5 Things You Never Knew About John Wayne’s ‘Hatari!’
Hatari! (which means “Danger!” in Swahili) isn’t just a movie; it’s a colorful, chaotic safari adventure that swept audiences off their feet when it premiered in 1962. Directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne as the no-nonsense leader of a team of game catchers, the film blended action, romance and comedy against the stunning landscapes of northern Tanganyika or what we now know as Tanzania.
With wild animal chases and a memorable baby elephant scene, it’s easy to see why it stood out visually. Cinematographer Russell Harlan’s work even earned an Oscar nomination, though the award ultimately went to Lawrence of Arabia. Still, Hatari! left behind its own kind of legacy and in honor of the film, let’s learn some interesting facts about it:
1 The actors did their own dangerous stunts
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Hawks wasn’t interested in faking it. He insisted that the stars of Hatari!, including Wayne and Red Buttons, perform all their own animal captures. There were no stunt doubles, no behind-the-scenes handlers and no safety net once the cameras rolled. At one point, a rhino actually escaped mid-shoot and the actors had to go after it for real. Hawks loved the authenticity of it so much that he left the footage in the film.
2 A baby elephant walk became a global hit
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Composer Henry Mancini wrote a sweet little tune to play behind a scene where a baby elephant toddles beside Elsa Martinelli. It was just meant to be a moment of charm, something gentle to match the scene’s mood. But that tune, later named “Baby Elephant Walk,” took on a life of its own. It became one of Mancini’s most recognizable hits and has been recorded in dozens of styles around the world.
3 John Wayne couldn’t keep it clean
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If something sounds a little odd in the audio during Hatari!‘s wildest scenes, you’re not imagining it. A lot of the action sound had to be re-recorded because Wayne kept cursing while wrestling animals and bouncing around in off-road vehicles. The audio team cleaned it up later, swapping in tamer versions so the final cut stayed family-friendly.
4 A leopard wandered onto set
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One evening while the cast was relaxing, Wayne and Buttons were reportedly playing cards outside when a leopard crept out of the bush. Buttons calmly pointed it out without even standing up. Wayne glanced over and reportedly said, according to a fan on Reddit, “See what he wants.” The big cat eventually wandered off, but the moment stuck. It’s the kind of casual toughness that made Wayne such a legend.
5 The film started without a finished script
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Some critics joked that Hatari! felt more like a vacation than a movie, and there’s some truth to that. When filming began, there was no completed script. Hawks just knew he wanted to make a movie about people catching animals in Africa. Far from Hollywood, with no studio executives looking over his shoulder, he shot what he wanted and built the story afterward. It gave the film a relaxed, freewheeling feel that made it stand out from anything else in theaters at the time.
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