Saudi Arabia [an NBC White Paper on Oil and American Power]

Year Published: 1970

Creator: NBC Films

Complete Record: A long shot of two men in traditional dress walking through the brush on a hill. Medium shots of people in a city dressed traditionally walking. Voice overs of raciest comments about Arabs. Medium shots and close ups of people driving cars. Cut to footage of men working on a oil rig and wells. Cut to a scene filled with sand dunes in the desert. Fade to narrator, Garrick Utely from NBC News in the desert. Shots of oil refinery in an oil field. Long shots of oil takers being filled on the Gulf. Fade to Dr. Ghazi al-Gosalbi, Minster of Industry of Saudi Arabia, telling us how the oil is God’s will for his people. Fades of medium shots of private homes, walled in from outsiders. Stills of women dress in vales. Fade to people working in the country since tending goats and farming. Medium shots of men marching and singing, carrying guns and swords to announcing their allegiance to the king. Long and medium shots of old buildings made of mud and sod. Long shot of solders n both military and traditional dress. Shots of Saudi Arabia flag with the words, “There is no God but God” in Arabic. Panning shots of minarets and Muslim men bowing to pray towards Mecca. Panning shots of Mecca and the cube in the center. Tracking shots of a man carrying a stick, walking down the street. He is an enforcer of Muslim rules, making sure that shops close at prayer time. Panning shot of western man carrying a small blond child on his shoulders holder a Pepsi. Someone turns on a boom box and blasts the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. Cut to the airport and westerners boarding a jet. Conflict between western influence and eastern religious traditions. Shots of building and construction. Shots of gridlock of imported cars. Long shots of Arabian developing city. Shots of a television studio filming a chidren’s educational program. Panning shots of foreign workers, Egyptians. Panning shots of a goat herder in the countryside.