Screen legend Humphrey Bogart was involved in some of the Bogart and Bacall’s four films together made them the original power couple.

From the sinister undertones of the dark romance In a Lonely Place to the selfishness of the human soul explored in The Treasure of Sierra Madre, Bogart’s ability to infuse his characters with depth and complexity was unmatched. As a movie star in the truest sense of the word, it’s not surprising that Bogart was a regular fixture in war movies, some of which were made while the Second World War was still ongoing. Out of all of these roles, one 1943 movie set in the Libyan Desert stands as one of the best WWII movies of all time.

Sahara Paints An Unforgettable Picture Of World War 2 In Libya

A Suspenseful Glimpse Into The Heart Of War

Coming hot off the success of Casablanca the year before, Humphrey Bogart starred as Master Sergeant Joe Gunn in Sahara, a World War II movie about an American tank commander in Libya. With Allied soldiers traversing the drought-stricken desert, Gunn led a handful of soldiers in their attempts to protect an isolated well with a limited water supply from a Libyan Afrika Korps battalion during the Western Desert Campaign. With a story based on the novel Patrol by Philip MacDonald and an incident from the 1936 Soviet film The Thirteen, Sahara gave a unique insight into the complexities of warfare.

Bogart’s calm, calculated, and confident tough-guy persona was on full display as soldiers under his command followed his orders to a tee when he made the decision to stay and fight the Axis forces.

With an all-male cast and no romantic subplots, Sahara was an action-driven war movie characterized by suspense and rapidly unfolding melodrama. Through its diverse cast featuring soldiers from many different ethnic backgrounds, Sahara offered insight into the realities of war and felt incredibly modern when compared to many whitewashed war movies of the 1940s. Bogart’s calm, calculated, and confident tough-guy persona was on full display as soldiers under his command followed his orders to a tee when he made the decision to stay and fight the Axis forces rather than retreat to safety.

While Bogart stood out as the lead in Sahara, J. Carrol Naish was nominated for an Oscar for Best ing Actor for the part of the Italian prisoner Giuseppe.

As a film produced in the midst of WWII, it’s clear that Sahara was a piece of wartime propaganda produced to encourage the public’s of the ongoing war. Yet, rather than tell a simple tale of heroism, Sahara painted a vivid picture of the situation in Libya and the tough decisions that commanding officers and soldiers must make in order to emerge victorious. While the easiest route would always be to run away when faced with grave danger and almost certain death, Bogart and his crew stood strong, and lives were sacrificed to assist the overall war effort.

Sahara Proves Humphrey Bogart Was The Perfect Choice To Lead A War Movie

This Was Not The Only Time Bogart Excelled In The War Genre

Although Humphrey Bogart will forever be associated with his role in Casablanca, a movie often ranked as the greatest film of all time, while this was set during wartime, it was more of a romantic war than a war movie. However, across Bogart’s acclaimed career, he starred in many incredible depictions of conflict, which helped turn him into one of the most iconic movie stars who ever lived. In Howard Hawks’ To Have and Have Not, Bogart famously portrayed the American expatriate Harry Morgan transporting a French Resistance leader and his wife to Martinique.

Bogart’s war movie credentials extended to the military trial story The Caine Mutiny, which was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk about a court-martial in the Pacific theater of WWII. From the action-packed melodrama of Across the Pacific to the flashback-filled complexities of age to Marseille, Bogart consistently pushed the envelope of what could be achieved in the war genre with dark and brooding performances that did not sugarcoat the harsh realities of war. While Sahara stood as an all-time great WWII movie, those craving more will see there’s no shortage of great Bogart movies to enjoy.