 Foreign Legion Major Foster (Hackman), a war-weary American haunted by his memories of the recently ended Great War, is assigned to protect a group of archaeologists at a dig site in Erfoud in Morocco from Bedouin revolutionaries led by El-Krim (based on Moroccan revolutionary Abd el-Krim).The song "Plaisir d'amour", a tune about lost love and regret, is heard repeatedly through the film, serving as the film's theme song.Soon after the Great War, Major Foster (Gene Hackman), the commander of a detachment of the French Foreign Legion, suffers the haunting memories of leading an army of 8,000, now reduced to 200.