It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This obeys the conventions of the time whereby an ageing male star has the right to romance a glamorous young woman despite being old enough to be her grandfather.There is little story in this film,just innumerable ways to capture wild animals.No doubt the fact that the film was directed by Howard Hawks and started John Wayne made it a hit with uncritical viewers.

I first saw Hatari as a 7 year old when my Mum took me to the Paramount Cinema on George Street Sydney to see it and I reckon I knew even then that there was something special about it. In subsequent viewings, I was able to describe what it was. It was the naturalness of the story and the actors. Scripting didn't seem required as the chemistry between the principles did the trick. See this movie. Own a copy as I do and treasure it as a time capsule to an era when Hollywood could allow the larger than life stars like Wayne, the NATURAL landscapes and the absence of foul lingo to entertain.

A lot of animals suffered during the process of making this movie. You can watch them being dragged, chained and detained. I couldn't watched it longer after 50 minutes and was optimistic to be well entertained at the beginning. Some people reviewed it as a family movie. Sure - if you like going with your children in to the zoo and watching mentally burned animals walking up and down or if you having pig for Christmas dinner after you watched Babe then go for it. But if you really love animals spare yourself watching it.

HATARI! is something a little different for John Wayne fans expecting a typical cowboy-filled western adventure. This one's set in east Africa where Wayne and his team of men go around hunting and capturing wild animals to sell to zoos around the world. Their business is complicated by the arrival of a French girl who stirs up feelings amongst the group. It's a film that's grossly overlong but has some great and realistic action scenes in it, scenes in which the actors really did perform the dangerous captures you see them attempting. The May to December romance stuff is cringe-worthy, but the animals are tame and lovable, particularly those baby elephants at the climax.