Beau Geste
1939 · Movie · Approved · 112 min · ★ 7.0 · 85% critics
Three brothers flee a family scandal by joining the French Foreign Legion, only to find themselves under a brutal sergeant at a remote desert fort. As the heat, danger, and suspicion close in, they must rely on loyalty and courage while facing threats from both within their ranks and outside the walls.
Based on Beau Geste
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Details
- Years
- 1939
- Release date
- 1939-07-24
- Language
- English
- Rated
- Approved
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Critic score
- 85/100
- TMDB rating
- 7.0/10 (110 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a classic, black-and-white adventure mixing mystery, honor, and siege tension; Not for you if you dislike old-fashioned attitudes, simplified villains, or slower setup like some 1930s epics such as Lost Horizon.
Pros: rousing desert adventure; strong brotherhood themes; memorable villain | Cons: dated enemy portrayal; uneven pacing early; some plot holes
Themes
- based on novel or book
- brother
- foreign legion
- soldier
- cruelty
- desert
- drill instructor
- north africa
- military unit
- sapphire
- protective brothers
- drill sergeant
- +3 more
Awards & recognition
- Academy Award — Best Supporting Actor · 1940 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Production Design · 1940 · nominated
Cast & crew
Gary Cooper
as Beau Geste
Ray Milland
as John Geste
Robert Preston
as Digby Geste
Brian Donlevy
as Sergeant Markoff
Susan Hayward
as Isobel Rivers
J. Carrol Naish
as Rasinoff
Albert Dekker
as Schwartz
Broderick Crawford
as Hank Miller
Charles Barton
as Buddy McMonigal
James Stephenson
as Major Henri de Beaujolais
Directed by William A. Wellman