Watch Khartoum For Free

That was an excellent one.

Thanks for the memories!

hyped garbage

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

"Khartoum" plays all of the right notes, but so does an electronic keyboard. It's not about the right notes, it's about the space between the notes; that's where the heart and soul of anything lies. As Tarantino once wrote, "That's when you know you found somebody real special: when you can just shut the **** up for a minute and comfortably share silence."In the film's second oddest casting choice, Charlton Heston stars as General Charles "Chinese" Gordon, a smooth, pious British soldier tasked with restoring peace to Sudan, due to his past ties and love of the region. He's the kind of guy who acknowledges the subtle contrasts between the words "kill" and "execute."The peace has been shattered by Muhammad Ahmad (Laurence Olivier, apparently such a good actor, he can change the color of his skin), a self-proclaimed "chosen one"; a religious fanatic, whereas Heston's merely a fan--like Trekkies and Trekkers. The idea in sending Heston to confront him, I assume, is to fight a forest fire with a scented candle. The film plays like a middle-eastern version of the Alamo, with Heston as the Davy Crockett ("I wasn't born in the Sudan, but I got here as fast I could.") A lot of people will point to the fact that Olivier plays a dark- skinned, middle-eastern guy and laugh. However, I'm willing to pardon it under the "Suspension of Disbelief" clause in the unwritten contract between consumer and producer. It does seem like a strange choice, though, considering the character's lack of screen time--any solid actor could have stared into the distance or menacingly whispered.Heston, who is frequently given giant, exaggerated films to match his acting, is surprisingly low-key here, despite the bigness of the movie. And it's effective, as his character is meant to be the sensible religious man, as opposed to the flamboyant, intense alternative. For we all know religion is like a power-tool: you can build a gazebo with it, or you can use to hack your neighbor to pieces.The film, shot in 70mm using the same anamorphic lenses as this year's "The Hateful Eight," is appropriately dazzling, but the images ultimately leave a hollow impression--a lot of establishing shots. And I couldn't help but feel like the person behind the camera didn't quite know what power he had, like a kid who uses a magic wand to poke at anthills."Khartoum" doesn't totally fail in its silences--there are a handful of contemplative, alluring moments--but ends up feeling more like spectacle for spectacle's sake. The theme of religion and extremism is mildly compelling, and the performances that carry those themes are equally so.It's nowhere near good enough to replace "Khartoum" in my head as the name of the horse in "The Godfather."

Female presence is sadly lacking in this 1966 drama.Unlike in "The Ten Commandments," Charlton Heston can't perform any miracles in this film, a poor-take off "Lawrence of Arabia."Laurence Olivier is completely unrecognizable in his strong portrayal of the radical Mahdi, who sees visions from the prophet Mohammad to conquer Egypt and subdue the people along with those of the Sudan.The battles are nicely shown. The meeting between Gordon and the Mahdi never historically took place. How Gordon (Heston) could say at such a meeting that the two men are alike was simply ridiculous. Politics does play a central role in the film with Prime Minister Gladstone unwilling to commit British forces into the battle, and ready to place the blame on the stubborn Gordon should his attempts fail.

If you watch this film with modest expectations, you will probably like it fairly well. It's not "Lawrence of Arabia," not even in the same ballpark; I mention this because I think "Khartoum" got made because of the success of "Lawrence" a couple of years earlier. (Both films depict obsessed and quite weird Brits in the desert.)"Khartoum" is much too flat and talky, but it definitely has its moments. Olivier's performance as the Mahdi is stunning, unforgettable, filmdom's greatest depiction ever of a radical Islamic fundamentalist who's convinced he can rule the world. The performance is actually far more relevant today than in 1966, when it probably struck many viewers as quaint, an artifact of a bygone era. I don't know if Larry got an Oscar nomination for his work here; if not, shame on the Academy.The battle sequence at the end is good but it's over far too quickly - the whole darn movie points toward it, and then boom, it's done in maybe 10 minutes - it could have been stretched out to twice as long. (I suppose the filmmakers were more interested in historical accuracy than in dramatic zest; this is often a mistake in films.) The spoken words at the very end are spine-chillingly inspiring if you've got a romantic bent; if you're a hard-headed political realist, they probably will strike you as cheesy. I consider myself a romantic realist so I sorta liked 'em. If you get interested in Gordon (the Charlton Heston character), Lytton Strachey wrote a classic profile of him in "Eminent Victorians" that you might enjoy reading. One more word about Olivier's performance. It strikes some people as hammy and over-the- top. In fact, the Mahdi himself was hammy and over-the-top in the manner of people who (a) believe they are anointed by God and (b) wish to lead superstitious and susceptible warriors into battle and need to generate a certain awe. The Mahdi was an actor as much as anything. Olivier perfectly captures this quality.

I first saw this movie on a flight to Hawaii in 1966 and have watched it many times since, showing it to friends and family who were unaware of it - all of whom enjoyed it immensely. Although slightly dated by today's (2009) standards, don't let that dissuade you from seeing this film, it holds up to the test of time like very few movies do and surpasses most, at that.So, what's it all about? Khartoum depicts the last chapter in the remarkable life of Gen. Charles "Chinese" Gordon; another one of those larger-than-life-personages seemingly produced uniquely by Victorian England; such as Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) or T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia). To that last personage is the best probable comparison, as they were both considered the best commanders of "irregular" forces of their respective times and like Lawrence of Arabia, this movie barely scrapes the surface of the man's life (but it would take a 6 hour movie in either case to do them justice).Set in 1884, in what was the Sudanese portion of then Egypt, this is an epic historical movie that succeeds on every level. The conflict centers around an uprising to Egyptian rule, led by the Mahdi and the subsequent attempt to evacuate foreigners from the besieged Sudan's main city, Khartoum, by Gordon. It is epic in scope and production, detailed, believable and almost completely accurate. Political intrigue, minor and major battles, beautiful scenery, top notch acting, this movie has it all. I would place it smack dab between Lawrence of Arabia and Zulu (and much closer to Lawrence because of it's epic nature).This is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time (and I was at the opening of Ben Hur at the Coronet Theater in San Francisco, which was a lot of movies ago ;-) and watching this film has led me to read several books on this event, including Gordon's own diary written at the time.Unfortunately, they don't make too many like this anymore.