the entire group as heroes — just as Dagineau had wanted. The commander informs Beau that the Legion's high command has decided that Fort Zinderneuf is no longer worth protecting and they will now abandon it. Having lost his arm, Beau will be discharged, and the commander offers his hope that Beau has someone to whom to return. Beau smiles pensively and replies that he indeed does. Cast Guy Stockwell as Beau Geste Doug McClure as John Leslie Nielsen as Lieutenant De Ruse Telly Savalas as Sergeant Major Dagineau David Mauro as Boldini Robert Wolders as Fouchet Leo Gordon as Krauss Michael Constantine as Rostov Malachi Throne as Kerjacki Joe De Santis as Beaujolais X Brands as Vallejo Michael Carr as Sergeant George Keymas as Platoon sergeant Patrick Whyte as Surgeon Victor Lundin as Vachiaro Production Gene Kelly was originally set to produce and direct under his contract with Universal. He called the book "a minor 20th century classic... we're not updating it." When he left Universal to make a movie at 20th Century Fox the film was produced by Walter Seltzer under his deal with Universal. Seltzer wanted to make the movie because it had "a pre-sold title and essentially contains those elements of romance and adventure which originally were what movies were all about... escapism... What struck me were the vitality of the characters and an adventure where you could be outrageous. By this I mean a time and a place so far away as to permit high adventure without the necessity of spoofing it." Other studio executives recalled that MCA head Lew Wasserman was very involved in the film as one of his pet projects; Wasserman also selected director and screenwriter Douglas Heyes who performed the two jobs for relatively little money. Seltzer said the budget would be $4 million, $2.5 million for production, the rest for prints and advertising: Unlike the two before, we have no stars as such. We're betting on unknowns. Well, that's a misnomer; they're known but they're not stars. Certainly not superannuated ones... [Because we want] To attract the young audience – who constitute roughly 80% of the moviegoing public. Among the changes from earlier versions included: changing the sergeant into the character Dagineau – "we show what evil motivates him", said Selzter, "we've made him more – or less – than just a black villain"; three brothers were reduced to two;