The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

The Man Who Would Be King is a British-American action film first released in 1975, directed by John Huston.  The film stars Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Saeed Jaffrey and Doghmi Larbi.  It has also been released under the title: Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King.  Our overall rating for this film is: excellent.


Rudyard Kipling is working in his office in Lahore, where he is employed as a newspaper correspondent, when he is visited by a dishevelled wreck of a man.   Kipling recognises the man as Peachy Carnehan, whom he first met many years before.  As the writer listens in rapt attention, Carnehan recounts the many adventures he has had since their last meeting.  A former officer in the British army, Carnehan set out with a fellow officer, Dannt Dravot, to the remote province of Kafiristan, where they planned to set themselves up as kings.  This insane ambition proved to be easier to realise than they could ever have imagined.  Having led one band of villagers to victory over another, Carengan and Dravot succeed in forming a formidable army, which quickly brings other rival villages to heel.  In one battle, Dravot is struck in the chest by an arrow but is unharmed, since the arrow fails to penetrate his bandolier.  Seeing this as evidence of divine power, the natives immediately venerate Dravot as a god, and inspired by his leadership, more battles are easily won.  When all the locals have been united under his leadership, Dravot is summoned to the holy city of Sikandergul, so that his divinity may be tested a second time...

One of the high points of British cinema in the 1970s has to be John Huston’s spectacular adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s short story The Man Who Would Be King, a scathing allegorical tale on imperialism that exposed the failings of British colonialism at the height of British Raj in India.   This had been something of a pet project of Huston’s since the 1940s, when he originally envisaged making the film with Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart in the lead roles.  Huston later considered Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole for the film before settling for Sean Connery and Michael Caine – a combination that could hardly be bettered.

Under Huston’s astute direction, The Man Who Would Be King manages to be both a grand old-fashioned adventure story, brought to life by stunning location photography and well-choreographed action scenes, and a fascinating character study in which the dangers of self-belief and unbridled ambition are explored in a darkly tragicomic fashion.  Connery and Caine – at the time, the two biggest names in British cinema – are perfectly cast as the misguided Brits who decide to set themselves up as gods and end up wishing they had stayed back home (oddly, this always seems to happen when the British go anywhere near Afghanistan).  Both actors bring cartloads of charm, humour and poignancy to their spot-on characterisations, and are clearly having the time of their lives.  Connery’s oft-repeated ejaculation God’s Holy Trousers! deserves to be the most memorable line in British cinema, if only for the way in which the loveable Scottish thesp says it.

Some fine contributions from the supporting actors Christopher Plummer and Saeed Jaffrey, together with a lush and evocative score from Maurice Jarre, can only add to the film’s appeal, although nothing can compete with Caine’s occasional cheeky swerve towards O.T.T.ness.   By all accounts, Caine and Connery had an exceptionally good working relationship during the making of this film, although you can detect just a hint of friendly rivalry.  There is a delicious irony in the scene when Connery, at last elevated to godhood, asks Caine to bow to him, just for appearances’ sake.  Connery even gets to marry Caine’s real-life wife in the film!  Incredible to think that the only other film where these two charismatic cinema giants shared a credit was A Bridge Too Far (1977) – or perhaps not so incredible when you consider the level of fee they both commanded at the time.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

Write a review for this film...


What do you think of this film?

Recent DVD releases