FILM · 1983 · UK
Sahara
38 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (38)
- #001
Around this time, the son of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher went missing while gathered in the Sahara, which gave the film much-needed publicity.
- #002
The film was described as Menahem Golan's attempt to make a Lawrence of Arabia (1962), alongside The Blue Lagoon (1980) and The Great Race (1965).
- #003
Producer Menahem Golan told many people early in shooting that he believed Brooke Shields would win an Oscar for her role.
- #004
This was the last film MGM distributed for The Cannon Group, Inc., following studio executives' dissatisfaction with the lack of quality product the studio provided them.
- #005
The costumes were designed by the fashion-loving Valentino, who said 1925 was one of his favorite years: "It was a fantastic moment, fantastic and full of ideas. It was a time when women undressed for tea, then for dinner, and then for the ball."
- #006
As part of her role, Brooke Shields was expected to drive on location, but during filming she was too young to do so legally. Special permission had to be obtained from the local authorities to allow her to drive in the film.
- #007
After filming in Israel was completed, star Brooke Shields enrolled in higher education at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
- #008
The film's third director, Andrew V. McLaglen, replaced the film's second director, John Guillermin, who had previously replaced the film's first director, Guy Hamilton.
- #009
Actress Brooke Shields once said of the filming in Israel: "Being in Israel for four months and driving was fun… Being in the Negev desert, in Eilat and sort of at the Dead Sea was enjoyable, but the experience of it and living there for so long was definitely more memorable than the film itself."
- #010
The John Mitchell Company in Bedfordshire, England, produced the film's car replicas. This involved making two of each replica car. Each replica was equipped with the same custom chassis, Dunlop tires, manual transmission and Jaguar 6-cylinder engines as the junker. Moreover, they were all built at a cost of around US$60,000. The car replicas were flown from England to Israel. According to a post on the IMCDb (Internet Movie Cars Database), "after the film crew left Israel, the [replica] vehicles were kept in storage and were eventually seized by Israeli customs."
- #011
Reportedly, star Brooke Shields's mother, executive producer Teri Shields, had serious concerns about some of the publicity photos and the photos taken of her daughter during filming, particularly the shots in which her daughter was dressed as a man with a mustache.
- #012
The makes and models of the various car replicas featured in the film included vintage Packard, Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Scania-Vabis and Hispano-Suiza vehicles.
- #013
The film's executive producer and the mother of star Brooke Shields, Terri Shields, said she wanted the film "to be cute and light, and I wanted a fatherly director who would play with her, slap her, have fun. I don't want anyone to look at her as a woman yet. It's not time."
- #014
Guy Hamilton was announced as director in May 1982, but Andrew V. McLaglen ultimately directed the film.
- #015
It is one of the highest-budget films to date for the Cannon Films studio / Golan-Globus production company.
- #016
Principal photography was initially planned to be shot in Israel between July 1982 and August 1982, but was postponed to the beginning of January 1983 for three reasons: (1) to allow more time for rewriting the script; (2) to allow more time for pre-production; and (3) to avoid the extreme heat in the Negev Desert in Israel.
- #017
According to the September 1982 issue of 'Matmazel' magazine, famous opera singer Anna Moffo gave Brooke Shields voice lessons to help her prepare for her role in this film.
- #018
It was reported that the role of Sheikh Jafar was offered to actor Vincent Spano, but Spano turned down the offer, and the role ultimately went to actor Lambert Wilson. Spano had recently played a sheikh in John Sayles's 'Baby, It's You' (1983). At the time he said: "I wondered whether playing another sheikh would be good for my career… Also, I didn't want to stand around in the Sahara waiting for Brooke to fix her eyelashes."
- #019
Lead actress Brooke Shields reportedly had a minor rally car accident during filming of the London leg of principal photography in August 1982.
- #020
In the film's end title sequence, the invoice for Joe Dunton Cameras is misspelled as Joe Danton Cameras.
- #021
Men including Ted McGinley, Vincent Spano, Khaled Khashoggi and John Kennedy Jr. were considered for the male lead of Sheikh Jafar, a role that ultimately went to actor Lambert Wilson.
- #022
One of the notable vehicles seen in the film, apparently not a custom-built copy and not featured in any of the desert car rally scenes, was a black Rolls-Royce sedan of 20/25 hp.
- #023
Actor John Lewis Ernest Watts Mills was billed as John Mills in the opening title sequence and as Sir John Mills in the closing title sequence.
- #024
John Guillermin was set to direct, but Andrew V. McLaglen replaced him.
- #025
Star Brooke Shields received top billing, with her name above the title.
- #026
Star Brooke Shields's fee was reportedly between 1 million and 1.5 million US dollars.
- #027
The car rally was called the "Trans-African Car Race".
- #028
Two film directors, Guy Hamilton and John Guillermin, reportedly left the project before Andrew V. McLaglen took over the reins.
- #029
The salary of Teri Shields, mother of the film's star Brooke Shields and the film's executive producer, was reported to be 25,000 US dollars.
- #030
The film's screenplay was reportedly rewritten eight times at the instruction of executive producer Teri Shields, mother of the film's star Brooke Shields.
- #031
The film's US release date was pushed back from December 1983, when it opened in territories such as Australia and West Germany, to February 1984. An MGM/UA spokesperson said: ''We couldn't get the theaters we wanted at Christmas, so the decision was to wait.''.
- #032
According to Sandra Brennan on 'Allmovie', Paradise (1982) is "The Blue Lagoon (1980) set in the Sahara Desert." Both youth adventure films, Paradise (1982) and the following year's Sahara (1983), were shot in Israel with American stars and shared at least a dozen cast and crew members, among them Tuvia Tavi and Yosef Shiloach. Ironically, Sahara (1983) starred Brooke Shields, who had previously co-starred in The Blue Lagoon (1980), the film Paradise (1982) was thought to imitate.
- #033
Producer Menahem Golan once said of the film's star Brooke Shields: "Brooke is the most beautiful creature in the world. She is the genie of the desert and Lambert [Wilson] is a wild man but educated. He wants to rape her but he controls himself. We are not afraid of clichés here. I want a beautiful, romantic, blockbuster movie that all American kids will identify with.''.
- #034
The film is set in 1927.
- #035
Producer Menahem Golan came up with the film's idea after reading about race car driver Mark Thatcher's disappearance and rescue in the Algerian Sahara. The 28-year-old son of then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was reportedly competing in the annual motor rally from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal. The race had begun on 1 January 1982, and he disappeared for six days during it.
- #036
The 1983 feature film 'Sahara' shares its title with Humphrey Bogart's 1943 World War II action film 'Sahara'. Brooke Shields, the star of Sahara (1983), in fact made her debut on the 40th anniversary of the release of the black-and-white war adventure-drama 'Sahara' (1943). In both films the Sahara Desert naturally stands out as a setting, portrayed by the Negev Desert in Israel in the 1983 film and by the Southern California desert in the 1943 film. The name was used again for a major theatrical feature with the treasure-hunting thriller 'Sahara' (2005), this time with the famous film's setting portrayed by the Moroccan desert.
- #037
It was shot between 13 and 30 August 1982, with filming continuing from 5 January to 10 March 1983.
- #038
Lambert Wilson was also in another film called Sahara (2005), but it had a completely different story.
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