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{{short description|1962 American adventure romantic comedy film by Howard Hawks}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox film
|name = Hatari!
|image = Hatari.jpg
|caption = Theatrical release poster by [[Frank McCarthy (artist)|Frank McCarthy]]
|director = [[Howard Hawks]]
|producer = Howard Hawks
|screenplay = [[Leigh Brackett]]
|story = [[Harry Kurnitz]]
|starring = [[John Wayne]]<br>[[Hardy Krüger]]<br>[[Elsa Martinelli]]<br>[[Red Buttons]]
|music = [[Henry Mancini]]
|cinematography = [[Russell Harlan]]
|editing = [[Stuart Gilmore]]
|distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]]
|released = {{Film date|1962|05|29}}
|runtime = 157 minutes
|country = United States
|language = [[English language|English]]
|gross = $12,923,077<ref name="numbers">[http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1962/0HTRI.php Box Office Information for ''Hatari!''] The Numbers. Retrieved June 13, 2013.</ref>
}}

'''''Hatari!''''' ({{IPA|sw|hɑtɑri|pron}}, [[Swahili language|Swahili]] for "Danger!") is a 1962 American [[Adventure film|adventure]] [[romantic comedy]] film starring [[John Wayne]] as the leader of a group of professional game catchers in [[Africa]].<ref name="McCarthy572">McCarthy, Todd. ''Howard Hawks: the grey fox of Hollywood'', New York, Grove Press, 1997, pg 572, {{ISBN|978-0-8021-1598-0}}</ref>  Directed by [[Howard Hawks]], it was shot in [[Technicolor]] and filmed on location in northern [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] (in what is now [[Tanzania]]). The film includes dramatic wildlife chases and the scenic backdrop of [[Mount Meru (Tanzania)|Mount Meru]], a dormant [[volcano]].

At the [[35th Academy Awards]], [[Russell Harlan]] was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Color Cinematography]] for his work on ''Hatari!'', but the award went to [[Freddie Young]] for his work on [[Lawrence of Arabia (film)|''Lawrence of Arabia'']].

==Plot==
In [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]] in the 1960s, the Momella Game Company captures animals for [[zoo]]s and [[circuses]] using [[off-road vehicle]]s, [[lasso]]s, and cages. The crew consists of [[French people|French]] owner Brandy de la Court,  [[Irish-American]] Sean Mercer, who heads the capture expeditions; retired [[Germans|German]] [[race car]] driver Kurt Müller; [[Mexico|Mexican]] [[Bullfighter]] Luis Francisco Garcia Lopez; [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[sharpshooter]] Little Wolf (aka "The Indian"); [[zoophobia|zoophobic]] former [[NYC]] [[Taxicab driver|cabbie]] "Pockets"; and several [[Tanzanian people|native-Tanzanians]]. During the captures, Kurt and the Indian drive a herding [[jeep]] to force animals toward a larger [[pickup truck|capture truck]] driven by Pockets. 

An aggressive rhino gores the Indian's leg during a pursuit, and the crew transports him to the [[Arusha]] [[hospital]]. French [[marksman]] Charles "Chips" Maurey approaches them, wanting the Indian's job. Kurt, offended, punches him. Realizing he is the only one present with The Indian's rare [[blood type]], Chips agrees to undergo a [[blood transfusion|transfusion]] to save The Indian, and Sean offers Chips a job.

Returning to their [[Compound (enclosure)|compound]], the crew finds [[Italians|Italian]] [[photographer]] Anna-Maria "Dallas" D'Alessandro has arrived. Everyone was expecting a male photographer, but, as Dallas was sent by Momella's biggest client (the [[Basel]] [[Basel zoo|zoo]]), Sean reluctantly allows her to accompany the crew on a [[giraffe]] capture. Despite many rookie mishaps, Dallas enjoys herself, and everyone except Sean votes to let her stay.

The next day, Chips arrives and has a sharpshooting contest with Kurt; afterward, the two become friends. Dallas and Sean gradually become mutually attracted, though Sean resists, as his first fiancée abandoned him. Meanwhile, Kurt and Chips pursue Brandy, and Pockets reveals to Dallas he secretly has feelings for Brandy, too. The Indian is released from the hospital, but is shaken by his experience and tries to talk Sean out of catching any more rhinos. Sean refuses, but agrees to at least wait until the end of the season.

The crew visits a village where a [[rogue elephant|rogue]] female [[African bush elephant|elephant]] has just been killed by a [[game warden]]. Dallas immediately adopts the elephant's orphaned calf, despite Sean's protests. Chaos ensues when the crew obtains [[goats]] to get milk for the calf. Later that night, Dallas apologizes to Sean, and coerces him into a kiss. 

A second orphaned elephant calf suddenly shows up at the compound. A local group of [[Arusha people|Waarusha people]], impressed by how the elephants follow Dallas, adopt her into their tribe and name her "Mama Tembo" ("Mother of Elephants"). A few days later, a third elephant orphan mysteriously appears, infuriating Sean.

The crew captures a [[zebra]], an [[oryx]], a [[gazelle]], a [[leopard]], and a [[cape buffalo|buffalo]]. During a [[wildebeest]] pursuit, the herding car blows a tire and flips over. Kurt's shoulder is [[dislocated shoulder|dislocated]] and Chips' leg is badly [[sprain]]ed in the crash. Later the same day, Pockets falls off a tall fence and is unhurt, but Brandy shows the most concern for him out of the three, indicating whom she loves.

Pockets successfully launches a small rocket attached to a net to trap nearly 500 [[vervet monkey]]s in a tree, surprising everyone, including himself. A rhino is the only order left to fulfill, so the crew sets out and finds an angry bull rhino. Although it escapes their first attempt, they manage to safely capture it.

The hunting season ends. Dallas, fearing that Sean cannot move past his fiancee's betrayal, writes a farewell letter and flees the compound. Helped by the crew and the three baby elephants, Sean tracks her to Arusha, where they reconcile. Sean and Dallas are married and prepare to spend their wedding night in Sean's room, until the baby elephants barge in and destroy the bed.

==Cast==
*[[John Wayne]] as Sean Mercer
*[[Hardy Krüger]] as Kurt Müller 
*[[Elsa Martinelli]] as Anna Maria "Dallas" D'Alessandro
*[[Red Buttons]] as "Pockets"
*[[Gérard Blain]] as Charles "Chips" Maurey 
*[[Bruce Cabot]] as Little Wolf ("The Indian")
*[[Michèle Girardon]] as Brandy de la Court 
*[[Valentin de Vargas]] as Luis Francisco Garcia Lopez
*[[Eduard Franz]] as Dr. Sanderson
*[[Cathy Lewis]] as the voice of "Arusha Control" on the radio (uncredited)
*[[Queenie Leonard]] as Nurse (uncredited, scenes deleted)

==Production==
While ''Hatari!'' is bookended by the two attempts to capture a rhinoceros, it otherwise has a very loose script, and, like many other works by [[Howard Hawks]], is principally structured around the relationships among the characters. At the start of production all Hawks knew was that he wanted to make a movie about people who catch animals in Africa for zoos, which he saw as a dangerous profession that would allow for exciting scenes, the likes of which had never been seen on-screen before.<ref name="McCarthy572"/> Much of the script was written by Hawks' favorite writer, [[Leigh Brackett]], after the production returned from Africa with footage of the characters catching various animals, and before and during studio takes in Hollywood.

Hawks increased his knowledge of animal-catching by studying the work of the famous [[South Africa]]n animal conservationist Dr. [[Ian Player]]. In 1952, South Africa was eliminating large wild animals to protect livestock, and only 300 white rhinos survived. Player then invented his famed rhino catching technique to relocate and save the [[white rhino]]s. His project was called "Operation Rhino", and it was recorded in the renowned documentary film of the same name.<ref name="Thomas McIntyre 2012, pg 70">McIntyre, Thomas. "Fifty Years of HATARI! – The Story of Most Expensive Safari In the World." ''Sports Afield'', May/June 2012, pg 70</ref><ref>McCarthy, pg 575</ref>

Another source of inspiration for Hawks was the famous animal photographer [[Ylla]], so he had Brackett add the character of Dallas to the script. Hawks said, "We took that part of the story from a real character, a German girl. She was the best animal photographer in the world."<ref name="Thomas McIntyre 2012, pg 70"/><ref>[[Joseph McBride (writer)|Joseph McBride]], ''[[Hawks on Hawks]]'' University of California Press, 1982, {{ISBN|978-0-520-04344-2}}, pg 143</ref><ref>[[Peter Bogdanovich]], ''The Cinema of Howard Hawks'', Museum of Modern Art-Doubleday, 1962</ref><ref>Scott Breivold, [[Peter Bogdanovich]] interviewer, ''Howard Hawks: interviews'', University Press of Mississippi, 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-57806-832-6}}, pg. 38</ref><ref>McCarthy, pg 573</ref>

Hawks stated in interviews that he had originally planned to star both [[Clark Gable]], who had just played a rough-and-ready wild horse catcher (who did his own stunts) in [[The Misfits (1961 film)|''The Misfits'']], and Wayne in the film, until Gable's death ruled that out.

Much of the film revolves around scenes of the cast chasing animals in jeeps and trucks across the plains of [[East Africa]]. Ngorongoro farm, purchased by Hardy Kruger after the filming, served as the movie's setting. The animals pursued are all live, wild, and untrained. Capturing animals by chasing them down is banned today both due to concerns over strain upon all those involved in a chase (targeted and not) and the development of effective animal tranquilizers and powerful [[tranquilizer gun|dart guns]] to subdue those ultimately selected.

According to director Howard Hawks, all of the animal captures in the film were performed by the actors themselves—not by stuntmen or animal handlers (although a stand-in, Mildred Lucy "Rusty" Walkley, was used for some scenes involving Elsa Martinelli's character<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44555225 ''Australian Woman's Weekly'' December 5, 1962]</ref>). When Hawks interviewed de Vargas, he said production would be very dangerous, as there would be no double, and showed de Vargas a documentary.<ref>McCarthy, pg 577</ref> Government-licensed animal catcher Willy de Beer was hired by Hawks as a technical adviser, and he and his assistants worked with the actors on how to go about catching the animals.<ref>Stanley, Frank. "Hatari." ''International Photographer: The Magazine of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences'', September 1961, Vol 33 No 9, pg 181</ref> During filming, the rhino really did escape and the actors had to recapture it, which Hawks included in the completed film for its realism.

Much of the audio in the capture sequences had to be re-dubbed due to John Wayne's cursing while wrestling with the animals, and Hawks said Wayne admitted being scared during some of the action scenes, particularly those in which he is sitting in the exposed "catching seat" as a truck hurtles over terrain full of hidden holes and obstacles. According to Hawks, Wayne "had the feeling with every swerve that the car was going to overturn as he hung on for dear life, out in the open with only a seat belt for support, motor roaring, body jarring every which-way, animals kicking dirt and rocks and the thunder of hundreds of hooves increasing the din in his ears."<ref>McCarthy, pg 582</ref> On the other hand, one evening, while Buttons and Wayne were playing cards outside, a leopard came out of the bush towards them, but, when Buttons mentioned the approaching leopard, Wayne reportedly simply said, "See what he wants."<ref>McIntyre, pg 73</ref>

Filming in Africa was not only dangerous for the actors, however. De Vargas said de Beer was mauled by a loose baby leopard that sprang on him from a tree, and "came back with his arm covered in bandages and throat completely wrapped, but he just shrugged it off."<ref>McCarthy, pg 579</ref>

As the animals frequently refused to make noise "on cue" (in particular, the baby elephants refused to trumpet inside populated areas), local Arusha game experts and zoo collectors were hired to do "animal voice impersonations" for the film.

Michèle Girardon spoke no English when she was cast and, according to a July 1961 ''[[Life (magazine)|LIFE]]'' magazine profile of the actress, she taught herself English while on the set.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=LIFE|date=July 21, 1961|publisher=Time Inc|issn=0024-3019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ilQEAAAAMBAJ|page=80|access-date=January 31, 2015}}</ref>

John Wayne wore a belt with the famed "Red River D" from his starring role in Hawkes' iconic ''[[Red River (1948 film)|Red River]]'' on its buckle, as he did in many of his movies. It can be clearly seen in the scene where Sean Mercer radios "Arusha Control" after The Indian is gored by the rhino at the start of the film, and again in the scene where Sonja (the cheetah) wanders into the bathroom while Dallas is bathing and introduces herself by licking Dallas and purring.

The memorable [[Henry Mancini]] tune "[[Baby Elephant Walk]]" was written for and first appeared in ''Hatari!''.<ref name=pc23>{{Pop Chronicles |23|4 |Henry Mancini}}</ref> Another memorable musical moment from the film is a duet of [[Stephen Foster]]'s "[[Old Folks at Home]]" (aka "Swanee River"), with Dallas on piano and Pockets on harmonica.

==Reception==
''Hatari!'' grossed $12,923,077 at the box office,<ref name="numbers"/> $7&nbsp;million of which came from U.S. [[Gross rental|theatrical rentals]].<ref>"All-time top film grossers", ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', January 8, 1964, pg 37.</ref> It was the [[1962 in film|7th highest-grossing film of 1962]].

On review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], 65% of 26 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.7/10, earning it a "Fresh" score.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hatari! |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hatari |access-date=January 14, 2025 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]]}}</ref>

[[Jean-Luc Godard]] listed ''Hatari!'' as one of the best films of its year of release.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://letterboxd.com/thewizard/list/jean-luc-godard-cahiers-du-cinema-top-10s |title=Jean-Luc Godard, Cahiers du Cinema Top 10's, 1956-1965 |date=February 17, 2015 |access-date=April 14, 2019}}</ref>

The film was recognized by [[American Film Institute]] in these lists:
* 2005: [[AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores]] – Nominated<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/scores250.pdf |title= AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominees |access-date=August 6, 2016}}</ref>

==[[4K resolution|4K]] [[Blu-ray]] release==
In December of 2024, Hatari! was released on [[4K resolution|4K]] [[Blu-ray]] [[region-free]] disk made by [[Kino Lorber]] that can be viewed with [[Dolby Vision]] and [[High-dynamic-range video|HDR]] grades. The 4k release was prepared by [[Paramount Pictures]] from a new 4k scan of the original 35mm [[Negative (photography)|negative]]. Picture quality is described as pretty, the audio quality is clear, dialogues are easy to follow, and the music by [[Henry Mancini]] sounds great.<ref>[[Kino Lorber]]. Hatari! released on [[4K resolution|4K]] [[Blu-ray]] [https://kinolorber.com/product/hatari-4kuhd]</ref><ref>Blu-ray. com: Hatari! 4K Blu-ray Review
Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, January 5, 2025 [https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Hatari-4K-Blu-ray/357173/#Review]</ref>

==Novelization==

Michael Milner adapted Leigh Brackett's screenplay for the film into a paperback novel published by Pocket Books in 1962 as a tie-in to the movie. The novel goes into more detail about some aspects of the animal-catching, particularly Pockets' rocket-net project, as well as the pursuit of Brandy by Kurt, Chips, and Pockets.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/Hatari-Michael-Milner/dp/B000BJUQP4|title = Hatari!|date = January 1962|publisher = Pocket Books}}</ref>

==Comic book adaptation==
* [[Dell Comics|Dell]] Movie Classic: ''Hatari!'' (January 1963)<ref>{{gcdb series|id=74205|title=Dell Movie Classic: ''Hatari!''}}</ref><ref>{{comicbookdb|type=issue|id=311524|title=Dell Movie Classic: ''Hatari!''}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Hatari! Music from the Paramount Motion Picture Score]]'', soundtrack album by Henry Mancini
* [[List of American films of 1962]]
* [[John Wayne filmography]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*{{YouTube|Ykgf510OkwU|''Hatari!'' Trailer}}
*{{IMDb title|0056059}}
*{{TCMDb title|id=22315}}
*{{AFI film|id=19931|title=Hatari!}}
*{{mojo title|hatari|Hatari!}}
*{{Rotten Tomatoes|hatari}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060906223949/http://research.yale.edu/cgi-bin/swahili/lookup.cgi?Word=hatari&EngP=0 hatari] in the [https://web.archive.org/web/20060820152345/http://www.yale.edu/swahili/ Internet Living Swahili Dictionary]

{{Howard Hawks}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1962 films]]
[[Category:1960s adventure drama films]]
[[Category:1962 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:American adventure drama films]]
[[Category:American romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Howard Hawks]]
[[Category:Films set in Tanganyika]]
[[Category:Films shot in Tanzania]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Leigh Brackett]]
[[Category:Films scored by Henry Mancini]]
[[Category:Films adapted into comics]]
[[Category:Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical]]
[[Category:1960s American films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic drama films]]
[[Category:English-language adventure drama films]]