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A Masterpiece!

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I do not care for the pretentious reviews that seem to befall this great, fun-filled movie. This movie is now 40 years old...and STILL holds a certain charm, a certain value. Nothing in time has diminished its appeal. All of the cast played to their strengths. The story is NOT a political-statement...it is a MOVIE. Nothing more, nothing less. The camera work is great, the action-scenes stand the test of time. Brian Keith and Connery set a stage which can match any two-some in any movie. And I LIKE Candace in her part. The military depictions show a side of the life which is rarely seen today - men who simply believed in what they did, and enjoyed a good fight. You will not see that in movies today....its a 'macho-thing' our culture is trying to expunge. Bah! The ending shot of the Raisuli riding thru the fighting to grab the gun from the boy....is as fine a movie action-shot was ever made. Magnificent.

This was the final step in Sean Connery's return to stardom after leaving the Bond franchise and making Zardoz (one good step, one horrible one). And he did it without the rug. His Scots accent gets in the way for awhile only--Omar Sharif would've been more authentic. You could call it the anti-"Sheik" movie. I mean, the Raisuli and Eden Pedicaris never even kiss! The closest to a romantic statement he makes is "Mrs. Pedicaris, you're a great deal of trouble." The opening is breathtaking and the rest confounds expectations at every turn. And of course Brian Keith plays the quintessential Teddy R. I mean, this is John Milius, who wishes he'd been TR (see "Rough Riders" if you doubt me, it could be called a prequel to this film). It makes Keith the only actor to play 2 succeeding Presidents, McKinley (his last role) and Teddy. NOT a picture for Islamophobes, being intelligent and treating them Ay-rabs as human people. It also has maybe Jerry Goldsmith's best score--big and heroic and the best desert score since "Lawrence of Arabia." Definitely a picture that could NOT be made today, unfortunately.

the grace is the basic virtue of film. for the manner to translate political problems, for the love story, for humor, for the science to be more than tool for a form of these about bad and good parts, for romanticism and for performances. a film who presents image of a period in wise manner, without the desire to have the truth or impress but with subtle art of detail. Brian Keith does a splendid job as Theo Roosevelt and John Huston is the perfect choice for his role. the script transforms an adventure film in a sentimental travel heart of a side of real facts, more convincing for the spices used. a film about interests and victories, dream and the heart beating of history. seductive. and charming. for the precise doses of subjects.

When did Theodore Roosevelt invade Morocco? NEVERNever - really. During Theodore Roosevelt's administration as President, the US did not invade Morocco. That only happened in a movie called the "Wind and the Lion" which is a work of fantasy, not fact.Here's what really happened. . .In May,1904, about two months before the Republican convention, a man named Ion Perdicaris, an American living in Tangiers, and an Englishman , Cromwell Varley, were kidnapped in Morocco. The kidnapper, a known bandit named Mulay Hamid El Raisuli (Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers), was demanding ransom and President Roosevelt expected the Moroccan government to intervene.When the government response was found lacking, Roosevelt ordered a military presence to the area, sending his beloved Navy off the coast of Tangier to make a statement. The potential threat of an American landing worked and the Moroccan Sultan used his influence/power with the kidnapper to force a release of Perdicaris and Varley. The marines never landed ashore and never fired a shot.No shots were fired, no invasion took place. But the general story made for a colorful tale in the movie which changed kidnapper's victims to an American woman and children and had the military invading Morocco. According to biographer Edmund Morris*, "The part of the kidnapped Perdicaris, in real life a bald, fat, sixtyish gentleman is given to Candice Bergen, who may be prematurely wizened, but is neither bald nor fat, and is by no means a gentleman." Varley becomes a pair of children and the abductor Raisuli was portrayed by the dashing Sean Connery.Because of this fictitious movie tale many people think TR invaded. But his administration never invaded anywhere. "Speak softly and carry a big stick" worked.With the "big stick" of the Navy looking on, the "soft" but boldly spoken message reached Morocco. The matter was settled diplomatically and the hostages were released. Not one drop of blood was shed.TR did use the incident to stir up the Republican convention, sending an ultimatum to Morocco by having the message, "We want either Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead", read during a dull period. The effect was dramatic and brought renewed vigor to the convention delegates. TR actually knew Perdicaris had already been released, but the news, which traveled more slowly then, had not yet reached Americans.According to the Theodore Roosevelt Association's Executive Director, Dr. John Gable, "Shortly after the kidnapping incident, and in light of the unsettled conditions in Morocco, Theodore Roosevelt skillfully and successfully mediated the Algeciras Conference of 1905, which both preserved Moroccan independence and the European balance of power, thus for a time saving the peace in North Africa and Europe.Ironically it eventually came out that Perdicaris was no longer an American citizen when he was kidnapped, but this fact was unknown when the whole affair began.