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Review title: Based on a real film fiasco
Product review: Other reviewers are right on, but failed to note that this hilarious novel has a real-life parallel: "Mohammad: Messenger of God" (aka "The Message"), a 1977 flop from Tarik Int'l. Films, produced and directed by Moustapha Akkad. He imagined it would become a Muslim holiday classic, sort of an Arabian "Ten Commandments", shown on TV every Ramadan. Not. The Western version starred Anthony Quinn as Mohammad's uncle; Akkad had to film a second version side by side, with an all-Muslim cast, to quiet Saudi protests. Yet protests dogged the film, forcing shooting to move from country to country, and terrorists did prevent the opening in NY (despite the fact that they hadn't seen the film!). Check out the film's chapter in the Medved brothers inHollywood Hall of Shame: The Most Expensive Flops in Movie History, which details all of the politics and catastrophic production decisions that doomed the movie.
