Slave trading lives today!

Only two men could rescue her. One driven by love, the other by revenge.

...slavery today!


Released simply as Ashanti, this search-and-rescue film was adapted by scenarist Stephen Geller (Slaughterhouse-Five) from Evano, a novel by Alberto Vasques-Figueroa. Odious middle-eastern slave trader Peter Ustinov sets the plot in motion by kidnapping Beverly Johnson, the wife of World Health Organization doctor Michael Caine. As Johnson is subjected to the basest of humiliations, Caine joins forces with soldier-of-fortune Rex Harrison, pilot William Holden and nomad Kabir Bedi to rescue his wife. Shiek Omar Sharif purchases Johnson, clearing the decks for an all-stops-out action finale. Aldo Tonti lensed the picture.

Ashanti (aka Ashanti, Land of No Mercy) is a 1979 action adventure film, produced by Georges-Alain Vuille, and directed by Richard Fleischer. Despite its impressive cast and setting (on location in the Sahara, and in Kenya, Israel, and Sicily), it was widely panned by critics upon release. Michael Caine was reportedly very disappointed with the project and claims it was the third worst film along with his previous films The Magus and The Swarm (despite appearing in other failures in the 1980s), after director Fleischer and co-star Beverly Johnson, were both removed from filming two-thirds of the way through the shoot.[1] Fleischer departed after being hospitalised with sunstroke. However, an interview with Ms. Johnson included on the 2013 Severin Films Blu-ray edition of Ashanti makes no reference to these "removals," suggesting that they may belong to myth.
This is one of William Holden's final films. Both Fleischer and cinematographer Tonti had previously worked together on Barabbas (1961).

Release Date: April 6, 1979


Distrib: Warner Brothers