Product Details

• Actors: Michael Caine; Peter Ustinov; Kabir Bedi
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Tango Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: September 27, 2005
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009UVCPI
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #63,158 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Ashanti" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Dr. David Linderby and his wife Anansa are carrying out an inoculation program in a small African village when Anansa disappears. The police can do nothing to find her and David has almost given up hope when he hears a rumour that Anansa has been kidnapped by a slave trader called Suleman, to be sold to an Arab prince.

The authorities deny that the slave even exists, so David must find unofficial organizations to help him; a shadowy world where the rescuers of the slave are just as futhless as the traders themselves. Enlisting the help of Malik, a nomad whose family were stolen by Sulelman, David must leave civilization behind and travel across the desert to find Anansa.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love Conquers All? ~ Sometimes, November 24, 2005

By	Brian E. Erland "Rainbow Sphinx" (CA - USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

My rule of thumb concerning presentation format. If you have a choice between widescreen and full screen, always purchase the widescreen. However, if the film is only available in full screen and it's one you really want, you buy the full screen and put up with it until a widescreen version comes out to replace it. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. With that said I'll comment on the movie.

Being the movie buff that I am, I'm embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of 'Ashanti' until I puchased it recently. The selling factor for me was the inclusion of Beverly Johnson in the cast. Upon my initial viewing I was delightfully surprised to discover that this is actually an extremely good and timely film. The existence of a modern day slave traders and the ever rising numbers of unaccounted for missing persons has received alot of media coverage in the U.S.A. this past year. It's a harsh reality, but it's the truth nonetheless, slavery continues to flourish in the twenty-first century. Odd how this '79 film could so accutely tap into our awakening consciousness of this worldwide scandal so relevant today.

'Ashanti' is a well conceived, highly entertaining action/adventure and love story of one man's relentless search for this kidnapped Ashanti wife. He pursues the slave trader Suleiman across the slavery routes of Africa and Arabia with the aid of the enigmatic, nomadic warrior Malik who lost his family years earlier to the same slave trader.

The cinematograpy is gorgeous which makes it a real shame that this DVD is full screen (sorry had to make another comment on format). The screenplay is brutally honest, at times sadly poignant and will keep you engaged until the very end. 'Ashanti' also boasts a cast of international stars that deliver admirable if not outstanding performances. My personal favorites were; Kabir Bedi in the role of Malik and of course the devastatingly beautiful and exotic Beverly Johnson as the kidnapped Anansa.

Negatives: One of the worst muscial soundtracks I've ever heard. It sounds like something that belongs in a very bad '70's television series. Also disappointing was the ending. Up until the last ten minutes I would have given this film -5 Stars-. What were they thinking?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not quite Michael Caine's worst , February 16, 2008

By	Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

It's strange that a man with the likes of Jaws - The Revenge, The Jigsaw Man, Blue Ice, The Holcroft Covenant, On Deadly Ground and Bullseye, not to mention two Harry Alan Towers movies on his resume should dismiss Ashanti as his worst picture, because Michael Caine's done a LOT shoddier (check out Geoffrey Reeve's strikingly inept Shadow Run if you want to see just how much shoddier). Not that it's particularly good, but even though it comes from the late Richard Fleischer's I'll-do-anything days and features cameos from actors out to top-up their pension funds (Rex Harrison) or who just happened to be in Kenya anyway (William Holden), this somewhat pedestrian modern-day slavery picture that sees Caine's WHO Doctor (insert pun here) tracking down his kidnapped wife (model-turned-very-bad-actress Beverly Johnson) before comical slave-trader Peter Ustinov can sell her to Harvard-educated smoothie prince ("Would you like a cucumber sandwich?") is at least watchable in a wallpaper kind of way. Caine certainly looks the wrong kind of pissed off throughout, but the guest stars bring a spot of old school professional star power to the proceedings, Ustinov has fun with his villainy while Kabir Bedi provides a bit of intensity as Caine's reluctant and vengeful guide, and there's a host of familiar faces from British films of the 50s and 60s like Marne Maitland, Eric Pohlman, Johnny Sekka and Zia Mohyeddin rounding out the supporting cast. It always looks good thanks to Aldo Tonti's photography, though Don Black's cheesy lyrics for the end title song are typically laughable.

Be warned that the DVD is very shoddy - both the original UK DVD from Mosaic and the US disc are only a poor panned-and-scanned transfer of a Scope film, and in the UK disc's case one taken from a very heavily and visibly cut TV print. If you can find it, the French PAL DVD has a good remastered 2.35:1 widescreen transfer with removeable subtitles (except for a brief bit of opening text) and theatrical trailer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Acting, Great Story!, February 9, 2008

By	Music Lover "music lover" (Wakeman, Ohio) - See all my reviews

Michael Caine and Peter Ustinov are great in this intriguing film that is full of beautiful scenery and great adventure. As Michael Caine's character searches for his wife who was kidnapped by slave traders, Peter Ustinov's character is busy making it difficult. The story is relevant to this day as slave trade continues throughout the world. There is some insight into how these slave trading groups work and renders the need to this day for more international attention to the problem. A great movie!