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  Jack Shaheen's Worst Portrayals of Arabs
 

 

Abdulla the Great (1956)
Cast: Kay Kendall, Sydney Chaplin, Gregory Ratoff, Alex D'Arcy
Director: Gregory Ratoff
Shaheen's comments: A European model brings down an Arab monarch...Ruthless King Abdulla surrounds himself with electric trains, bought women, and bellydancers...In the end, Abdulla loses both his sanity and the throne. His city is aflame, and the army moves to invade the palace. Still, the ruler frolics with bellydancers.

American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1991)
Cast: Michael Dukikoff, David Bradley, James Booth, Dwayne Alexandre
Director: Cedric Sundstrom
Shaheen's comments: A US school teacher, Delta Force commandos, and African villagers defeat a nuclear-mad Islamic Sheikh, his Ninja guards, and his Arab cohorts. Slurs target Islam.

Ashanti (1979)
Cast: Michael Caine, Peter Ustinov, Beverly Johnson, Kabir Bedi, Omar Sharif, Rex Harrison
Director: Richard Fleischer
Shaheen's comments: "Ashanti" encourages blacks to hate Arabs. Sleazy Arab slavers abuse Africans, selling them to Saudi Arabian potentates. Arabs vs Westerners, Arabs vs. Arabs. Deranged Arabs attempt to rape a missionary-doctor.

Back to the Future (1985)
Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Shaheen's comments: shows a young teen, Marty McFly, and a crazed scientist, Dr. Brown, duping and decimating nuclear Arab terrorist "bastards."...a three-minute shoot-em-up scene begins when two inept Libyans in a van try to gun down the protagonists.

Beau Ideal (1931)
Cast: Frank McCormack, Ralph Forbes, Lester Vail, Otto Matieson, Don Alvarado, Bernard Siegel
Director: Herbert Brenon
Shaheen's comments: Willing to do anything to bed the Western protagonist, the half-Arab, half-French dancer betrays Arabs. Plus, double-crossing Arabs massacre legionnaires. Islam equals violence; Muslim bedouin hate Christians.

Best Defense (1984)
Cast: Dudley Moore, Eddie Murphy, Kate Capshaw, George Dzundza
Director: Willard Huyck
Shaheen's comments: Screenwriters switched location to 1984 Kuwait [unlike the book it was based on, which was set in 1966 Saigon]...camera consistently displays camels everywhere, even on boulevards! Israeli actors portray Kuwaiti soldiers...several other factual errors and anti-Arab scenes

Beyond Justice (1992)
Cast: Rutger Hauer, Carol Alt, Elliott Gould, Omar Sharif, Kabar Bedi, Brett Halsey
Director: Duccio Tessari

The Black Stallion (1979)
Cast: Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr, Clarence Muse, Hoyt Axton, Michael Higgins
Director: Carroll Ballard
Shaheen's comments: In the book, a benevolent Arab sheikh befriends an American boy, giving the youth the Arabian's first foal. In [the] movie, a nasty Arab abuses an Arabian horse and violates an American boy.

The Black Stallion Returns (1983)
Cast: Kelly Reno, Vincent Spano, Allen Garfield |X Allen Goorwitz, Woody Strode, Ferdy Mayne, Teri Garr
Director: Robert Dalva
Shaheen's comments: Absurb scenario claims Arabs are unable and unworthy of owning and riding their own horses.

Blink of an Eye (1991)
Cast: Michael Pare, Janis Lee, Amos Lavie, Sasson Gabay, Uri Gavriel, Avi Keidar
Director: Bob Misiorowski
Shaheen's comments: Two Americans and a Kurd eradicate Iraqi "terrorists."

The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
Cast: Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall, Morgan Freeman
Director: Brian De Palma
Shaheen's comments: In this film about Wall Street opportunists and black-white controversies, the dialogue slanders Arab Muslims and the holy city of Mecca.

Bulletproof (1988)
Cast: Gary Busey, Darlanne Fluegel, Henry Silva, Juan Fernandez, Rene Enriquez, Thalmus Rasulala
Director: Steve Carver
Shaheen's comments: One LA police officer wipes out 80 Arab "terrorists." Arabs who despise Christians move to invade America.

Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger, Angie Dickinson, James Donald
Director: Melville Shavelson

Chain of Command (1993)
Cast: Michael Dudikoff, Keren Tishman, Todd Curtis
Shaheen's comments: One American kills 60-plus Arab "terrorists." Arabs are "barbacue."

Code Name Vengeance (1989)
Cast: Robert Ginty, Shannon Tweed, Cameron Mitchell, Don Gordon, Kevin Brophy
Director: David Winters

Shaheen's comments: An ex-CIA agent crushes brutal Arabs.

Death Before Dishonor (1987)
Cast: Fred Dryer, Joey Gian, Sasha Mitchell, Peter Parros, Brian Keith, Paul Winfield
Director: Terry J. Leonard

Shaheen's comments: Israelis, the marines, and a US Marine Sergeant Jack Burns crush baby-killing Palestinians and a German terrorist.

The Delta Force (1986)
Cast: Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, Martin Balsam, Joey Bishop, Robert Forster
Director: Menahem Golan
Shaheen's comments: Unkempt Palestinian and Lebanese skyjackers...reroute a passenger jet to Beirut. Wham! An elite US
military unit obliterates them.

Double Edge (1992)
Cast: Faye Dunaway, Amos Kollek, Muhamed Bakri, Makram Khouri, Michael Schneider
Director: Amos Kollek

Eagles Attack at Dawn (1970)
Cast: Rick jackson, Peter Braun, Yehoram Goan
Shaheen's comments: A vastly outnumbered Israeli squad terminates dense, vicious Syrian Muslims.

East of Sudan (1964)
Cast: Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms, Derek Fowlds, Jenny Agutter, Johnny Sekka, Harold Coyne
Director: Nathan Juran
Shaheen's comments: In the jungle, anti-Christian Sudanese Muslim slave drivers vs. British Christians and Africans.

Exodus (1960)
Cast: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb, Sal Mineo
Director: Otto Preminger
Shaheen's comments: Exodus introduced filmgoers to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and peopled it with heroic Israelis and sleazy, brutal Arabs, some of whom link up iwth ex-Nazis.

Follow That Camel (1967)
Cast: Phil Silvers, Jim Dale, Peter Butterworth, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams, Anita Harris
Director: Gerald Thomas
Shaheen's comments: Arabs are tagged "dogs" and "monkeys." Islam is mocked.

Freedom Strike (1998) Cast: Michael Dudikoff, Jay Anthony, Nicholas Kadi
Director: Allan A. Goldstein

Ground Zero (1994)
Cast: Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Cat Sassoon, Robin Curtis, Johnathan Fuller, Steve Garvey, Leonard O. Turner
Director:Rick Jacobson

Hell Squad (1986)
Cast: Bainbridge Scott, Glen Hartford, Tina Lederman, Maureen Kelly, Penny Prior, Kimberly Baucum
Director: Ken Hartford

Hollywood Hot Tubs 2: Educating Crystal (1990)
Cast: Jewel Shepard, Burt Braverman, Phil Diskin
Shaheen's comments: Sound the alarm. Sheikhs are scheming to seduce a Valley Girl -- and take over her hot tub business.

Hostage (1987)
Cast: Wings Hauser, Karen Black, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Locke, Robert Whitehead, Billy Second
Director: Hanro Mohr

The Human Shield (1992)
Cast: Michael Dudikoff, Tommy Hinkley, Hana Azoulay-Hasfari, Steve Inwood, Uri Gavriel, Avi Keidar
Director: Ted Post

Into the Sun (1991)
Cast: Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Pare, Deborah Maria Moore, Terry Kiser, Brian Haley, Michael St. Gerard
Director: Fritz Kiersch

Iron Eagle (1986)
Cast: Louis Gossett Jr., Jason Gedrick, David Suchet, Tim Thomerson, Larry B. Scott, Caroline Lagerfelt
Director: Sidney J. Furie

Ishtar (1987)
Cast: Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Adjani, Charles Grodin, Jack Weston, Tess Harper
Director: Elaine May
Shaheen's comments: The view of Arabs in Ishtar is unexpectedly crude.

Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Cast: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Spiros Focas, Howard Jay Patterson, Samuel Ross Williams
Director: Lewis Teague
Shaheen's comments: Arabs appear as religious fanatics, as messy desert dwellers, as power-crazed buffoons, and as killers of fellow Arabs.

Killing Streets (1991)
Cast: Michael Pare, Lorenzo Lamas, Jennifer Runyon, Gabi Amrani, Alon Abootbool, Michael Downs
Director: Stephen Cornwell

Legion of the Doomed (1958)
Cast: Bill Williams, Dawn Richard, Anthony Caruso, Kurt Kreuger, Tom Hubbard, John Damler
Director: Thor Brooks


Click for more of Shaheen's worst movies



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