Caravans (1978)

Set in the Middle East in 1948, an American diplomat (Michael Sarrazin) is assigned to investigate the disappearance of the daughter (Jennifer O'Neill) of a United States Senator after her marriage to an Arabic Colonel (Behrouz Vossoughi). When he meets the Colonel, it turns out he's looking for her too. Based on the novel by James Michener and directed by James Fargo (EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE). Running past the two hour mark, it's clear the film had aspirations for an "epic" adventure movie. On the plus side, it looks marvelous thanks to Douglas Slocombe's (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) wide screen Todd-AO lensing. The film was shot in Iran and was a co-production between Iran and the U.S. On the downside, the pedestrian screenplay eliminates some of the more provocative aspects of the Michener novel (Michener disliked the film) and offers up nothing fresh in its place. The actors go through their paces and in the case of Anthony Quinn as an Afghanistan tribe leader, we've seen him do his Arab act too many times from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) to LION OF THE DESERT (1981) for his performance to hold any surprises. With Christopher Lee, Joseph Cotten, Barry Sullivan, Jeremy Kemp, Duncan Quinn and Parviz Gharib Afshar.