FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Kingslaay Did anyone actually watch this film at face value? Other than that this is sadly another example of the snowball effect, we can't make our minds up on our own and follow others like sheep. Ashanti is a great film, packed with a superb class. It tackles a very real issue that might still be present, slavery. It shows how a simple doctor and love for his wife will see him go to great lengths to rescue her. The performances are very good from a very strong cast who execute a deep and bold story. A true gem of a film that if you somehow discover it, it will be a real treat to watch.

AttyTude0 I can't believe someone like Albert Vazquez-Figueroa would allow anyone to translate one of his books into such an embarrassing mess of a film. I read several of Figueroa's books and they are extremely entertaining. And with such a good cast I was expecting something at least watchable. But this film is appalling. It looks like everybody (including the director) could not wait to wrap things up and get out of there. Even the illustrious cast could not save it. Caine sort of sleepwalks through the whole thing. Holden is just too old for the role. Harrison looks understandably embarrassed. Kabir Bedi is great to look at, but he is not asked to do much more. Ustinov is the best of the lot as the Arab slave-dealer (Arabs were the ones who were most involved in the slave trade in Africa, but of course we can't say that these days, so it's more politically correct to blame the Jews; and let's see if IMDb has the guts to post my opinion).However, it's the utter fantastic situations that makes one throw one's hands in the air. Caine drops into a river in the middle of the African jungle (a place totally alien to him) after the helicopter carrying him crashes and the pilot of course dies, and in the next scene we see him clean and healthy in an airport ready to board a plane. How the blazes did he get there?! People walk barefoot in the burning sands of the desert for miles without getting so much as a blister. Sand troughs in oases contain crystalline water. In abundance. I could go on, but you get the general picture. And how about the sound track? Elevator music! I kid you not.A total mess. Get the book and avoid this silliness.

ragosaal Richard Fleischer was a very prolific director with a simple style but he was brave enough to enter films in all genres ("The Vikings", "Barabbas", "Compulsion", "Blind Terror", "The Boston Strangler", "Soylent Green", "Tora, Tora, Tora") with very good and acceptable results indeed.With "Ashanti" he gets a watchable film and a sort of testimonial one dealing with slavery in the XX Century as a pretty female Doctor rendering services for the United Nations among primitive tribes in Africa is kidnapped to be sold in the eastern Arabian markets; her husband goes on a long pursuit of the slave traders to recover her. Shoot in jungle and desert wide-open outdoor locations the film is sort of slow at times but it also has some good moments.An all star cast is a plus. Michael Caine renders an acceptable performance as the willing husband and model Beverly Johnson does too as his abducted wife. Peter Ustinov steals the show as the fiendish chief slave dealer Suleiman in what is probably the most interesting character in the film. Rex Harrison and William Holden not at the peak of their careers back then make correct appearances in small roles. Omar Shariff and Kabir Bedi are there too.Not a great film at all but worth a watch in my opinion. It's a 6 out of 10 for me.

rochvelleth Ashanti is a very 70s sort of film (1979, to be precise). It reminded me of The Wild Geese in a way (Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Roger Moore on a mission in Africa). It's a very good film too, and I enjoyed it a lot.David (Michael Caine) is a doctor working in Africa and is married to a beautiful Ashanti woman called Anansa (Beverley Johnson) who has trained in medicine in America and is also a doctor. While they're doctoring, one day she is snatched by slavers working for an Arabic slave trader called Suleiman (played perfectly by Peter Ustinov, of all people). The rest of the film is David trying to get her back.Michael Caine is a brilliant actor, of course, and plays a character who is very determined and prepared to do anything to get his wife back, but rather hopeless with a gun and action stuff. He's helped out first by a Englishman campaigning against the slave trade that no one acknowledges is going on (Rex Harrison!), then briefly by a helicopter pilot (William Holden), and then by an Arab called Malik (Kabir Bedi). Malik has a score to settle with Suleiman (he is very intense throughout, a very engaging character), and so rides off with David to find him and get Anansa back - this involves a wonderful scene in which David fails miserably to get on his camel.Then there's lots of adventure. There's also lots of morality-questioning. The progress of the story is a little predictable from this point, and there are a few liberties taken with plotting to move things along faster, but it's all pretty forgivable. The question is, will David get to Anansa before Peter Ustinov sells her on to Omar Sharif (yes, of course Omar Sharif is in it!)?