Sahara is a 1983 British-American adventure drama film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring Brooke Shields, Lambert Wilson, Horst Buchholz and John Rhys-Davies. The original music score was composed by Ennio Morricone.
In 1927, R.J. Gordon develops a new racing vehicle to compete in the "Trans-African Auto Race", but dies in a practice run before he can participate. To save her father's dream and win the prize money, Gordon's daughter, Dale (Shields) disguises herself as a man and takes the place of her father in the race through the Sahara Desert. However, while taking a short-cut, she becomes embroiled in a tribal war between two Bedouin factions, where she catches the eyes of one of its leaders, Sheikh Jafar (Wilson).
This film features examples of:
- The Big Race: The film is about a long distance auto race across the Sahara Desert.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The makeup team tried, but there was simply no way they could effectively conceal the teenage Shields' luminous beauty in the scenes where she was ostensibly disguised as a man.
- The Roaring '20s: The film takes place during the decade, with Dale being a flapper.
- Sexy Soaked Shirt: At one point Dale takes a bath in a river with a white shirt on, and it becomes see-through.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Dale disguises herself as a man to compete in the Trans-African race.
- Tomboyish Name: Dale takes advantage that her name isn't particularly girly, so she doesn't need to change her name when passing as a man.
- The Von Trope Family: One of the other racers is a German named Heinrich von Glessing.
