Captains and the Kings

I first saw this mini-series when I was 11. Even though it was a little adult for me at the time, I knew it was one of my favorites. Richard Jordan, Perry King and Blair Brown became some of my favorite actors because of this mini-series. In my opinion, it rates with Rich Man Poor Man and North and South, parts 1 and 2. They don't make mini-series like The Captains and the Kings anymore and I highly recommend it. I am so glad I bought it and watched it after 20+ years.

For years, I have been searching for a video release of 'Captains and the Kings' based on the novel by Taylor Caldwell. I was barely a teenager when I saw the miniseries on television and immediately fell in love with the richness of characterization, the detailed scenery, and the straightforward, yet convoluted plotline. Richard Jordan, Charles Durning, Henry Fonda, Perry King, Blair Brown, Vic Morrow, Joanna Petit, Patty Duke ... to name but a few. The casting was impressive. The story riveting. I've worn out three copies of the book and just purchased number 4. Don't miss it!

Based on Taylor Caldwell's novel, this 1976 NBC production came on the coattails of ABC's earlier success with "Rich Man, Poor Man," and solidified the term "mini-series" in broadcast language. And it is a magnificent and stylish production cemented with good writing, superb acting and the message that even power and wealth carry a price, sometimes too high. "Captains and the Kings" was reviewed in comparison to the real-life Kennedy clan, and maybe so. Still, the action begins on an America-bound ship on which the mother of a young Joseph Armagh and two younger siblings dies, leaving the adolescent Joseph in charge. And take charge he does, soon setting money and power as his goals. Joseph collects both in heaps but, by film's end, with Joseph then an old man, learns the devastating cost to him personally. The late Richard Jordan is terrific as the powerbroker Joseph, and the supporting cast is unparalleled, headed by Patty Duke's Emmy turn as Joseph's wife. Her fate is insanity triggered by an arranged marriage with a man who doesn't love her, the loss of two children and alcoholism. The series also introduced us to Blair Brown, who went on to a haunting portrait as Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1983 mini-series, "Kennedy," and on series television in "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd." Here, Ms. Brown is the "other woman" in Joseph's life, but she pulls it off with sympathy. As for Perry King, as Joseph's son seeking to be the country's first Irish Catholic president, there's no escaping the inevitable comparison to the real-life Irish Catholic who went after - and got - the presidency. Strongly written, well acted and lavishly produced, "Captains and the Kings" is a worthy piece of entertainment.