I posted this survey in the Society of the Cusslermen site but unfortunately a certain pushy arrogant and rude person (Ok it was Nick Kitt which I think some of you know) posted some comments which got the thread removed.

Hopefully the survey will fare better on here that it did over there.

Please reply by choosing one of the following

A : Sahara is a great movie
B : Sahara is a good movie
C : Sahara is a decent movie
D : Sahara is a bad movie
E : Sahara is a terrible movie

Please reply by choosing one of the following

1 : Sahara followed the book
2 : Sahara somewhat followed the book
3 : Sahara barely followed the book
4 : Sahara did not follow the book

Please reply by choosing one of the following

a : The characters in the movie are the same as the characters in the book
b : The characters in the movie were close to the characters in the book
c : The characters in the movie were somewhat like the characters in the book
d : The characters in the movie were nothing like the characters in the book

Just reply back and feel free to comment if you feel like w:

Okay, I'm game. B, 3, b

Decent sounds the same as good, but if it is a rung below good I will say C for Q1.

I would say 3 for Q2 as some elements of the book appeared in the movie, but were very much truncated.

For Q3 I vote for C as Al was just NOT Al! :blink:

b 3 d beer:

B : Sahara is a good movie

2 : Sahara somewhat followed the book

c : The characters in the movie were somewhat like the characters in the book
[SOME characters (Dirk) were somewhat like the characters in the book, others (Rudi) were NOTHING like the characters in the book]


Hey Tony, could you maybe turn this into an actual survey so that the results are calculated and whatnot? It'll be hard to have to read through 20 responses. det:

Tony I don't care to do the work to figure up the final results but if you could turn this into a real survey that would be cool and it could keep going on for a longer period of time.

I don't know how to turn it into a real survey but if you tell me how I can do it.

Thanks

B 3 D

c 3 c. Ya, we all know about nick kitt. A blight on the internet world. :)

Since you ask 3 different questions, there would have to be 3 seperate polls in 3 different topics.

If you wish to start a poll, I've added the poll feature to this forum. Choose one of your questions and start one poll. You can get your other questions in more polls at a later date.

A 2 c

I’m pretty new to this site, and to forums in general, but out of curiosity I clicked the “New Poll” button at the top of this screen and got an error message. It seems like a good survey to cast a net on in any case.

I thought Sahara was a great movie that really stands alone from the book. I’m a sucker for big action flicks, and really thought this one scored on every level. I was really surprised that it did so poorly at the box office, and wonder if they should have filtered down the more grandiose ideas even more to appeal to a larger audience. Now obviously, grandiose ideas are part and parcel of all of Clive Cussler’s books, but big budget movies aren’t for the Cussler faithful alone. Purists may have screamed, “There’s no Abraham Lincoln, nothing about the woman aviator who crashed in the desert, and there was loads more left out!” But you know what? As cool as those concepts are in CC’s books, audiences would have been rolling their eyes at seeing Lincoln buried in Africa, and if they crammed any more information or characters into the film it would have been an over-burdened mess. Books have to be trimmed down if they’re to fit into a 2 hour movie, and I thought the screenwriter did a pretty good job at selecting what needed to get left out to help the film flow.

I thought the casting of Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt was excellent. He embodied a little more of a lazy goof than Dirk, though, and you almost never saw him with Dirk’s fierce gaze when he’s been pushed too far. But he’s handsome, tough, and always relaxed, which is close as you're likely to get with a film casting. I can totally understand fans of the book being annoyed with Steve Zahn as Al, as they are polar opposites in appearance. But I actually really liked Zahn in the role, and thought he did a phenomenal job at it. He’s a good actor and played a great partner to McConaughey. His comic relief during the whole film was outstanding; the scene when he said he’d take care of the bill at the café brought a good laugh out of me. His lack of Al’s bulk was compensated by scenes of combat brilliance. He defended with a gun well, drove skillfully, and disabled a bomb. The scene when they were surrounded by the desert tribes and Zahn reluctantly discarded a hidden arsenal of firearms was hysterical, plus demonstrated that he’s not a guy you’d want to mess with.

I agree with an earlier post that Rudi was miscast, and shouldn’t have been made into the moron they portrayed him in the film. As much as I love William Macy, I thought either his casting or the treatment of Sandecker were also out of kilter. Macy, who has played weak effeminate characters in other films (think Fargo), in the role of proud Adm. Sandecker never clicked. Seeing him chewing on those oversized cigars was just…….not right.

Anyway, the movie bombed when it came out and the Dirk Pitt series of films probably died with it (helped by a lawsuit or two). But I bought the DVD when it came out and think it stands alone as an excellent adventure.

I just changed your membership status on the forum. You shouldn't get that error message now.

B, 3, C/D for me. Enjoyed the film but they missed soooo much out of the book but at least the main characters' names were the same and DP loved old cars! :lol:

C3D

Mal.

LOVED THE MOVIE. I JUST SAW A SHORT FILM ON YOU TUBE THAT SAYS COME MEMORIAL DAY INGA GOLD MOVIE WILL BE OUT..... IS THIS CORRECT AND IF SO I CAN'T WAIT!!!! hat:

Haha, I highly doubt it. Especially if it's on You Tube it's probably just someone having fun. Would love to see Inca Gold in theaters, but they would have had to have been working on the film for about a year already and we know that wasn't happening while the lawsuit was going on. :(

B4C :)

OK here's my two cents on the movie, I'm watching it now.
I think this movie is bad! so I'll give it a D
It barely follows the book from what I remember but it's been awhile since I've read it.
Matthew McConaughey Sucks
Steve Zahn. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? In the books Al is the coolest, in this movie he's a chump at best.
William H Macy? Great actor, bad bad bad Admiral.
I've read a bunch of Cussler's books and loved them all, this movie could have been so much better but the casting SUCKS! The dialogue SUCKS!

A, 2, b--- I think it was a GREAT Movie that somewhat followed the book and characters. I think it is WAY under-rated as an action adventure Sci-Fi movie. Sure, parts were skipped to actually be able to make the movie with reasonable time and budget. Sure, Al doesn't have the right color hair, and Rudy is a wimp, but there IS chemistry that is very good, and humor. I think making the movie and getting the characters exactly as the books is a difficult proposition, but Mathew is the perfect Dirk Pitt, and the movie is 1,000 times better than Raise the Titanic. t: w: th: ;) :)

C-3-D
I thought the Movie was pretty good, It did follow the book I guess as much as the budget would allow. C.C. books have more than one story line at a time.
And the screen play went with the main one.

I thought Matthew McConaughey, was great as Dirk, and I liked the way Steve Zahn, played Al.
But I was very disappointed with the way they portrayed Rudi. He has proved on more than one occasion to be tough as nails when he needed to be.
Dumb wimps don't become Commanders in the Navy. Thats coming from a Marine.

BUT I was mad as heck with William Macy's Sandecker. Give me a break please.
He could have done it a lot better, and I can think of a number of other Actors who would have fit the role better.

On Raise the Titanic, The only good thing I can say about it now, is it is what got me started reading Mr.Cusslers books. I saw in the Credits it was Based on his book so I went and bought Raise the Titanic, and the rest is history as they say.

I would like to see Mr.Cussler Produce & do the screenplay himself. I'm sure he would need professional screenwriter help, but I would be willing to bet it would be one heck of a good movie. I would even be willing to invest in that.

Jake

d,3,d gaah

If a person never read the book Sahara and got the movie then it would be a good movie.

But like most of us who have read the book can see the flaws in the movie i would give the movie a C-

I posted some of the flaws in the movie on IMDB.com oh man i got yelled at big time and some of the names that Cussler lets but it this way some are not fit to post here.
But here is what one person said about Arctic Drift

ARCTIC DRIFT,the new Dirk Pitt book, is upon us !!!

In ARCTIC DRIFT, Cussler and son Dirk imagine the U.S. and Canada on the brink of war in their third Dirk Pitt novel writing as a team. In 2011, as the price of gas hits $10 a gallon, President Garner Ward must contend with a corrupt Canadian cabal that's subverting efforts to solve America's energy problems. Pitt barely escapes serious injury when a bomb destroys a D.C. lab along with records of research into an artificial photosynthesis process that could, almost immediately, eliminate the threat of global warming. That discovery may be connected with a legendary failed 19th-century sailing expedition to the Arctic as well as a series of deaths due to the phenomena that the Native Americans of British Columbia know as the Devil's Breath. The Cusslers won't suspend many readers' disbelief as yet another plot becomes far fetched and borders on the absurd, but Cussler fans in search of a quick, exciting read should be satisfied since preposterous adventure is their thing.Less twins,thankfully, with more of Dirk and Al,which,hopefully,will be a continuing tread, even as they approach late middle age. As a series of thrillers the Dirk Pitt books take a beating in the reality department,but that's nothing new to Pitt fans.

Clearly,the overbearing Cussler father and son continue their kitchen sink style of writing,including unbelievable and ludicrous idea after idea in a format designed for the more brain dead of readers which describe the rabid fan base that are conned time and again to propel the ridiculous stories to the best seller list. This novel would greatly benefit from a screenplay like the one that made the overstuffed and asinine book SAHARA into a a great adventure film.

rofl

Clearly that person's opinion is going to differ from a LOT of Cussler readers, many of whom hold Sahara in their top 3 all time Cussler books. I guess if you didn't like the book, you'd be justified in thinking the movie was good. If you liked the book, you'd be hard pressed to enjoy the movie as anything other than a good adventure flick.

b 3 c

Seems to us if they can make movies like the "National Treasure" series and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, they could make Cussler movies that are true to the books as far as convoluted plots and unbelievable (computer-generated) action scenes. We suspect they just didn't have the budget to do "Sahara" justice.

Matthew as Dirk was pretty good except for the lack of "steel" that Dirk possesses when necessary. Did appreciate his dedication to the movie - touring in his Sahara bus and all. Al just wasn't Al, but we liked the character. Might have helped if he looked like our Al . . . I absolutely love William H. Macy, but he might not have been my first choice as Sandecker. (How about Harrison Ford or Tom Selleck cheer* ?) That being said, I think Macy is very capable of playing the part differently - how much of his (and others) performance(s) were due to possibly never having read any Cussler and/or poor direction?

All in all, we think it was a good enough movie, just not what it could have been as "Sahara". <_<

P.S. Got us thinking so we watched it again and upgraded it to a "b". It's a good action movie and a fun romp through the desert. Macy's Sandecker was better than I remembered. But honestly, don't we all picture these characters as we read? You'll never find anyone to fit everyone's idea of who the character "is".

The point is moot with all the drama surrounding the lawsuits.

The name Cussler is kryptonite to Hollywood for the foreseeable future... sad, as I enjoyed Sahara and looked forward to two additional movies.

C,2,C
Nick Kitt is the person was is posting on the IMDB the review i posted on Arctic Drift is from Nick Kitt who ever this person is he just a person who a bitter person when it comes to Clive's work

A : Sahara is a great movie

Def my top four which otherwise includes shawshank, bridge on river Kwai and 10 things.

2 : Sahara somewhat followed the book
it's hard to make a novel into a movie and do it proper justice... some scenes I would have left out and some I would have included. but I still loved it.


c : The characters in the movie were somewhat like the characters in the book

I heart Matthew McConnachey and after he was Dirk pitt I went out and brought a bunch of his movies and will still go see one of his movies cos he's in it (Julia Stiles and Kirsten Dunst or the only other stars I do this for).

A : Sahara is a great movie. It's not Forest Gump, but it's very enjoyable to watch more than once or twice.

2 : Sahara somewhat followed the book. I don't think you could fit any CC book into a movie time slot. They got most of the main points in, and I didn't find myself going "hey, they missed that part" while watching.

c : The characters in the movie were somewhat like the characters in the book.
There isn't an actor alive that could fill the shoes of a CC character. That's why they call it fiction. McConaughey was reasonable stand in for Dirk, Steve Zahn was pretty good, too. The rest, well, I'm with everyone else that posted.


I'd say more, but poster "Northwest Truefan" pretty well sumed up my take on it all.

A 1 a Great flick !! Loved it !!!

I'm a huge fan of action movies and obviously a committed CC fan. But as much a I liked Raise the Titanic (I was younger then) I didn't really like Sahara.

My poll results would therefore reflect D, 2, D. I accept that it would have been hard to retain all of the book within one film but the characters simply did not seem to mirror the book characters. Had I not read so many of Clive's novel it is possible I might have enjoyed the movie more?

See my latest post about the movie goofs.

p: