The Desert of the Tartars

Giovanni Drogo (Jacques Perrin) is a young lieutenant posted to the Bastiani fortress, an old outpost on the border, where he expects the nomadic Tartars to attack at any time. Valerio Zurlini keeps the garrison at its post while the days there run together. Drogo's bond with Filimore (Vittorio Gassman), a fellow officer who has watched the border longer than he has, becomes the film's steadiest company.