A robust adventure about two British adventurers who take over primitive Kafiristan as "godlike" rulers, meeting a tragic end through their desire for a native girl. Based on a short story by Rudyard Kipling.
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Simply Perfect
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
This is one of my favorite movies. Two crooks and adventurers, former English soldiers and members of Masonic lodge, travel from India to Kafiristan, where Europeans have not been seen since Alexander the Great, to conquer and become kings. Adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's novel with Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer.9/10
What an excellent movie. Wonderful casting, who could be better than Connery and Caine for these characters? Plus it's a fairly faithful rendition of a wonderful story by one if the great English writers of any age. As with any movie, great writing has to be the foundation if it's to be any good. Highly recommended.
So many people love this movie, and rightly so. As rugged adventurers who are also the best of friends, Sean Connery and Michael Caine reached their career peak as Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan, respectively. But I think it's a mistake to call it an "action movie" or an "epic." For all the laughs and glamor, and the feel-good friendship of the two buddies, this movie is really a tragedy in the classical sense.Don't watch this movie expecting RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, where the good guys win and everybody leaves the story happy and alive. It's terribly important to remember that though this movie came out just one year before STAR WARS, John Huston is miles away from the infantile zap-zap action of children like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.The movie charts the downfall of two men who try to rise too high, just like Icarus in Greek myth. Rudyard Kipling felt that men who serve in the ranks should not get "above themselves" and wrote this story to show what happens when such people get out of their place. At the same time, Kipling was trying to warn the English people that the British Empire would only last as long as the purpose was justice rather than greed.Watching the movie, it's hard not to be torn. The two heroes fail in terms of empire building and politics, because they break faith with their native subjects one time too many. But at the same time, they never break faith with each other. The movie asks the question, can any person really be a failure if he/she has sacrificed everything for friendship? The final "defeat" of the pair is also final victory in that they maintain the one thing in their lives that was always above corruption -- their friendship. The bittersweet ending is complex and ambiguous, and signals that this is truly a masterpiece by giants of a nobler age.John Huston is gone now, replace by pygmies like Spielberg and Lucas. They don't make movies like THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING.
One of the best movies I recently watched.. and I watched it again the week after because I couldn't get enough.From being a lover of historic movie settings; I assumed this movie had great potential by reading the synopsis and damn well I was right !A strong story of friendship, loyalty, ambition, and the will to seek out the "Greater"... Sean Connery & Michael Caine performed this film very well. I could vouch that this is the best movie they had done together.The entire setting of British Raj era India is terrific. Back then, India wasn't too population, and the whole setting appeared as beautiful as any overseas colony. (That coming from someone who adores colonial era settings).Apart from that, the long hours you will watch will fill you with absolute entertainment as it did to me!