The Desert of the Tartars
Original title: Il deserto dei tartari
1976 · 2 h 20 min
Directed by 
Valerio Zurlini
Valerio ZurliniCast
Jacques Perrin 
Vittorio Gassman 
Max von Sydow
Credits
Written by: Dino Buzzati
Plot
A young lieutenant is sent to a remote desert fortress to await an enemy attack that may never come. After Dino Buzzati.
Sinekatalog’s take
Valerio Zurlini's adaptation of Buzzati sends a young officer to a remote fortress to await an enemy who never appears. Spare and haunting, with a stellar cast, it is a poised allegory of waiting, duty and wasted life.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 7.5 / 10 (3,088 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
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