On W List of Movie Reviews
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The Wind and the Lion (1975)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
3/17
3/17:
The Wind and the Lion appears to be a rousing action-adventure film that's in the mold of
Lawrence of Arabia with plenty of rolling heads.
John Milius is a better writer than director. It's clear by listening to the dialogue, but the execution isn't up to par. He's
more focused on animal abuse than anything else. At the end, why did the American troop start shooting at the
Germans? Impossible. It'll never happen as a war will be set off between these two countries.
The Perdicari incident did occur that's somewhat true as presented in the film. Instead of a woman and her two children, it
was a middle-aged man and his stepson who were kidnapped by a Berber brigand, Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni who was better known as
Raisuli, and his men.
Sean Connery, a Scotsman, pretends to be an Arab and does an okay job. Infamous for saying, "An open-handed slap is
justified—if all other alternatives fail and there has been plenty of warning. If a woman is a bitch, or hysterical, or
bloody-minded continually, then I'd do it," he demonstrates it very well here.
Hired for her looks, Candice Bergen is flat as always. Brian Keith steals the show by playing President Theodore Roosevelt.
The tagline of the movie poster says: "Between the wind and the lion is the woman. For her, half the world may go to war."
*eyes roll* Really? Anyway, here's a comical trivia that's taken from IMDb:
"According to John Milius, when the film was screened for President Gerald Ford, Ford remarked that he recognized the place
they filmed in Yellowstone National Park well, because he used to be a Ranger there. Milius refrained from informing him that
the entire movie was filmed in and around Spain."
All in all, The Wind and the Lion is okay for the most part, but I'd rather watch
Lawrence of Arabia again.