The Man Who Would Be King

Starring:Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Saeed Jaffrey, Doghmi Larbi, Jack May, Karroom Ben Bouih, Mohammad Shamsi, Albert Moses (II), Paul Antrim, Graham Acres, Shakira Caine, Nadia Atbib, The Blue Dancers of Goulamine, Gurmuks Singh, Kimat Singh, Yvonne Ocampo
Director: John Huston
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

A grandly entertaining, old-fashioned adventure based on the Rudyard Kipling short story, The Man Who Would Be King is the kind of rousing epic about which people said, even in 1975, "Wow! They don't make 'em like that anymore!" When director John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen) first started trying to make the film, with Gable and Bogart, the project was derailed by the latter's death. It was a few decades before Huston was able to finally realize his dream movie--and with an unimprovable cast. Sean Connery and Michael Caine are, respectively, Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnahan, a pair of lovably roguish British soldiers who set out to make their fortunes by conning the priests of remote Kafiristan into making them kings. It's a rollicking tale, an epic satire of imperialism, and the good-natured repartee shared by Caine and Connery is pure gold. In today's screen adventures, humor is usually imposed on the material by a writer or director trying to make some kind of cleverly self-aware comment ("Hey, we know it's a movie!"), but that sort of jokiness can create so much ironic distance that it pushes the audience right out of the picture. Huston lets the humor emerge naturally from the characters, for whom we wind up caring more deeply than we ever expected. The digital video disc includes a wonderful documentary on the making of the film. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews:

ITS A CLASSIC!!!.......2007-06-27

Sean Connery? Good! Micheal Caine? Good! and with a Gurkha! My Dad summed it up one school night in my youth. "Your staying up for this one son, its a classic!" Two retired British Army NCO's, Mason's, Alexander the Great, Khafiristan, Martini rifles, and did I mention the Gurkha? This movie brought a fine Rudyard Kipling tale to life with all the action and adventure, gain and loss that you can ask for. "Let's go find safety in battle." is in my top ten of best movie lines. I recommend this movie for anyone who stares off in the distance from time to time wondering if there are any adventures left out there.

Top boys own yarn.......2007-06-06

This great film based on the Book by Kipling is a superbly made ripping yarn. Two rogue British ex-soldiers decide they would like to take over a country. This of course isn't as simple as it seems, even some 100+ years ago.

How they go about this is portrayed brilliantly by Caine and Connery. Made a few years after his last Bond film, Connery dominates the screen the whole time, but Michael Caine pushes him close and produces an at times marvellous comedic performance. I am sure Caine was influenced indirectly and directly by John Huston in this regard.

The other reason for this films greatness is of course John Huston. The direction is a lesson to all modern directors on how to grip an audiences attention whithout the need for CGI or an explosion every five minutes. Full credit to however was responsible for the sound as this makes a huge contribution towards the end.

Somehow I had missed this movie until this year. Now I've seen it I want to see it again and again. Strongly recommended.

A 'Treasure' in movies..........2007-05-03

This adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's wonderful short story has a permanent home in my DVD cabinet. It's a tale of adventure, friendships, differences between beliefs and cultures, dreams, and a cautionary lesson in greed combined with arrogance. When Daniel Drivot (Sean Connery) and Peachy Carnahan (Michael Caine) decide to give up their con games in India and head for Kafiristan, they feel it is their fate. They've heard the high mountain country is full of riches, but nearly die getting there. In another twist of fate, Daniel is given a god status and awarded the god's riches. The loot is beyond his wildest dreams, but rather than go home with his friend rich, Daniel is intoxicated by his power and unwilling to give it up. His arrogance threatens to end a long friendship, and his life.

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

The Man Who Would Be King .......2007-04-11

This is one of the best Adventure films I have ever seen. Wonderous, full of Humor and Action. Great performances of Sean Connery and Michael Caine. And all that before the Golden Age of special (computer generated) effects. A masterpiece which I never tire of seeing. And every time the ending makes me feel a bit sad and feeling sorry for Daniel and Peachy. They deserve better.

Calling for a new DVD issue.......2007-03-10

More years ago than I'd like to remember (okay, it was 1983), in my first job out of college, I compiled and edited (among many other things) the TV listings "picks" for a weekly regional music/arts newpspaper. I recall the publisher, an aging hippie, carping about my recommendation of a TV broadcast of a movie based on a short story by an alleged apologist for British imperialism, Rudyard Kipling. Kipling may be un-PC these days, but I wonder if my long-ago publisher actually read "The Man Who Would Be King" or saw the wonderful 1975 movie that director John Huston fashioned from it. If he did, he might have realized it was a clear-eyed cautionary tale, not a celebration of British incursion. "TMWWBK" is one of those "they don't make 'em like that anymore" near-classics, and watching it you're glad that Huston had to wait so long to make it, because with all due respect to the late great director, his earlier choices for the leading roles (Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Burt Lancaster and Paul Newman among them) would not have worked nearly as well as the team of Sean Connery and Michael Caine. The two actors bring authority, humor, and not a little poignancy to their roles as ex-soldiers who decide to journey to a remote, hostile Asian land and set themselves up as its rulers.

Watching the DVD again recently, I was reminded of what a strong impact "TMWWBK" made on me as a teenager, and it has stood the test of time better than many highly-regarded movies of its day. However, my enthusiasm is muted by the fact that the DVD itself hasn't held up nearly as well. It was issued circa 1997, when so-called "flippers" (DVDs that made you play both sides to see the entire movie, like an LP with awkward side breaks) were not unheard-of, even with flicks that ran for only two hours like this one. Oswald Morris' handsome Panavision cinematography translated pretty cleanly to silver disc (thankfully, it's letterboxed rather than pan-and-scan), but after a decade's advancements in DVD technology, a remastering would produce a sharper picture (and would probably improve the lackluster transfer of the soundtrack, monaural though it is). Double-sided or no, the disc is very short on extras--and as has been noted elsewhere, a key moment near the end of the movie has been inexplicably deleted, or more accurately replaced with a character's narration delivered to the camera rather than as a voice-over of this sequence. The movie deserves far better, and it's a shame that this 10-year-old "flipper" hasn't been superceded. The high rating I'm giving this disc is for the movie itself, not for the indifferent DVD, which will have to suffice until, I hope, a better one comes along.

Sean Connery Collection: Just Cause/The Man Who Would Be King/Outland

Average customer rating:

Sean Coonnery Co;;ection
Is Warner Brothers Cleaning House?

Sean Connery Collection: Just Cause/The Man Who Would Be King/Outland
Starring: Sean Connery , Michael Caine , Christopher Plummer , Saeed Jaffrey , and Doghmi Larbi
Director: John Huston , Peter Hyams , and Arne Glimcher
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00006JMSY
Release Date: 2003-05-13

Customer Reviews:

Sean Coonnery Co;;ection.......2005-08-23

The collection was good except that audio for The Man Who Would Be King did not play on my dvd player. I returned it as soon as possiable

Is Warner Brothers Cleaning House?.......2002-10-15

Haven't seen "Just Cause" but "Outland" and "The Man Who Would Be King" were good (not great, good) movies that were TERRIBLE DVDs, they look like they were mastered from VHS cassettes!

OUTLAND--3 Stars for the movie, 1 star for the DVD

Sci-fi fans searching for an overlooked gem should check out "Outland". Taking place at a mining town on Io (Jupiter's moon), the new marshall (Sean Connery) discovers that the station is rife with corruption and sets to clean things up.

There are great performances by Connery, Peter Doyle, and Frances Sternhagen. The pacing is set for suspence and the story keeps you interested. But the things that stick and make this worth checking out are the sets and special effects (by the late, great John Stears of Star Wars fame). Criticized at the time for being too grimy, the station seems both realistic and otherworldly--not an easy trick to pull off. The production values for the film (especially the model and matte work) were stellar and stand up very well 20 years later. Throw in a great score by Jerry "Star Trek" Goldsmith and you have a winner.

Unfortunatly, the transfer quality of the DVD is astoundingly bad. It's hard to believe that Time-Warner could allow their names to go on this jittery, grainy, shaky, fuzzy transfer--faults that are especially obvious on the DVD. Peter Hymes (2010, Timecop, Capricorn One) may not be John Huston, but a movie that inspired Blade Runner and Frankie Goes To Hollywood deserves better treatment. Extras are skimpy too.

MAN WHO WOULD BE KING--4 stars for the movie 1 star for the DVD

The Man Who Would Be King is another overlooked gem. John Huston deserves his place in the pantheon of American Directors (you don't think so? See "The African Queen" or "Treasure of the Sierra Madre").

Adventure without violence, humor without irony, satire without cynicism (well, without much cynicism), you'll find yourself saying "they just don't make 'em like this anymore" about a hundred times; but the movie is only 27 years old! Huston captures Connery, Michael Caine, and Christopher Plummer at the top of their careers. It's an adventure flick, but it is also laugh-out-loud funny.

Again, though, the transfer looks and sounds horrible. There is no evidence of quality control. I've gotten better sound from broadcast television. And no, I'm not exaggerating. Extras are OK (lots of trailers).

My theory is WB is trying to clear their stock of these abyssmal transfers to come out with either new DVDs or special editions. If you're a videophile, you'll definitely want to pass. If you're looking for good, enjoyable flicks--or if you're looking to round out your collection with some overlooked gems--they're worth getting.

The New Explorers - The Man Who Would Be Chief
Average customer rating:
The New Explorers - The Man Who Would Be Chief

Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All A&E Titles | A&E Home Video | Television | Genres | DVD | Video
( N ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000FKP1SG
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Description

Poignant story of Sule Issifu, an Arizona man who must decide whether to return to his native Ghana and become king of his tribe.

Average customer rating:

ITS A CLASSIC!!!
Top boys own yarn
A 'Treasure' in movies...
The Man Who Would Be King
Calling for a new DVD issue

The Man Who Would Be King [Region 2]
Starring: Sean Connery , Michael Caine , Christopher Plummer , Saeed Jaffrey , and Doghmi Larbi
Director: John Huston
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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