SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

nomorefog The horses have a hard time, so many horrible falls, but it's a good part for Candice Bergen. I dislike the Milius' slant in favour of American interventionism. Since the story is 90% fiction, he's out on a limb presenting a foreign takeover by the Americans that never actually happened in real life. But, that's Hollywood for you.

texxmw 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.

slothropgr 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.

theowinthrop In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt was at a cross-road. The nation's youngest President, he had served over three years of the term of his predecessor, the assassinated William McKinley. McKinley had been a fine Chief Executive, but a fatherly old fashioned type. T.R was not like that - he kept breaking rules, and in doing so became the most controversial President since Andrew Johnson. T.R. had been fighting most notably in foreign affairs (against Germany's threats to Venezuela in 1902; in the creation of the new state of Panama from Columbia in 1903 to build his Canal), and in financial fields (against mine owners in the coal strike of 1902). He was also trying to start national conservation. The public was fascinated, but the leaders of the Republican Party were not. "Accidental Presidents" rarely got nominations on their own (Fillmore was the only one who did - as a Know Nothing in 1856). There was no reason that T.R. would be more successful getting nominated.The nomination was something to be really sought after. The Republicans had been doing a pretty good job running the government since 1897. The Democrats were in disarray (Bryan had lost two previous elections, and was not sought as a candidate this time, and William Randolph Hearst, the powerful newspaper owner and Congressman,had a large number of supporters but was too controversial). The conservative and moderate Republicans hoped that the convention would nominate Senator Mark Hanna for the Presidency. but he died suddenly in February 1904. Then all hell broke loose. A Greek-American merchant named Ion Perdicaris was kidnapped in Morocco by the notorious brigand and rebel leaded Raisuli. Raisuli was doing this to ransom the gentleman, but T.R. used the incident to look forceful and Presidential. Demanding action at the point of military intervention, he said. "I want Perdicaris alive, or Raisuli dead!" Events played out so that Roosevelt was able to get his portly merchant away from Raisuli (who got his ransom). But the statement of forcefulness so captured the nation's imagination that Roosevelt got the 1904 Presidential nomination. As the Democrats decided to avoid Bryan or Hearst (both of whom are far more interesting people) for the then head of the New York State Court of Appeals, Justice Alton Brooks Parker, the Republicans had such a landslide election that they carried three of the solid southern states as well!John Milius took this curious episode of American foreign policy and Presidential politics and built up this well made and well acted film. Milius changes a number of things - he makes Ion Perdicaris a woman, played by Candice Bergen, who is kidnapped with her son and daughter by Raisuli (Sean Connery). He also creates a non-existent U.S. invasion of Morocco by our Navy and Marines. But actually these changes don't weaken the film. Perdicaris is shown gradually understanding that Raisuli is more of a leader (and a good one) for the Moroccans than the corrupt Sultan and his Bashaw (actually the relatives of Raisuli) running the show. She gradually mirrors a similar realization by Roosevelt (Brian Keith) that no matter what our arms accomplish abroad we have to respect that we cannot run all these countries as well as their own people. In actuality T.R. would not have been as willing to admit that third world countries could rule themselves (Columbia was unable to rule itself and sell the Canal route to the U.S., so we had to push matters.). However he was capable of sensing changes in nations. If he had not been he would have not won the Nobel Peace Prize for settling the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. The best portions of the film are those showing the way the Sultan and his uncle run the country. Those scenes at the Sultan's palace where he watches a game of polo played on bicycles, or where he uses a machine gun set up as a toy, happen to be true (he also had a railroad track and train set up for his amusement - it was supposed to be for the public). The Sultan was a spend-thrift, and rapidly letting the country go to the dogs as long as he was amused. This would bear bad results in a couple of years. So did the rivalries we see between France and Germany (both with financial holdings in Morocco). Raisuli, as played by Connery, is a fierce believer in Islam's inevitable re-emergence as the world's power. He even uses a trip to a well to illustrate that the modern powers drip away or waste power like the well bucket drips water, and the Islamic peoples await those drips and collect them. Thus they eventually get the power back. But this misses that in the past Islam was in control from roughly 750 A.D. through 1571 A.D., and it too dripped away the power - which went to Europe. In fact it happens to all centers of power, Western, Islamic, and Asian (Chinese/Japanese/Indian). No center of power has been permanent.In the end, in 1906, Franco-German rivalries hit the roof and a conference of the great powers (including the U.S.) was held at Algeciras. They ruled that France was in the right, so ending the First Moroccan Crise. A second one ended in 1912 a bit more in favor of Germany due to an accommodating France. And two years later came World War I.John Huston plays John Hay the Secretary of State. His personal distaste of his new chief is obvious. Probably it was due to Hay's memories of service under the only other great Republican President up to that time - Lincoln. Huston knew that one could get the same results quietly without T.R.'s fireworks. Still he worked well with Roosevelt.