Simon Sabela Movies
This action-adventure film is based on a novel by Edgar Wallace. In the story, Colonel Smith (Ernest Borgnine) is an aging military man whose son is a CIA agent. His son has been captured by a bevy of iron-curtain bad-guys involved in a civil war in the African country of Angola, and Col. Smith is determined to rescue him. He puts together a group of military types to effect the rescue, and runs afoul of all sorts of nefarious characters in the process, including an East German military advisor (Robert Vaughn) and a shady diamond company security chief (Oliver Reed). Lovely Sam (Nancy Mulford) adds visual interest to the rescue team, and manages some dandy hand-to-hand combat moves. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ernest Borgnine, Robert Vaughn, (more)
This sequel to the enormous international hit The Gods Must Be Crazy isn't quite as fresh and enchanting as the original, but it is still a garden of small delights. N!Xau, the Kalihari bushman who starred in the first film, is separated from his children while on a hunting expedition in the desert. The emphasis is on the kids, who are kidnaped by elephant poachers. This activity is counterpointed with the adventures of the film's "civilized" characters, transplanted New York attorney Lena Farugia and zoologist Hans Strydom, who find themselves stranded in the desert (their adventures are similar to those experienced by fish-out-of-water Linda Kozlowski in Crocodile Dundee). Meanwhile, a couple of soldiers who've wandered away from a border war devote their time to capturing, and escaping from, each other. As in the first film, the various subplots converge, with N!Xau once more emerging as the hero of the hour. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- N!xau, Lena Farugia, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
Tom Reed (Kenneth Gilman) is a University of Florida ornithologist whose interest in vultures causes him to be mistaken for an international secret agent know as "vulture man." With his former flame and neighbor Kimberly Blake (Brenda Bakke), Tom is tracked by the CIA, the KGB, and African drug runners throughout the dark continent. The duo tries to survive in this low-budget comedy spy thriller. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kenneth David Gilman, Brenda Bakke, (more)
This film depicts the events prior to the devastating conflict that occurred in 1879 when British soldiers were held siege by thousands of Zulu warriors. Fifteen hundred soldiers were killed in the epic battle. This film portrays the tensions existing between the tribal factions and the British invaders. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Peter O'Toole, (more)
- 1979
- R
In this drama, a black man fights for freedom from racial oppression in the troubled country of Rhodesia. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
African Rage is a comparatively little-known political thriller, set in an African hospital. Top-billed Anthony Quinn plays a male nurse, assigned to care for a powerful tribal leader (Simon Sabela). With many threats against his well-being, the leader is heavily guarded around the clock. But Quinn manages to kidnap his patient, leading to a series of curious and occasionally confusing plot twists. African Rage was completed in South Africa in 1976 as Tigers Don't Cry, but not put into general American release for nearly nine years. Other alternate titles include Target of an Assassin, The Long Shot, and Fatal Assassin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1976
Also known as Lollipop and E Lollipop, Forever Young, Forever Free is a studied piece of whimsy filmed in South Africa and Harlem. Norman Knox plays a white orphan installed in a South African mission; his best friend is black foundling Muntu Ben Louis Ndebele. When Norman requires emergency surgery, he is flown to New York, where he bemoans the fact that he has been separated from his black chum. Whereupon, Muntu and priest Jose Fesser jet to the big apple themselves--but Muntu gets lost in the airport, and winds up in Harlem under the supervision of social worker Karen Valentine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- José Ferrer, Karen Valentine, (more)
Peter Hunt directed this old fashioned -- if not reactionary -- action film about gold-mining in South Africa. The story concerns a nefarious scheme to control the international price of gold by sabotaging the country's largest gold mine, flooding it with an underground sea. Hurry Hirschfeld (Ray Milland) is a cranky but kind millionaire who owns the gold mine. His granddaughter, Terry Steyner (Susannah York), is a beautiful women suffering from the old ennui. She happens to be married to chief bad-guy Manfred Steyner (Bradford Dillman), who, along with unscrupulous international tycoon Farrell (John Gielgud), hatches the plot to flood Hurry's gold- mine. To the rescue comes Rod Slater (Roger Moore) and his faithful black sidekick Big King (Simon Sabela), ready to right the wrongs and stem the tide in order to make South Africa safe for cheap black labor. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roger Moore, Susannah York, (more)
Filmed on a grand scale, Zulu is a rousing recreation of the January 22, 1879, siege of Rorke's Drift in Natal, Africa. An army of 4,000 Zulu warriors have already decimated a huge British garrison; now they are on their way to the much smaller Rorke's Drift. A Royal Engineers officer (Stanley Baker) is determined to stand his ground, despite having only a skeleton garrison at his command. His steamroller tactics are constantly at odds with those of a by-the-book lieutenant (Michael Caine), who feels that a retreat is called for, but it becomes clear that if the garrison is to survive, they'd better pay heed. Jack Hawkins and Ulla Jacobsson are also on hand as an idealistic missionary and his somewhat more pragmatic daughter. Richard Burton provides the narration for Zulu, closing the film with the observation that 11 of the 1,344 Victoria Crosses awarded since 1856 were bestowed upon the survivors of Rorke's Drift. Zulu was followed in 1979 by a "prequel," Zulu Dawn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, (more)
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