Sahara (2005 film)

Sahara
Promotional poster
Directed by	Breck Eisner
Screenplay by	James V. Hart Thomas Dean Donnelly Joshua Oppenheimer John C. Richards
Produced by	Stephanie Austin Howard Baldwin Karen Baldwin Mace Neufeld
Starring	Matthew McConaughey Steve Zahn Penélope Cruz Lambert Wilson William H. Macy
Cinematography	Seamus McGarvey
Edited by	Andrew MacRitchie
Music by	Clint Mansell
Production companies	Bristol Bay Productions Baldwin Entertainment Group Kanzaman
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	April 4, 2005 (2005-04-04) (premiere) April 8, 2005 (2005-04-08) (wide)
Running time	124 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom Spain Germany United States
Languages	English French Arabic
Budget	$160 million
Box office	$119,269,486

Sahara, an American/Spanish 2005 action–comedy adventure film directed by Breck Eisner, is based on the best-selling book of the same name by Clive Cussler. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn and Penélope Cruz.

It opened at number one in the US box office, grossing $18 million on its first weekend. From a financial perspective, Sahara was unusual because it performed reasonably well, generating $122 million in gross box-office sales. However, due to its huge budget—including $160 million in production costs and $81.1 million in distribution expenses—its box-office take amounted to barely half of its expenses. The film lost approximately $105 million according to a financial executive assigned to the movie; however, Hollywood accounting methods assign losses at $78.3 million, taking into account projected revenue. According to Hollywood accounting, the film has a projected revenue of $202.9 million against expenses of $281.2 million.

The Los Angeles Times presented an extensive special report on April 15, 2007, dissecting the budget of Sahara as an example of how Hollywood movies can cost so much to produce and fail. Many of the often closely held documents had become public domain after a lawsuit involving the film. Among some of the items in the budget were bribes to the Moroccan government, some of which may have been legally questionable even under American law.

Plot

The film begins with a prologue set in Richmond, Virginia in 1865, showing the ironclad CSS Texas, carrying the last of the Confederacy's treasury, as Captain Mason Tombs tries to run a Union blockade.

The film then moves to the present day, where World Health Organization doctors Eva Rojas and Frank Hopper are investigating a disease that is spreading across Mali, Africa. Assassins, accompanied by a corrupt Tuareg named Zakara, attempt to murder Eva, but she is rescued by Dirk Pitt, from National Underwater and Marine Agency, who was diving nearby.

Dirk gets a call from a dealer in Nigeria. He sells Dirk a gold Confederate States of America coin, one of supposedly only five in existence, which was found in the Niger River. Dirk believes that this is a clue to the long-lost Texas. He convinces his boss, James Sandecker, to let him, Al Giordino, and Rudi Gunn, from NUMA, take Sandecker's yacht, the Calliope up the Niger River to search for the Texas. They give Eva and Hopper a ride, so that they can continue their investigation, for the WHO.

Businessman Yves Massarde and dictator General Kazim, who controls half of civil-war torn Mali, try to stop the doctors from discovering the source of the "plague". Kazim sends men to kill them and the NUMA team, not realizing their CIA and Navy background. Dirk, Al and Rudi survive the attack, but the Calliope is destroyed in the process. Rudi tries to get out of the country to get help while Dirk and Al go to rescue the doctors. They save Eva, and then the three try to get across the border, but are captured by Tuareg, who are fighting the civil war against Kazim. The Tuaregs’ leader, Modibo, shows Eva his people, who are dying from the same disease she was investigating at the beginning. After taking samples and analyzing them, Eva finds that their water is contaminated with toxins.

By accident, Al stumbles into a cave with a painting showing the ironclad Texas. Dirk believes that the Texas became stranded when the river dried up after a storm and that the same river that carried the Texas now runs underground, spreading the contamination. They start to follow the dry river bed and work their way to the border. Dirk still hopes to find the ironclad along the way. Their plans are interrupted when they stumble upon a solar detoxification plant owned by Massarde, and realize that it is the source of the contamination. Rudi and Sandecker analyze their samples and find that the contamination is heading down the Niger River to the ocean and, if they don't stop it in time, the toxins will reach the ocean and it will be devoid of all life. Not only that, they can't get any government help to intervene during a civil war in a sovereign country.

Massarde captures Dirk and Al, and keeps Eva while sending Dirk and Al to Kazim. They successfully escape but end up stranded in the middle of the desert. They find the wreck of a plane and rebuild it into a land yacht which they use to find civilization and contact Sandecker, who warns them that Kazim and his troops are after them. Dirk and Al enlist Modibo's aid to return to the plant and rescue Eva. He helps them infiltrate the plant and rescue his people who are working there as slaves. Rather than risk discovery, Massarde plans to destroy the plant for good, making it almost impossible to stop the contamination. Al goes to defuse the bombs while Dirk tries to stop Massarde. After a fierce battle with Zakara, in which he is killed, Dirk manages to save Eva while Massarde escapes. Dirk, Eva, and Al get away from the plant in a 1936 Avions Voisin C-28, but they are attacked by Kazim in a helicopter gunship. A series of explosions along the dry river bed reveals the wreckage of the Texas, right where the cave painting showed it to be. They take cover inside thinking the ironclad's armor will protect them but Kazim's armor-piercing ammunition penetrates the rusted ironclad's armor with ease. They manage to fight back with one of the Texas's cannons and destroy Kazim's gunship, just as Modibo arrives with Tuareg reinforcements which forces Kazim's army to surrender and end the civil war.

In the end the contamination is stopped, and Sandecker is offered a deal to do some covert work, while the government serendipitously funds NUMA, which he accepts, tentatively. It is heavily implied that Massarde is poisoned while eating with another businessman by his waiter, who is actually an undercover agent from the US government. The Texas gold, which technically belonged to the CSA, is left with Modibo's people. At the end of the film, Al is seen playing soccer with the local children. The cave, once empty, is now full of the gold. Later, while Al, Rudi, Sandecker are busy, Dirk and Eva are at the beach at her house on the bay in Monterey with Kazim's newly repaired car.

Cast

• Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt
• Steve Zahn as Al Giordino
• Penélope Cruz as Dr. Eva Rojas
• Lambert Wilson as Yves Massarde
• Lennie James as Brigadier General Zateb Kazim
• William H. Macy as Admiral James Sandecker
• Rainn Wilson as Commander Rudi Gunn
• Delroy Lindo as Carl
• Patrick Malahide as Ambassador Polidori
• Glynn Turman as Dr. Frank Hopper
• Dayna Cussler as Kitty Mannock (Deleted scenes)
• Robert Cavanah as Captain Tombs
• Paulin Fudouop as Modibo
• Jude Akuwidike as Imam
• Mark Aspinall as Lawyer
• Rakie Ayola as Mrs. Nwokolo
• Christopher Bello as Train Driver
• Nicholas Beveney as Gunboat 1 Officer
• Maurice Lee as Zakara

Promotion

To promote the film, actor Matthew McConaughey drove his own Airstream trailer (painted with a large Sahara movie poster on each side) across America, stopping at military bases and many events, such as the Daytona 500 (to Grand Marshal the race), premiering the movie to fans, signing autographs, and doing interviews at each stop. The trip's highlights were shown on an E! channel special to coincide with the film's release. McConaughey also kept a running blog of his trip on MTV's entertainment website. Both MTV and the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, are owned by Viacom.

According to McConaughey, this film was intended to be the first in a franchise based on Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels (much like the James Bond one), but the poor box-office performance has stalled any plans for a sequel.

Legal problems

In February 2005, Cussler took legal action against Philip Anschutz, the producer, for failing to consult him on the script.

Cussler sued the film's makers for breach of contract and producer Anschutz counter-sued Cussler for "alleged blackmail and sabotage attempts against the film prior to its 2005 release." Cussler claims that his initial brief of "absolute control" over the book's adaptation to the big screen was compromised and this contributed to it becoming a box office failure. In a statement to a Los Angeles court, Cussler says, "They deceived me right from the beginning. They kept lying to me... and I just got fed up with it." Anschutz countered that Cussler's behavior played a big role in the film's financial woes. His lawyer said "It is the height of arrogance for Cussler to take $10 million to make a movie and then torpedo the franchise."

Anschutz prevailed. On May 15, 2007, the jury awarded him $5 million, leaving it to the judge to separately determine whether or not Anschutz should have to pay $8.5 million to Cussler for rights to a second book. In a decision on January 8, 2008, Judge John Shook denied Cussler's claim for the $8.5 million.

On March 10, 2009, Judge John P. Shook ordered Clive Cussler to pay $13.9 million in legal fees to the production company.

A March 2010 decision by the California Court of Appeals has since overturned the earlier awardings of both the $5 million in damages and nearly $14 million in legal fees to Anschutz.

Despite the March appellate court ruling in the long-running litigation between author Clive Cussler and Philip Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment, Cussler attempted to reignite the dispute in July 2010. He filed a new lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming that the appeals court opened a window for him to recover $8.5 million owed on a contract with Crusader. Cussler is asking a judge to declare that his claim is valid and he is entitled to the money.

"They're trying to pretend this wasn't already litigated", Crusader attorney Marvin Putnam replied. "Cussler has never been able to accept the fact that he lost this case. He didn't accept the jury verdict, then for a year they tried to get the trial court judge to say the jury determined (Cussler was) entitled to $8.5 million and the court said absolutely not. They then sought an appeal and it didn't work. Then they appealed to the California Supreme Court and they didn't take the case. So, despite having had multiple courts say no, they are trying all over again."

Reception

Critical response

Sahara received mixed to negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 39% based on reviews from 171 critics, with the consensus: "A mindless adventure flick with a preposterous plot." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 41 based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Box office

The film grossed $68,671,925 in the USA, plus $50,597,561 outside the USA, for a combined gross of $119,269,486, making it a box office bomb. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times listed the film as one of the most expensive of all time.

Awards

Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result
BMI Film & TV Awards	Film Music Award	Clint Mansell	Won
Irish Film & Television Awards	Best Cinematography Award	Seamus McGarvey	Won
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actor: Action/Adventure/Thriller	Matthew McConaughey	Nominated
	Choice Movie Actress: Action/Adventure/Thriller	Penélope Cruz	Nominated
	Choice Movie Liplock	Matthew McConaughey and Penélope Cruz	Nominated

External links

• The Official Website of Author Clive Cussler - Clive's Official Website
• Sahara at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Sahara at AllMovie