Brian Keith, Candice Bergen, Geoffrey Lewis

The up-and-down career of director John Milius had no finer moment than The Wind and the Lion, a dandy adventure tale. It's based on fact: An American (played by Candice Bergen) and her two ch...( read more  read more... )ildren were kidnapped in 1904 Morocco by a Berber tribe, an international incident settled by President Theodore Roosevelt's "big stick" military muscle. The film's sweep and swagger are unabashedly old-fashioned, even as Milius occasionally pokes fun at the grand characters. Some of the peripheral material is sloppy, but as long as Milius keeps his sights locked on the two powerful protagonists, he's dead-on: Brian Keith makes a gutsy Roosevelt, and Sean Connery is in splendid form (with Scots accent in place--got a problem with that?) as the dashing Berber chieftain. Perhaps overshadowed by John Huston's The Man Who Would be King the same year (Huston plays advisor John Hay in this one), Wind makes a marvelous companion piece. --Robert Horton

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73% liked it

789 ratings

Critics

60% liked it

10 critics

PG, 119 min.

Directed by: John Milius

Release Date: January 1, 1975

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DVD Release Date: January 6, 2004

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Flixster Reviews (160)


  • June 2, 2008
    Based on actual events, The Wind And The Lion is the story of a banished Moroccan chieftan who kidnaps an American woman and her two children in an attempt to rid his country of its occupying European forces resulting in a stand off between he and president Roosevelt. Written and...( read more) directed by John Milius who was responsible for scripts as diverse as Apocalypse Now and Conan The Barbarian, this film contains his typically clever dialogue and political subtext as well as a healthy dose of rousing action. There is a satirical commentary on colonialism in general as well as America's role as self-appointed world policeman; Roosevelt is shown as a man more interested in self-aggrandisement and bluster than justice, all too ready to send in the troops to stamp his will on the rest of the world (the American's glorious "victory" is against a hugely inferior and unprepared force. Plus ca change...) His opponent is played by Sean Connery at his most charismatic, and Candice Bergen ably fills a role originally intended for Katherine Hepburn as the kidnapped woman who grows to understand the man and realises he is no savage, but an honourable and educated leader of men. Add a great supporting cast and a rousing score, it's in turns funny, clever and exciting making this adventure from the old school at it's most stirring.
  • July 14, 2009
    While Brian Keith is great, the rest is terribly so-so.
  • March 27, 2009
    It's been so long since I've seen this but I remember that I liked it.
  • June 20, 2008
    Why is this movie so vastly underrated - if noticed at all?
  • May 19, 2008
    one of the best movies ever made
  • March 6, 2008
    This movie was boring.
  • November 1, 2007
    Vastly entertaining ... One of my all-time favourite adventure movies ... Keith Brian & Sean Connery - simply brill!
  • July 13, 2007
    Sean Connery as a very sexy Arab Sheik. Loved it!
  • July 9, 2007
    A very intersting movie

Comments


  • shivaboyd
    January 2, 2007
    *sob* I love you!!!!!!
  • Raisuli
    November 23, 2006
    Sherif of Wazan: "Great Raisuli, we have lost everything. All is drifting on the wind as you said. We have lost everything."
    Raisuli: "Sherif, is there not one thing in your life that is worth losing everything for?"

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The Wind and the Lion Trivia


  • What actor links The Wind and the Lion, Family Business, The Presidio, PLaying By Heart, First Knight and The Russia House?   Answer »
  • Sean Connery is in the movie 'The Wind and the Lion'.  Answer »

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