Ashanti (1979)
Studio: Severin
Theatrical Release: April 1979
Blu-Ray Release: December 11th, 2012
Rating: R
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Review by Craig Sorensen
Ashanti is sort of one of the last gasps of the big, bloated, star-studded hollywood action filmmaking of the past. This is probably why the film kind of feels so tired. Many of the toted stars only put in cameos and Michael Caine (at a lull in his career) seems bored most of the time. Ashanti feels like an exploitation film stuck in a large budget hollywood production. It’s never really allowed to fly off the rails in the way you really want with an exploitation film, instead sort of half-assed chasing down respectability (and never really catching it).
Michael Caine (Beyond the Poseidon Adventure) plays Doctor David Linderby, who works for the United Nations with his hot wife Anansa (Beverly Johnson of Deadly Hero). They travel from village to village in Africa helping to inoculate the people. Anansa takes a break to swim nude in a nearby river and catches the eyes of some nasty slave traders. They snatch her and many of the girls in the village and take them back to their boss Suleiman (hammy Peter Ustinov of Hammersmith Is Out). Now Michael Caine is pissed. The local police won’t take any action to help him (do local police ever help?), so he turns to Brian Walker (Rex Harrison of Night Train to Munich) who puts him in touch with helicopter pilot/mercenary Jim Sandell (William Holden of The Towering Inferno). This leads Dr. Linderby to desert nomad Malik (Kabir Bedi of Octopussy) who helps Linderby chase Suleiman through the African deserts. Can they catch up to him before he makes it to the coast where he can sell off his slaves?
Ashanti is entertaining, don’t get me wrong, it just feels like no one’s heart was really in this while they were making it. It tightropes between sleaze and respectability when it really needs to make a decision about which direction to go. Either way would be fine with me. I think Fleischer is a decent director, I love Soylent Green and Mr. Majestyk. It just feels like he’s collecting a paycheck here. The same could be said for most of the cast. William Holden is only in this thing for about three or four minutes. Rex Harrison doesn’t fair much better. They’re both great, even when they’re phoning it in though. Caine looks bored most of the time. The real standouts here are Ustinov and Bedi. Ustinov chews every bit of scenery he can get his hands on. Sometimes it seems like he’s playing King Tut on the Batman TV series. Bedi gives the strongest performance of the film and I’m surprised that this didn’t lead to a larger hollywood career.
Ashanti hasn’t had good luck with home video formats until now. As far as I know, this is the only widescreen version of the film available. The Blu-Ray looks great. Colors look very natural. It does look like there’s been a little bit of grain removal but it’s not overzealous. If you’re not sensitive to that sort of thing you probably won’t even notice. The original mono track (the only audio option available) sounds good. The films shitty disco score sounds great. As far as extras go, you get the original theatrical trailer and a short interview with star Beverly Johnson. She has some good anecdotes from the filming, including her rich husband strong arming her into the picture and Johnson getting in some legal trouble with a sleazy masseur.
[Rating: 3 stars]
Theatrical Release: April 1979
Blu-Ray Release: December 11th, 2012
Rating: R
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Review by Craig Sorensen
Ashanti is sort of one of the last gasps of the big, bloated, star-studded hollywood action filmmaking of the past. This is probably why the film kind of feels so tired. Many of the toted stars only put in cameos and Michael Caine (at a lull in his career) seems bored most of the time. Ashanti feels like an exploitation film stuck in a large budget hollywood production. It’s never really allowed to fly off the rails in the way you really want with an exploitation film, instead sort of half-assed chasing down respectability (and never really catching it).
Michael Caine (Beyond the Poseidon Adventure) plays Doctor David Linderby, who works for the United Nations with his hot wife Anansa (Beverly Johnson of Deadly Hero). They travel from village to village in Africa helping to inoculate the people. Anansa takes a break to swim nude in a nearby river and catches the eyes of some nasty slave traders. They snatch her and many of the girls in the village and take them back to their boss Suleiman (hammy Peter Ustinov of Hammersmith Is Out). Now Michael Caine is pissed. The local police won’t take any action to help him (do local police ever help?), so he turns to Brian Walker (Rex Harrison of Night Train to Munich) who puts him in touch with helicopter pilot/mercenary Jim Sandell (William Holden of The Towering Inferno). This leads Dr. Linderby to desert nomad Malik (Kabir Bedi of Octopussy) who helps Linderby chase Suleiman through the African deserts. Can they catch up to him before he makes it to the coast where he can sell off his slaves?
Ashanti is entertaining, don’t get me wrong, it just feels like no one’s heart was really in this while they were making it. It tightropes between sleaze and respectability when it really needs to make a decision about which direction to go. Either way would be fine with me. I think Fleischer is a decent director, I love Soylent Green and Mr. Majestyk. It just feels like he’s collecting a paycheck here. The same could be said for most of the cast. William Holden is only in this thing for about three or four minutes. Rex Harrison doesn’t fair much better. They’re both great, even when they’re phoning it in though. Caine looks bored most of the time. The real standouts here are Ustinov and Bedi. Ustinov chews every bit of scenery he can get his hands on. Sometimes it seems like he’s playing King Tut on the Batman TV series. Bedi gives the strongest performance of the film and I’m surprised that this didn’t lead to a larger hollywood career.
Ashanti hasn’t had good luck with home video formats until now. As far as I know, this is the only widescreen version of the film available. The Blu-Ray looks great. Colors look very natural. It does look like there’s been a little bit of grain removal but it’s not overzealous. If you’re not sensitive to that sort of thing you probably won’t even notice. The original mono track (the only audio option available) sounds good. The films shitty disco score sounds great. As far as extras go, you get the original theatrical trailer and a short interview with star Beverly Johnson. She has some good anecdotes from the filming, including her rich husband strong arming her into the picture and Johnson getting in some legal trouble with a sleazy masseur.
[Rating: 3 stars]
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