Lion of the Desert is a 1980 epic historical war film about the Second Italo-Senussi War, starring Anthony Quinn as Libyan tribal leader Omar Mukhtar, a Bedouin leader fighting the Regio Esercito (Royal Italian Army) and Oliver Reed as Italian General Rodolfo Graziani, who defeated Mukhtar. It was directed by Moustapha Akkad and funded by the government under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.