Two former soldiers go in search of fortune and glory in South Asia and get more than they bargained for.
The Man Who Would Be King is based on a short story by writer Rudyard Kipling, born in India to British Colonial parents, and famous for The Jungle Book (adapted into the Disney flm), as well as other adventure stories and poems such as Gunga Din and Kim. He was also the first English language winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1907. Most of his work was inspired by his travels throughout the British Empire of the late 19th century, and The Man Who Would Be King is at once a nostalgic elegy and satirical criticism of imperialism.
John Huston is an Oscar-winning writer and director responsible for such wide-ranging films as The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon, Annie, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Prizzi's Honor, The Misfits, and Moby Dick. A world traveller like Kipling, he had been trying to adapt the story for over 20 years, originally with Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable, then with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, and most recently with 1970's stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Finally he wound up with two actors who actually hailed from Great Britain (as written) in Sean Connery and Michael Caine.
Assisting Huston behind the camera are cinematographer Oswald Morris (Fiddler on the Roof, The Dark Crystal, Lolita), music composer Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago), and legendary costume designer Edith Head, all Oscar-winners as well. Joining Connery and Caine in the cast are Christopher Plummer (The New World, The Insider, The Sound of Music) and Caine's real-life spouse Shakira.
The film was a success commercially and critically, with many reviewers calling it one of Huston's best features, as well as a rejuvenation of the long-dormant period adventure film, and it could be argued that it paved the way for other tongue-in-cheek genre efforts like Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Running time is approx. 2 hours.
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