NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

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

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

bkoganbing With an obligatory bow for a few political polemics regarding the Middle East, Escape From Zahrain is essentially an action adventure film about the leader of a rebel faction being broken out of custody and escaping from a Middle Eastern principality. Zahrain is a mythical country along the lines of Muscat-Oman, Yemen, or Qatar or better still the more well known Kuwait. With the ruling class living fabulously wealthy lives due to oil, most of the people are barely scratching out a living. In the next century a place like Zahrain would be a breeding ground for terrorists.Yul Brynner is the rebel leader and Sal Mineo is an idealistic student who leads a group that springs Brynner and a few others who are along for the ride. They include some common criminal types Anthony Caruso and Jay Novello and one unusual one in Jack Warden, formerly employed by the big oil cartel, but now in prison for embezzlement. Can't be too pleasant for him in a third world jail. Losing the truck they escaped in, they hijack due to Warden an ambulance belonging to the oil company and get driver Leonard Strong and nurse Madelyn Rhue as well. This then is the crew trying to Escape From Zahrain.The rulers want Brynner real bad and they're out in force for him. Probably the biggest manhunt in the history of the country.In a recent biography of Sal Mineo, Mineo was pleased to be reunited with Brynner whom he had played on Broadway with in The King And I. Mineo took over the part of the crown prince during the run and Brynner was like a father to him in real life. Brynner was not an easy guy to know or get along with, but apparently he and Mineo hit it off, very few did with this man who kept an air of mystery about him his entire life.Warden and Caruso are a pair of interesting characters. In contrast to the idealistic Brynner and Mineo, these two are a pair of realists. Caruso is a real low life, but he does prove useful, but only when one keeps an eye on him. Warden is a cynic in the Bogart tradition, but kind of comes around in the end even though all he wants to do is get out the whole middle east.Escape From Zahrain moves at a pretty good clip. It doesn't let the political polemics get too much in the way of the action.

JohnHowardReid This is one of the movies that I saw in Paramount's theatrette, along with twenty or thirty of the city's other critics and opinion-makers. I stopped attending these screenings and elected to see new releases in a regular cinema instead, because the mood at the theatrette was nearly always negative. The one exception was "Hatari" (1962), which I thought was an absolutely dreadful movie. But they all loved it! So that was the last time I attended any of Paramount's preview screenings. Anyway, I found "Escape from Zahrain" quite exciting. Yul Brynner never made a bad movie in his life. And in this one, he receives great support from Jack Warden, Madlyn Rhue (whatever happened to her?) and Sal Mineo. (Oddly, although he is listed second to Brynner in the Official Cast, Sal Mineo is NOT credited in any of Paramount's posters, artwork or newspaper ads).

Marlburian Not at all a bad film, reminiscent of "Ice Cold in Alex", in that an ambulance and its occupants have to make a perilous journey across inhospitable terrain. At first the colour seemed a bit garish, but I was interested to see that outdoor filming was in the Mojave Desert, which was a very convincing substitute for the Middle Eastern country of "Zahrein". Madlyn Rhue seemed a bit insipid as the nurse, and James Mason stole the short scene he was in (which contributed nothing to the plot, save to allow Jack Warden to steal his whisky, the consumption of which did add something later on).Quite why the treacherous Anthony Caruso ("Tarah") was tolerated by his fellow fugitives was a bit puzzling. The final action sequence was not convincing, in fact it was contrived.But overall an enjoyable film to watch.

mschaefer2005 I just discovered that there's a new book coming out by Richard Matheson. It's called "Unrealized Dreams: Three Scripts by Richard Matheson." It's being released by Gauntlet Press (you can find them online.) The book features Richard Matheson's original screenplay for "Appointment in Zahrain." This film was originally to star Clarke Gable. Unfortunately, Gable died shortly after filming "The Misfits." Matheson's screenplay was never produced. Eventually, "Escape From Zahrain" was produced from Michael Barret's original novel, "Appointment in Zahrain." Too bad the film is unavailable for viewing on either VHS or DVD. I'd love to see this film.