Hatari!

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Hatari!
original movie poster
Directed by	Howard Hawks
Produced by	Howard Hawks Paul Helmick
Written by	Harry Kurnitz Leigh Brackett
Starring	John Wayne Elsa Martinelli Hardy Krüger Red Buttons
Music by	Henry Mancini
Cinematography	Russell Harlan
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	1962
Running time	157 min
IMDb profile

Hatari! is a 1962 American film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne.

The plot involves a group of trappers catching wild animals in Africa and selling them to zoos. A female wildlife photographer arrives to take photos of the captures for the zoo which will be buying the bulk of that season's captures, and in the process becomes known as Momma Tambo (Mother of Elephants) due to some baby elephants that she takes care of.

The film gathers its several characters from different parts of the world: Sean Mercer (John Wayne), Anna Maria 'Dallas' D'Allesandro (Elsa Martinelli), Kurt Mueller (Hardy Krüger), Charles 'Chips' Maurey (Gerard Blain), Luis Francisco Garcia Lopez (Valentin De Vargas) are, respectively, from USA, Italy, Germany, France and Mexico. The title means "danger" in Swahili, which was mentioned in the film as well.

Hatari! has a very loose script and, like many other major works of Hawks, is principally structured on the relationships between the characters. It does have exciting scenes with the trappers chasing animals in jeeps across the African plains. The chased animals are also all live, wild, and untrained, something that would never be allowed today.

The script, indeed, was written by Hawks' favorite writer, Leigh Brackett, after the group returned from Africa with the hunting scenes. Although the movie is not the most intense it rightly belongs among her better works, like Rio Bravo and Red River.

Hatari! introduced the memorable Henry Mancini tune Baby Elephant Walk.