michael caine have always claim that ashanti be the only film ( he ) do purely for the money as well a the bad film he ever star in . hold on and michael and weren not you in the swarm and hurry sundown . and weren not both of those film a good deal bad than ashanti . perhaps caine remembers only too begrudgingly the physically punish demand of film an action film in sear 130 degree fahrenheit temperature ( the director and richard fleischer and be hospitalise a a result of sun stroke during the shoot ) . what ashanti actually emerge a be not the career low point of michael caine . instead and it be a very average chase thriller with a talented cast and exotic location and boring stretch and a highly formulaic storyline . dr. david linderby ( caine ) be a w. h. o medic who be leave devastated when his black wife anansa ( beverly johnson ) go miss during an aid trip to an african tribal village . linderby gradually realise that his wife have be snatch by slave trader lead by suleiman ( peter ustinov ) and he set off on a continent wide pursuit which eventually lead to the middle east . along the way and big star pop in for ineffective and superfluous guest role . william holden have a poor cameo a a chopper pilot while omar sharif display little of his customary charm or grace a a pampered arab millionaire while rex harrison look rightfully bore during his brief role a a helpful contact who assist caine in his quest . the film be base on a best seller entitle ebano and by the little known author alberto vasquez figueroa and but the suspense that make the book so popular be largely absent in this adaptation . ustinov be charismatic a the slaver ( he seem in all his movie to be incapable of give bad performance ) and and caine generates believable anguish a the man who think he will never see his wife again . there be occasional flash of action and but on the whole ashanti be quite slow moving . all in all and it be a resistible piece of action hokum not by any stretch as awful a caine have frequently suggest and but not a very inspiring film and certainly a let down from all the talent involve .