The Lion of Africa (1987)
Grade: 67
"The Lion of Africa" is an HBO-produced movie that stars Brian Dennehy and Brooke Adams. Adams is a volunteer doctor in remote Africa, trying to fight a cholera plague in a village. She has two problems: she does not have the proper medicine to treat them, and she has had a curse put on her by the local witch doctor. The curse can only be removed by returning to the village with supplies to stop the plague. (The witch doctor has also taken her glasses, which she doesn't seem to miss at any time in the movie).
The medicine is only available in a distant African town. She has no transportation to get there. The local official, a well-mannered graduate of Cambridge University, cares only about improving his own status, which he does primarily by taking kickbacks from illegal diamond smuggling. Adams turns to Dennehy, who has a massive truck (named "The Lion of Africa") and has made the trip before.
But Dennehy, a weathered, burly man known as "the Trader", wants only to enjoy the comforts of the local whorehouse. Adams only succeeds in obtaining a large diamond, surreptiously given to her by a dying smuggler. This million-dollar diamond is the subject of an intensive search by all of the rascals in the village. Travel permits are revoked until the diamond is found.
Desperate, Adams steals Dennehy's truck. An alarm goes off, waking Dennehy who chases after her on foot, catching her (this being a movie) and eventually knocking her unconscious with a single punch. When she comes to, she offers a deal he can't refuse: a share of diamond in return for a trip to the distant town.
On the road, they have an adversarial relationship, bickering and trying to out-tough the other. Soon they meet local police, who are after the diamond and have rifles. They flee, with the police firing multiple shots at Dennehy, who is cowering in the truck bed. They get away.
Diamond smugglers are also after Dennehy. Eventually, they catch up with him, torch his truck, take the diamond and string up Adams and Dennehy, leaving them for dead. This being a movie, the two escape their nooses, and, incredibly, decide to go after the heavily armed smugglers to recover the diamond.
By this time, the couple has warmed to each other and are even making post-diamond-sale romantic plans. Confronting the smugglers, there is an extended shoot-out sequence. Their luck continues as the smugglers continue to miss clean shots at the pair. The bad guys are terminated one by one, the diamond is recovered, but Adams steals and sells it, and takes a helicopter flight to the village to remove the curse. She leaves a package of money at the airport for Dennehy, hot on her trail, but unluckily he runs into the corrupt local official, who takes half of it.
At least Dennehy can fix up his truck now. He returns to his favorite whorehouse, only to find Adams there. He has not been abandoned after all.
This humble sleeper works despite its flaws. Adams and Dennehy have an agreeable chemistry, and the script gives them room to amply flesh out their characters.
http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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