There are a few qualities I love about Hatari! – the upbeat sense of humour that correlates to the idea of sitting around a campfire on a warm African night, the lovely score composed by maestro Henry Mancini, the beautiful animals that trot throughout the film, the fact that that Red Buttons plays a character named “Pockets” – there are several wonderful qualities to this film, which is hardly surprising considering it was hand-crafted by Howard Hawks, one of the finest filmmakers to ever live, and whose career stretched from the earliest days of Hollywood in the silent era and extended to the formative years of New Hollywood, where he was regularly cited as an influence on younger filmmakers that looked to his renowned method of navigating different genres without losing his distinct style or ability to tell a story well, regardless of the format it comes in. Needless to say, Hatari! is one of his more interesting experiments, and should be taken as such – this isn’t a perfect film by any means, and I’d go so far as to say that it could possibly be seen as a slightly lesser work, which is barely a complaint since we’re on the subject of the filmmaker who made Bringing Up Baby and The Big Sleep, and numerous other canonical classics. However, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for us to just consider this film as a slight but enjoyable effort that sees the esteemed filmmaker going to great lengths in his endeavour to create what many have called the perfect “hangout” movie, and while it isn’t always successful, we have to take it for what it is, which entails both recognizing its moments of sheer brilliance and acknowledging the areas in which it could’ve been a lot better, which is a constant oscillation that prevents Hatari! from reaching greatness, but also from never defaulting into being a chore, which is quite impressive, considering there was a lot of potentials for this film to be something of a bore, which it deftly avoids in its endeavour to be something at least entertaining.

Hatari! has some wonderful moments, many of which come on behalf of the paracinematic qualities, those aspects that may not be present from the initial inception of an idea, but eventually grow to become the defining parts of a work. Photographed by Russell Harlan, whose stunning cinematography portrays the grasslands of Tanzania with such graceful beauty (even if it did emphasize a certain appearance of the area that may be misleading), and scored by the incomparable Henry Mancini, this film has a sly charm that captivates the viewer, even when the story around it isn’t all that impressive and nothing we’ve never seen before. This is simply just a group of middle-aged men who are defined by their valour and taste for danger, transposed onto the Serengeti, where they engage in a series of adventures that see them risking their lives but coming out of it with only a few small injuries and a massive sense of satisfaction and achievement. Hawks wasn’t attempting to make anything particularly serious here – there’s a lack of a message (even when the chance to make some statement about wildlife conservation was right there, and while this may not have been as pressing an issue in 1962, it seems like a missed opportunity to say something about the very important matter), and instead, a more meandering approach is taken, where the director is depending on the charms of his actors and the brilliance of his artistic collaborators to make us believe that Hatari! is endearing entertainment more than anything else, and which is all that it is willing to strive to be. This is a craft achievement more than a fully-realized masterpiece, and it often uses the impressive action sequences, where the main characters chase various animals in an effort to capture them, as the crutch for most of the drama, since the actual plot itself isn’t ultimately all that strong, and needs to depend on more exhilarating moments to be effective.

It’s charming filmmaking, but nothing remarkable – but the question is, does this really matter all that much? When you have a film that is so clearly designed to be just a good time, rather than a meaningful one, can you blame it for achieving exactly that? In all honesty, my own feelings towards Hatari! are very conflicted – I thought it was entertaining enough, but not in any way that lingers with the viewer. It’s a film designed to be a few hours of mindless entertainment, an outing for the family that could keep them captivated for an evening, and not much else. This kind of film is always fundamentally interesting, because even if Hatari! may not be consistently successful, it’s often very entertaining, and the question of overlooking the structural and narrative flaws that may prevent it from being a masterpiece are persistent, can we consider it a triumph, since it achieves exactly what it set out to? It’s a challenging concept, and not one that Hawks is much of a stranger to – as someone whose career is populated by both intelligent films, and more crowd-pleasing fare, he was well-versed in directing to a particular faction of the audience, and in this case (as was common for his more ambitious projects), he was hoping to create something that could appeal to everyone. Therefore, employing genial humour that is suggestive but not bawdy, colourful characters, enticing Technicolor cinematography and a story that balances action, romance and comedy, it is difficult to argue against the idea that Hawks had a winning film with Hatari! – yet, the fact that it still falls short of the greatness of numerous occasions is somewhat disconcerting, as there was something special underlying this film, and whether it aimed to be something that will endure for generations (which is doubtful, since there’s nothing in this film that hasn’t been before or after, except for perhaps the African setting), or simply a bit of diverting entertainment, there’s no doubt that Hatari! had some audacity behind it, to the point where I’m not quite sure it lived up to it.

Taken for what it is, Hatari! is quite successful, and if there’s any value in the film outside of its more creative aspects, it has to be found in the performances, which are good enough to compensate for the lacklustre script. John Wayne, the perpetual cinematic adventurer, anchors the film, and while he may not be giving a particularly great performance, he lends his distinctive bravado to the part in a way that is heroic but not weighed down by its attempts to be overly macho, which gives it the illusion of depth. Wayne may be the star, but the great performances come on behalf of those supporting him. Red Buttons was always such a delightful presence on screen and showed an adeptness at both comedy and drama, both of which he brings to this film, where he steals nearly every scene he’s in as the lovable scamp Pockets, who is the emotional heart of the film. The two female characters, played by Elsa Martinelli and Michèle Girardon, are by far the most interesting individuals in the whole film, and while there may be more depth to them than most would expect, they’re put in the background for far too long at a time, rather than flourishing on their own, which is a great disservice to two actresses who are giving performances much better than the film they’re in. The idea of the “foreign woman as an exotic object of desire” trope is one that Hollywood has constantly struggled with, and while it seems like Hatari! is indeed heading in this direction, the actresses do manage to do enough to leave an impression. A film like this isn’t going to prioritize complex characters or situations that bring out some deep conversations, but rather take an approach that foregrounds bold and eccentric personalities that light up the screen, having morals and scruples that protect them from allegations of being negative figures, and who captivates the audience. It’s not the most revolutionary approach, nor is it necessarily strong enough to extend beyond the confines of this particular film (therefore the chance of anyone calling this the best work of anyone involved is very unlike) but helps pass the time long enough to keep us entertained with genial, upbeat characters in perilous situations, which is often a winning formula in these instances.

Hatari! is a fine film, albeit not one that is particularly noteworthy, outside some of the minor elements that make is so compulsively watchable. It is quite dated, not only in how it structures the central plot (with technological advancement in the decades after this film was made meaning the methods shown here are hopelessly archaic), but also in some of the humour – it’s shocking how films like this could get away with some very flippant remarks that may not be offensive, but rather just reiterate one way of thinking about gender roles (although this is inherently a difficult concept since a film like this should be judged as a product of its time). It’s not a particularly challenging film in both story and structure, but it does have some value that keeps the viewer entertained. However, the problems with the film do tend to overtake some of the merits, such as the fact that it runs for about half an hour too long (meaning that it clocks in at a ludicrous 157 minutes), with the resolution being by far the weakest part of the film, almost as if all the effort went into building Hatari! to this entertaining crescendo, with the final act being an attempt to bring everything back to a logical place, but without the dedication to do it properly. The film is a decent attempt at rousing adventure filmmaking, and Hawks is undeniably a master who was firmly in control of his craft – however, it never quite reaches the point that many of his other films have, and it remains a relatively minor work in the career of a prolific filmmaker who unfortunately made one of his few missteps with Hatari!, a film that does mean well, but doesn’t really seem willing to put in the work to be a masterpiece, settling instead for serviceable entertainment that may be enjoyable, but ultimately can’t be seen as anything other than incredibly slight and unremarkable, even at its highest point.