day trip, the crew passes through a village where a rogue female elephant has been killed by a game warden. They find her orphaned calf, and Dallas adopts it despite Sean's protests. Chaos ensues when the rest of the crew helps Dallas gather goats to get milk for the calf. That night, Dallas apologizes to Sean, and finally seduces him into giving her a kiss.

Later, Dallas adopts another orphaned elephant calf. The local waArusha tribe, impressed by how the elephants follow Dallas, arrange a ceremony for her, adopting her into the tribe and naming her "Mama Tembo" ("Mother of Elephants"). A third elephant orphan later makes its way into the compound.

The crew capture a zebra, an oryx, a gazelle, a leopard, and a buffalo. Later, the herding car blows a tire while pursuing a wildebeest; Kurt's shoulder is dislocated and Chips' leg is badly sprained in the wreck. The same day, Pockets falls off of a tall fence, suffering only bruising. However, Brandy shows the most concern for him out of the three, indicating whom she loves.

Pockets successfully uses a rocket attached to a net to catch a 500-strong vervet monkey troop all at once, surprising everyone, including himself. This leaves a rhino the only animal left to catch. The crew finds an angry bull rhino, and, although it escapes once, they finally capture it without any injuries to the crew, much to The Indian's relief.

The season's work done, Dallas begins to fear Sean will always see her as he saw his treacherous fiance, so she writes a goodbye letter and flees. Sean, with the help of the rest of the crew and the three baby elephants, tracks her to Arusha, and they reconcile. Sean and Dallas are married, and prepare to spend their wedding night in Sean's room; however, the three elephants barge in and destroy the bed.

Cast



*John Wayne as Sean Mercer

*Hardy Krger as Kurt Mller

*Elsa Martinelli as Anna Maria "Dallas" D'Alessandro

*Red Buttons as "Pockets"

*Grard Blain as Charles "Chips" Maurey

*Bruce Cabot as Little Wolf ("The Indian")

*Michle Girardon as Brandy de la Court

*Valentin de Vargas as Luis Francisco Garcia Lopez

*Eduard Franz as Dr. Sanderson

*Cathy Lewis as the voice of "Arusha Control" on the radio (uncredited)

*Queenie Leonard as Nurse (uncredited, scenes deleted)

Production



While 'Hatari!' is bookended by the two attempts to capture a rhinoceros, it otherwise has a very loose script, and, like many other works by Howard Hawks, is principally structured around the relationships among the characters. At the start of production all Hawks knew was that he wanted to make a movie about people who catch animals in Africa for zoos, which he saw as a dangerous profession that would allow for exciting scenes, the likes of which had never been seen on-screen before. Much of the script was written by Hawks' favorite writer, Leigh Brackett, after the production returned from Africa with footage of the characters catching various animals, and before and during studio takes in Hollywood.

Hawks increased his knowledge of animal-catching by studying the work of the famous South African animal conservationist Dr. Ian Player. In 1952, South Africa was eliminating large wild animals to protect livestock, and only 300 white rhinos survived. Player then invented his famed rhino catching technique to relocate and save the white rhinos. His project was called "Operation Rhino", and it was recorded in the renowned documentary film of the same name.McIntyre, Thomas. "Fifty Years of HATARI! The Story of Most Expensive Safari In the World." 'Sports Afield', May/June 2012, pg 70McCarthy, pg 575

Another source of inspiration for Hawks was the famous animal photographer Ylla, so he had Brackett add the character of Dallas to the script. Hawks said, "We took that part of the story from a real character, a German girl. She was the best animal photographer in the world."Joseph McBride (writer), 'Hawks on Hawks' University of California Press, 1982, , pg 143Peter Bogdanovich, 'The Cinema of Howard Hawks', Museum of Modern Art-Doubleday, 1962Scott Breivold, Peter Bogdanovich interviewer, 'Howard Hawks: interviews', University Press of Mississippi, 2006, , pg. 38McCarthy, pg 573

Hawks stated in interviews that he had originally planned to star both Clark Gable, who had just played a rough-and-ready wild horse catcher (who did his own stunts) in 'The Misfits', and Wayne in the film, until Gable's death ruled that out.

Much of the film revolves around scenes of the cast chasing animals in jeeps and trucks across the plains of East Africa. Ngorongoro farm, purchased by Hardy Kruger after the filming, served as the movie's setting. The animals pursued are all live, wild, and untrained. Capturing animals by chasing them down is banned today both due to concerns over strain upon all those involved in a chase (targeted and not) and the development of effective animal tranquilizers and powerful dart guns to subdue those ultimately selected.

According to director Howard Hawks, all of the animal captures in the film were performed by the actors themselvesnot by stuntmen or animal handlers (although a stand-in, Mildred Lucy "Rusty" Walkley, was used for some scenes involving Elsa Martinelli's character[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44555225 'Australian Woman's Weekly' December 5, 1962]). When Hawks interviewed de Vargas, he said production would be very dangerous, as there would be no double, and showed de Vargas a documentary.McCarthy, pg 577 Government-licensed animal catcher Willy de Beer was hired by Hawks as a technical adviser, and he and his assistants worked with the actors on how to go about catching the animals.Stanley, Frank. "Hatari." 'International Photographer: The Magazine of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences', September 1961, Vol 33 No 9, pg 181 During filming, the rhino really did escape and the actors had to recapture it, which Hawks included in the completed film for its realism.

Much of the audio in the capture sequences had to be re-dubbed due to John Wayne's cursing while wrestling with the animals, and Hawks said Wayne admitted being scared during some of the action scenes, particularly those in which he is sitting in the exposed "catching seat" as a truck hurtles over terrain full of hidden holes and obstacles. According to Hawks, Wayne "had the feeling with every swerve that the car was going to overturn as he hung on for dear life, out in the open with only a seat belt for support, motor roaring, body jarring every which-way, animals kicking dirt and rocks and the thunder of hundreds of hooves increasing the din in his ears."McCarthy, pg 582 On the other hand, one evening, while Buttons and Wayne were playing cards outside, a leopard came out of the bush towards them, but, when Buttons mentioned the approaching leopard, Wayne reportedly simply said, "See what he wants."McIntyre, pg 73

Filming in Africa was not only dangerous for the actors, however. De Vargas said de Beer was mauled by a loose baby leopard that sprang on him from a tree, and "came back with his arm covered in bandages and throat completely wrapped, but he just shrugged it off."McCarthy, pg 579

As the animals frequently refused to make noise "on cue" (in particular, the baby elephants refused to trumpet inside populated areas), local Arusha game experts and zoo collectors were hired to do "animal voice impersonations" for the film.

Michle Girardon spoke no English when she was cast and, according to a July 1961 'LIFE' magazine profile of the actress, she taught herself English while on the set.

John Wayne wore a belt with the famed "Red River D" from his starring role in Hawkes' iconic Red River on its buckle, as he did in many of his movies. It can be clearly seen in the scene where Sean Mercer radios "Arusha Control" after The Indian is gored by the rhino at the start of the film, and again in the scene where Sonja (the cheetah) wanders into the bathroom while Dallas is bathing and introduces herself by licking Dallas and purring.

The memorable Henry Mancini tune "Baby Elephant Walk" was written for and first appeared in 'Hatari!'. Another memorable musical moment from the film is a duet of Stephen Foster's "Old Folks at Home" (aka "Swanee River"), with Dallas on piano and Pockets on harmonica.

Reception



'Hatari!' grossed $12,923,077 at the box office, $7 million of which came from U.S. theatrical rentals."All-time top film grossers", 'Variety', 8 January 1964, pg 37. It was the 7th highest-grossing film of 1962.

Jean-Luc Godard listed 'Hatari!' as one of the best films of its year of release.

The film was recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

* 2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominated

Novelization



Michael Milner adapted Leigh Brackett's screenplay for the film into a paperback novel published by Pocket Books in 1962 as a tie-in to the movie. The cover of the novel features the movie poster of the rhino attacking the catching truck. The novel goes into more detail about some aspects of the animal-catching, particularly Pockets' rocket-net project, as well as about the pursuit of Brandy by Kurt, Chips, and Pockets. The book is a bit edgier than the film, but it is a fast read and faithful to the movie. The novel's ASIN number is B000BJUQP4.

Comic book adaptation



* Dell Movie Classic: 'Hatari!' (January 1963)

See also



* 'Hatari! Music from the Paramount Motion Picture Score', soundtrack album by Henry Mancini

* List of American films of 1962

* John Wayne filmography

References




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