Description

Hatari! is Swahili for “danger”-and also the word for action, adventure and broad comedy in this two-fisted Howard Hawks effort. Joh n Wayne sta rs as the head of a daring Tanganyka-based group which captures wild ani mals on behalf of the world’s zoos. Hardy Kruger, Gérard Blain and Red Buttons are members of Wayne’s men-only contingent, all of whom are redu ced to jello when the curvaceous Elsa Martinelli enters the scene. In tr ied and true Howard Hawks fashion, Martinelli quickly becomes “one of th e guys,” though Wayne appa rently can’t say two words to her without spa rking an argument. The second half of this amazingly long (159 minute) f ilm concerns th e care and maintenance of a baby elephant; the barely cr edible finale is devoted to a comic pachyderm stampede down an urban Afr ican street, ending literally at the foot of Martinelli’s bed. The othe r scene worth mentioning involves comedy-relief Red Buttons’ effo rts to create a fireworks-powered animal trap. Not to be taken seriously for a minute, Hatari is attractively packaged and neatly ti ed up with a danc eable-pranceable theme song by Henry Mancini.