Customer Reviews

The Wind and the Lion

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We had seen this movie on tv some time ago and thought it was a good story with excellent casting of the characters. For a topic that could have degenerated into a fully bloody presentation, we found that there was humour as well. Acting was first rate.

First the good stuff. This is a pretty enjoyable movie. Connery's casting as the barbary pirate / lord of the Riff starts out as rather unbelievable, but it grows on you. Brian Keith is perfect as Theodore Roosevelt. Keith and the script do a great job of showcasing this man's beliefs, pretenses, and genuine nobility. My only complaint about the performances; It would've been nice if Candice Bergin had picked one accent and gone with it. The romance is a little forced, but hey, it's a movie.

"LOOSELY" based on a historical incident, it remains relevant even in today's world. The contrast between a slumbering but decisive America that is willing to negotiate to a point, but go it alone if it must to protect it's citizens, versus a self-absorbed charismatic leader who uses religion to justify his own desires for power and place. Sound familiar?

Based on the above, I'd give the movie itself a weak 4 star rating, but the DVD fumbles.

The pinheads in charge of subtitling this better than average film managed to screw up one of the finest depictions of 1900's era small unit actions in the history of cinema. This piece of film is (or was until recently) used in the training of US Marine Corps officers. They obviously used historical and technical experts to get the movie right, why couldn't they have talked to even an ROTC cadet to make sure that the command verbage in the subtitles was correct? Very shoddy, and unfortunately it is becoming typical of the level of quality in the DVD market. A minor point for most, but a notable and easily avoidable flaw.

I saw this movie at the theater, many years ago, and was taken by the fantastic story of Theodore Roosevelt vs the Sheik. The main stars of this movie perform splendidly and the rest are just as entertaining. As someone who studied Teddy in school and later in life, I must add that I thought Brian Keith's portrayal was far and away the best likeness of Teddy that has ever been done in a movie. Sean Connery plays the Sheik masterfully and nobly and in this current time it is nice to see a balance approach to the "barbaric" Islam tribes. Connery plays the Sheik as honorable and worthy of respect. Definitely a must see movie.

"The Wind and the Lion" was a beautiful John Milius film and story, with a pulse-pounding sound track. Brian Keith plays Teddy Roosevelt, who orders U.S. troops to Morocco to protect U.S. interests, as well he should have. Candice Bergen is an American socialite, kidnapped by a roguish Arab sand pirate, played by Sean Connery. The film is much more story, character rivalry and romance than history, but it does not hand us any of the usual garbage portraying the U.S. as racist exploiters. Instead, America under Roosevelt is portrayed as a modern power, unafraid to flex its muscles, but not willing to go overboard.
Milius writes and directs to this day. He has a tremendous love of history, a conservative trait. The reason for this is simple. History is the accurate description of great things done by conservatives. No wonder we love history. He is not the household name that Speilberg, Coppola or Lucas are. He says he is comfortable with the decisions he made, which were to be up-front about his politics regardless of whether it cost him. He freely admits that his conservatism indeed did prevent him from the kind of greatness that he was capable of.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM

Once a while a film re-surfaces or is come upon that proves to be somewhat effective and powerful through no fault of its own, not because of any specific aspect of its plot or characters, but because during the passage of time history has proven the film to be either prescient or an eerie parallel to current events and it resonates with a new audience.

The Wind and the Lion, produced in the mid-1970's, when viewed through the prism of today is practically a mirror image of certain goings-on in the Middle East. The film, written and directed by John Milius, tells a dubiously proclaimed true story (with some adjustments) of an American woman, Candice Bergen, and her children who are abducted in Morocco by a Berber chieftain played by Sean Connery. This act leads to an overblown military response by the Americans, led by President Theodore Roosevelt and Secretary of State John Hay played incredibly effectively by Brian Keith and John Huston respectively. Keith in particular captures the personality traits of Roosevelt to a tee and Huston shows some of the dry wit he has used in his various forays in front of the camera over the years.

In their desire to assert the power of America across the globe in a re-election year for Roosevelt, the Marines invade Morocco and take over. Insert Bush for Roosevelt and Osama bin Laden for the Connery character and it's downright creepy to watch. It's unintentionally to the film's benefit that modern viewers can draw these parallels, because there are a lot of holes that are covered over by them. Bergen's character goes through a change that requires an enormous suspension of disbelief and Connery as the chieftain loses some authenticity every time he opens his mouth and sounds like James Bond in a bernoose, speaking with his usual Scottish accent.

It all gives off the aura of a sort of low-budget epic. The sets and costumes are all impressive, but the overall look of the film seems muted. The ending in particular is rather memorable and Milius puts dialogue in the mouths of his actors that send chills down the spine when one is reminded that this particular piece of history is more or less repeating itself. Roosevelt, one of my favorite presidents, comes across as the epitome of the "ugly American", which I find very hard to believe was Milius's intent.

In a different world, this would have been a minor bit of interesting work at best.

This is a movie where most people would have a hard time not liking it. Its has everything anyone wants, unspoken romance, actions and intelligent script. I did have some problem with Sean Connery as the Berber chieftain but he played the role well and if a Berber were taught English by a Scotsman, he would sound just like Connery. Brian Keith played Teddy Roosevelt to a perfection. I think Keith had all the best lines of the movie and many of things he said about our nation sounds more real today then ever before. Candice Bergan was wonderful as well and there was a definite chemisty between Bergan and Connery that make the movie work.

There might be one stick that get stuck in many people's throats and that is that Sean Connery plays a very honorable man of Islam. When his character stated that Raisuli don't make war on women and children, he sounded bit insulted that a true warrior of Islam might be considered to scooped so low. A true patriot in his own eyes, Connery's portrayal of an Islamic leader run contarary to what many Americans see today, especially after 9-11 and many Islamic terrorist attacks directed at women and children. (I was told that this movie is quite popular in Islamic nations for Connery's portrayal of a true and honorable warrior of Islam.)

The DVD of this movie proves to be a must-buy for me. Its in anamorphic widescreen and at least for my basic TV, it looked very good. The audio is in 5.1 DD but its not very active as you hope to be. Still the sounds are pretty clear and background material are separated nicely. There are your director's commentary and making of the movie feature included but that is all from the extra feature department.

Considering that this movie was made in mid-1970s when America's power was ebbing after the Vietnam War and we were in an "anti-pro-active" stage, this story of Berber chieftain kidnapping an American woman and her children which generated a pure imperialistic response from the United States, must have been a rarity to hit the screens at that period.

The struggle of Americans to come to grips with their power and position (they do not wish to be the world's cop but they find it hard to stand aside, they want to be liked but they want to do the right thing which will leave them hated) is the underlying theme of this very well done, swashbuckled movie. And yet you can put all that aside and watch it as an adventure where even the identified "bad guys" (ultimately, the Germans) show gallantry. On that level it is ideal for 12-year old boys, as the last scene between Raisuli and the small boy demonstrate. If you wish to take it deeper, then, like most movies, it will be a Rorschach into which you will project all your political ideology.

For myself, the scene with the Marine captain and the corrupt ruler struck a chord that is echoing across the world: (paraphrase from memory) "Captain, you are mad and your President Roosevelt is insane." "Yes, sir!"

This film takes a historical incident and twists it way out of proportion. It's the story of an American woman and her children, who are kidnapped by the Raisuli, an Arabian bandit and self-proclaimed hero. The film is entirely predictable: the Raisuli turns out to be an honorable man, he and the American slowly find affection for each other, yadda yadda yadda. The climax, especially, with American and German soldiers battling it out for control of Morocco, is utterly preposterous. Sean Connery also makes a ridiculous Middle-Eastern man.

There is one bright spot, though: Brian Keith's portrayal of Theodore Roosevelt. His scenes are easily the best in the film, lovingly recreated and given some excellent dialogue, including prophetic words for America as a world power: "[Other countries] may respect us, even fear us, but they will never love us." His performance alone is the reason my review got -any- stars.

Milius' commentary proves two things: he was far more in love with the Roosevelt material than any of the rest (that much is obvious), and he has delusions that somehow, his picture can even hold a candle to David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia." It can't. That film is eminently worth your time - as is "The Man Who Would Be King," a far better, but similar film from the mid-seventies with Sean Connery in the lead. Give one of those films your time. This one doesn't deserve it.

The Wind and the Lion has finally come to DVD, and it's a fine production that thankfully boasts an engaging commentary track from director and scripter John Milius, an underappreciated Hollywood maverick (who is also terrific fun along with Ahnold S. on the "Conan the Barbarian" Collector's Edition commentary).

Times change and times stay the same ... when I saw this on its initial release, Arabs/Muslims were definitely the Bad Guys (it was the mid-Seventies, the Israelis and their neighbors were coming off another war, there were lines for gasoline, and rampant inflation caused by skyrocketing oil prices was wrecking the world's economy) but the post-Vietnam mood in the US was very much against all manifestations of foreign military intervention. This film was discordantly out of place in the prevailing attitudes. Then things cooled off, the Middle East didn't seem to be as threatening after awhile, and America began to start sending soldiers abroad again (carefully, against enemies who couldn't really fight back). Now, in the last decade, we've come full circle in many ways. Once more the Islamic world is a bogeyman and "robust", even pre-emptive, military intervention is an official doctrine of the Bush II crowd. This film ought to be wildly popular now -- for all the wrong reasons.

Milius is an unapologetic but conflicted imperialist, as he ruefully but honestly notes in his commentary track. On the one hand, he glories in naked American power (personified in this movie in the figure of the bearish Teddy Roosevelt, played masterfully by Brian Keith), but on the other, he recognizes that it is el Raisuli (Sean Connery) and his Moroccan bandits/jihadists whjo are the true heroes of the story, fighting patriotically to rid their country of foreign invaders. While Milius never resolves this conflict within himself, it does enable him to portray both sides honestly and respectfully, and even see the humor in the opposing attitudes: it is sometimes not clear if the hawkish American diplomats and soldiers, soberly toasting "World War", are meant to be buffoons or are in deadly earnest, the humor is so dry and the acting so sincere. A little of both, in all likelihood, just like Roosevelt, who is whimsically shown in constant physical activity while pursuing a shrewd, if belligerent, approach to foreign affairs.

Connery's Raisuli (based on a real figure) makes a marvelous freedom fighter. He's proud, passionate, fearless, and incorruptible, which is why he's probably doomed in the end, as the film's coda implies. His feelings toward his captive (Candice Bergen's Eden Pedecaris) grow into an abiding but chaste love (which is reciprocated), a subplot that hearkens to the grand old romantic adventure movies of old but that is never allowed by Milus to distract from the central storyline of action and intrigue. Some people seem to think that "Big Tam's" alleged Scottish accent is intrusive -- I do not hear this myself; to my ears Connery makes a very convincing Muslim, and besides, I have read on good authority that Arabic-speakers are the world's best imitators of the Scottish accent, so the casting makes a curious sort of sense.

TW&TL is full of movement and sweeping panoramas, with the Spanish locations subbing for Morocco used to good effect. The cinematography is superb, and truly shines in this widescreen release, and it is accompanied by one of Jerry Goldsmith's most stirring and evocative soundtracks. Milius' dialogue is economical and never too anachronistic (always a problem in most period movies); he creates believable larger-than-life characters and leavens the swashbuckling with deft humorous touches. Viewers will come away with many favorite lines that will enter their everyday conversation (e.g., "Real men prefer to fight with swords, so they can see each other's eyes," "You like-y speech-y?", "Why spoil the beauty of the thing with legality", "It goes double for Berbers", "The ease of others is not the concern of the Sultan", and "You've made this fine specimen of a grizzly look like a hairy cow").

It's all a tremendous spectacle, full of dash and glory, from the last few "innocent" years before the vaunting anthems of the European powers were muted by the mud of trench warfare and imperialism lost its attraction to a war-weary Old World. (Whether America will follow in its footsteps remains an open question.) Milius, a devotee of Kurosawa and a keen student of the military arts, directs some of the finest combat sequences ever to grace the screen. Bergen is surprisingly effective (it's hard to imagine Faye Dunaway in this role, as the commentary suggests nearly happened), the support players render sterling service, and there's even an unexpected touch of poetry at the end. Stand-out cinema entertainment that leaves you thinking, laughing, and applauding at the same time.

The "Wind and the Lion" sweeping romp based on a true-life incident. Lot's of action yet spending appropriate time on character development. My only disapointment was the new 5.1 mix was not as "rich" as I expected. If the sound were better, I'd rate it 5 stars.

Still, this is one of my all-time favorite movies, and my favorite Sean Connery movie to date. There's a delightful tension between Candice Bergen's and Sean Connery's characters which really draws the watcher into the story. I agree, with the other reviewers, Brian Keith is one of the most believeable Teddy Roosevelts ever.

If you've ever seen this movie before, perhaps on TV or on VHS tape, and liked it even a little, give a view again on the wide-screen DVD, with no commercials and without pan-and-scan! Or, if you've never seen it before, and like this type of action epic, give "The Wind and the Lion" a try. Either way, you'll be glad you did.

My family just saw it complete for the first time, and was really surprised and pleased.

I recommend this DVD highly, as the "Wind and the Lion" is definitely worth having in your DVD library and a nice break from today's computer effects dominated films.