Beau Geste (1966 film)
Encyclopedia
Beau Geste is a 1966 film based on the novel
Beau Geste
Beau Geste is a 1924 adventure novel by P. C. Wren. It has been adapted for the screen several times.-Plot summary:Michael "Beau" Geste is the protagonist. The main narrator , by contrast, is his younger brother John...

 by P. C. Wren
P. C. Wren
Percival Christopher Wren was a British writer, mostly of adventure fiction. He is remembered best for Beau Geste, a much-filmed book of 1924, involving the French Foreign Legion in North Africa, and its main sequels, Beau Sabreur and Beau Ideal Percival Christopher Wren (1 November 187522...

 filmed by Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

 and Techniscope
Techniscope
Techniscope or 2-Perf is a 35mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1963. The Techniscope format uses a two film-perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame usually exposed in 35mm film photography...

 near Yuma, Arizona
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....

 and directed by Douglas Heyes
Douglas Heyes
Douglas Heyes was an American film and television writer, director, producer, actor, and composer with a long list of accomplishments.He was the father of actor Douglas Heyes, Jr..He died in Beverly Hills, California....

. This is the least faithful of the various film adaptations of the original novel. In this version, there are only two brothers, rather than three, and there are no sequences showing Beau's life prior to his joining the Legion.

Plot

A column of the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...

 arrives at the remote Fort Zinderneuf, having been assigned to relieve the legionnaires who had been defending the fort. Upon their arrival, they find that the fort has been ravaged by Tuareg attacks and American Beau Graves (Guy Stockwell
Guy Stockwell
Guy Harry Stockwell was an American actor who appeared in nearly 30 movies and 250 television series episodes....

) is the only survivor. After his badly injured arm is amputated, he is asked what has happened and his story is revealed in flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...

.

Beau's column had been serving under Lieutenant De Ruse (Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...

) and Sergeant Major Dagineau (Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...

), the latter of whom is notorious for his harsh treatment of the men under his command. He is especially tortuous on Beau's class of recruits, hoping this will get them to reveal to him which of the men is the author of an anonymous letter Dagineau has received threatening his life. Although he has no proof, he suspects Beau, which earns Beau particularly brutal treatment.

Beau's background leads De Ruse to nickname him Beau "Geste". Specifically, Beau had run away and joined the Legion after having falsely confessed to an embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....

 actually committed by his business partner. Beau had taken the blame for the sake of his partner's wife, whom Beau also loved. His noble gesture (French: beau geste) had proven futile, however, as the partner confessed and committed suicide just a few months later. That development prompts the suggestion that Beau might reclaim his lost love upon returning home. But he deems it unfair to ask her to wait for him, as he is now committed to a five-year enlistment, with no guarantee he'll survive it.

De Ruse and his men are assigned to relieve Fort Zinderneuf, but on the way there, De Ruse is mortally wounded and is infirmed upon the group's arrival. With Dagineau back in charge, the brutality returns and it isn't long before the legionnaires mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...

, with everyone except Beau and his brother John (Doug McClure
Doug McClure
Douglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...

) set upon executing the sergeant. Just as they are about to do so, the Tuareg attack. Despite their personal hatred for Dagineau, no one doubts his excellence as a battle commander, so Beau convinces the men to release him that he may lead them in defending the fort.

As legionnaires are killed in relentless waves of Tuareg attacks, Dagineau props up the bodies of the dead men on the fort's ramparts with their rifles pointing at their attackers. Between attacks, De Ruse speaks privately with Beau and confesses to being the author of the letter. He had hoped to frighten Dagineau into showing more humanity toward his troops. As he dies, De Ruse laments that in fact, it only caused Dagineau to treat the men even more harshly.

The legionnaires try to hold out against the attacks, with Dagineau confidently proclaiming that relief is on the way to them. But eventually, the only ones left alive are Dagineau and Beau, who has a seriously wounded arm. When the predicted relief column arrives, Dagineau delays their entry so he can settle things with Beau once and for all. He tells Beau that the Legion is need of heroes, and that all of the dead men around them can be presented as those heroes, so long as no one ever knows that they had mutinied. Therefore, he cannot leave Beau alive to reveal the truth of what had occurred at Fort Zinderneuf. Beau and Dagineau fight, with Beau finally gaining the upper hand and shooting and killing Dagineau.

Beau's flashback ends to reveal that he has not actually been relating this story to the relief commander who had questioned him about what happened at the fort. Still awaiting Beau's response, the commander repeats his query, and Beau tells him only that the men laid down their lives protecting the fort. With no mention of Dagineau's brutality, nor of the mutiny, Beau presents the entire group as heroes — just as Dagineau had wanted.

The commander informs Beau that the Legion's high command has decided that Fort Zinderneuf is no longer worth protecting and they will now abandon it. Having lost his arm, Beau will be discharged, and the commander offers his hope that Beau has someone to whom to return. Beau smiles pensively and replies that he indeed does.

Cast

  • Guy Stockwell
    Guy Stockwell
    Guy Harry Stockwell was an American actor who appeared in nearly 30 movies and 250 television series episodes....

     as Beau Geste
  • Doug McClure
    Doug McClure
    Douglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...

     as John
  • Leslie Nielsen
    Leslie Nielsen
    Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...

     as Lieutenant De Ruse
  • Telly Savalas
    Telly Savalas
    Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...

     as Sergeant Major Dagineau
  • David Mauro as Boldini
  • Robert Wolders
    Robert Wolders
    Robert Wolders is a Dutch television actor.He played the role of Erik Hunter in the second season of the TV series Laredo...

     as Fouchet
  • Leo Gordon
    Leo Gordon
    Leo Vincent Gordon was an American movie and television character actor as well as a screenplay writer and novelist. He specialized in playing brutish bad guys during more than forty years in film and television....

     as Krauss
  • Michael Constantine
    Michael Constantine
    Michael Constantine is a Greek American actor.He is probably now best known for his portrayal of Gus Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula Portokalos , in the 2002 surprise hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.Prior to that, he was well-known for his extensive TV work, especially...

     as Rostov
  • Malachi Throne
    Malachi Throne
    Malachi Throne is an American actor, most noted for his roles on Star Trek and It Takes a Thief.Throne was born in New York City...

     as Kerjacki
  • Joe De Santis
    Joe De Santis
    Joseph Vito DeSantis was an American radio, television, movie and theatrical actor and sculptor.-Biography:Joe DeSantis was born Joseph Vito Marcello DeSantis to Italian immigrant parents in New York City...

     as Beaujolais
  • X. Brands as Vallejo
  • Michael Carr as Sergeant
  • George Keymas as Platoon sergeant
  • Patrick Whyte as Surgeon
  • Victor Lundin
    Victor Lundin
    Victor Lundin is an American character actor who often bills himself as the first Klingon on the original Star Trek. He is also a singer / songwriter and has two albums to his credit.-Biography:...

    as Vachiaro
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