- After the fall of Tobruk in 1942, during the Allied retreat in the Libyan desert, an American tank picks-up a motley group of survivors but they face advancing Germans and a lack of water.
- Sergeant Joe Gunn and his tank crew pick up five British soldiers, a Frenchman and a Sudanese man with an Italian prisoner crossing the Libyan Desert to rejoin their command after the fall of Tobruk. They and the Germans are greatly in need of water.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
- After a major battle in June 1942 an American tank crew, one of the few serving with the British 8th Army, is ordered to retreat south into the Sahara desert, the only direction that is open to them. Sgt. Joe Gunn and the two surviving members of crew head off, collecting a motley crew of British and other Allied soldiers on the way. They even have an Italian and a German POW. Their biggest threat is the lack of water but having finally found a well, they have to deal with advancing Nazis who are also in dire need of water. Rather than flee however, they decide to stand their ground and face the battalion strength enemy.—garykmcd
- It is a good WWII movie especially considering it was filmed well before the outcome of the war in North Africa was known. Bogart's character "Sarge" and a number of familiar faces from Hollywood's Golden Era form a multi-national bunch of survivors of the illfated North Africa Campaign clinging to a Sherman tank (Lulabell) clinging to her last treads. As Bogart and his American crew head south to regroup with allied forces they collect the aforementioned British, Free French and other retreating allied foot soldiers. Bogart's bunch even in retreat take an Italian soldier and a Nazi fighter pilot as POWs. The desert is in a drought even by the Sahara's standards and soon they are being chased by a superior force Nazis in a race to get to the only meager water well within hundreds of miles. The action is well filmed and the "nationalism" is well restrained for wartime Hollywood. The film is a surprising gem and worth the watch.—chcarr-44-976134
- Sgt. Joe Gunn leads an abandoned tank unit after the fall of Tobruk in N. Africa. They picks up several allied soldiers along the way, becoming a microcosm of the Allied troops. The group works together to defeat a much larger German force which wants the same water well they have.—Kasey Kist <kistky@uc.email.edu>
- While fighting in Libya during World War 2 Sergeant Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) and his M3 Lee tank lovingly referred to as Lulabelle are attached to the British Eighth Army. A retreat order comes through and Joe and his crew, Waco (Bruce Bennet), and Jimmy Doyle (Dan Duryea) are separated from their division and travel across the desert hoping to avoid Rommel's troops, when they meet a rag tag group of British soldiers at a field hospital unaware of the retreat. In desperate need of water, Joe and his new passengers head into the desert toward the site of some ancient Roman ruins that contains a well many miles into the sand. Along the way they rescue an Italian soldier who goes by the name of Guiseppi (J. Carrol Naish - who was nominated for an Academy Award "Best Actor In A Supporting Role") and a Sudanese soldier and are attacked by a German fighter 'plane. They shoot down the 'plane and take the pilot prisoner and soon learn that there are hundreds of German soldiers needing water who are also heading for the same well that Gunn and his crew are heading for. When Gunn arrives at the watering hole the flow of water is very slow and they work diligently to get enough for themselves. Wanting to slow down the incoming Germans and prevent them from rejoining the war, Gunn sends Waco out across the desert hoping to get relief from the British 8th Army, but the question is whether the desert may prove to be too much.
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