John Huston's "The Man Who Would Be King" is one of the most finely crafted adventure stories to ever grace the silver screen. It is humorous, unpredictable (unless you read the original Kipling story) and wild in its gorgeous, layered vistas and epic moments of grandeur and high sense of adventure and action scenes that must have been more difficult to film than having Michael Caine do needlepoint. It is an unabashed view of a civilization where few white men ever dare to tread.
Michael Caine and Sean Connery play ex-sergeants of the British Army who have nothing better to do than swindle and steal in India in the latter 1880's. Caine is Peachy Carnehan, who begins this story when he tells a "Northern Star" newspaper editor/correspondent named Kipling (Christopher Plummer) of his arduous trip with his fellow comrade, Daniel Dravot (Connery), through the snowcapped mountains of Afghanistan to reach the village called Kafiristan (Only Alexander the Great once set foot there). This remote area has riches beyond anyone's dreams, including several pieces of gold and giant rubies. Daniel and Peachy eventually reach the site only to be at first hissed as demons, then later welcomed as heroes from the sky. Only Daniel is seen as a god since he was struck by an arrow during battle and survived. Daniel is clearly not a god yet he relishes the opportunity, a golden opportunity at that, to retrieve whatever riches he desires. Peachy is on board and ready to boogie with all the gold after Daniel proves his godly worth with a freemason necklace he wears that resembles one of their all-seeing-eye god statues (he survives a final stage of proof of his godly ways when he is almost hit with an arrow to the chest). Only Daniel is loving his stature, and decides to stay and have a wife and beget many sons who could become kings. Peachy has other ideas, not understanding Daniels' need to be seen as a demigod.
"The Man Who Would Be King" holds us enthralled, amused and often in suspense as we wonder if the jig will ever be up - will these village people and the nearby religious sect, the Kafirs who do practice Masonic rituals see that Daniel is only human? Only time will tell and Huston manages to make it all gloriously entertaining and detailed in how different the customs are between one civilization and the other. A major plus is the magical teaming of the titanic, god-like presence of Sean Connery (who else could fool someone into thinking he's a king?) and the dry wit of Michael Caine. The both make for the most winning combination of a buddy-buddy adventure unlike any I've ever seen.
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