Caine and Connery the perfect mix as Huston hits the high notes

Rating: 8/10 (25 December 2010)

Legendary director John Huston had kept the desire to make The Man Who Would Be King burning away for two decades before Sean Connery and Michael Caine finally brought it to life, and the result is a wonderful movie that, despite its quality, has often been overlooked when discussing the careers of the two leads. Caine and Connery play Peachy Carnehan and Daniel Dravot, two quick witted rogue soldiers who desert the army at the time when the British empire ruled the world. Based on the Rudyard Kipling story, Christopher Plummer plays the author who first encounters the two men when the decide to set themselves up as rulers of the tribal Kafiristan, and plunder fame and fortune along the way. Plummer is merely a foil for the central duo, and is used sparingly, only really appearing at the beginning and end of the movie. Probably because of his hideous Graeme Souness moustache. Huston's masterful direction brings the best out of Connery and Caine, and as a double act they sparkle and fire off each other in every scene, almost in a brotherly, telepathic way. Indeed, it's Caine's early scenes, where he delivers quick fire lines in his broadest Cockney, that work exceptionally well, and as mentioned earlier, I often think this is some of Caine's best work that gets scandalously overlooked. People do refer to this movie once in a while, but always seem to just mention Caine, Connery and Huston. View it objectively, and from a Caine point of view you will see he totally nails the part and perhaps the great friendship he has endured with Connery off screen brings the best out of his performance on it. The turning point of the story is when the native tribesmen mistake Connery for a God when a stray arrow strikes him but he does not bleed. In fact, the arrow gets embedded in his bandolier which the locals do not realise. There is a masterful change of direction in the movie when Connery begins to lap up the total worship that suddenly befalls him, and his character's ego becomes swept along with disastrous results. But at this stage, his relationship with Carnehan changes from equal partners to one of attempted superiority, and here as well the ability of Huston to so successfully convey this between the two men is seamless and masterful. The chemistry between Connery and Caine is as good as Newman and Redford at their best (Newman was allegedly approached for the role but recommended Caine) and the stunning location work in Morocco is simply beautiful, especially the backdrops when Connery is on his way to see the local high priest. And of course, no review of this picture would be complete without mentioning the one and only movie appearance of Caine's good lady wife Shakira. Despite the well documented story behind Shakira's role, she only has one line to deliver (in fact, actually just one word - 'Roxanne'), and for the record plays Connery's wife, who also famously refers to her (in the script of course) as a slut who has bitten him. That's one for the pub quiz champions of the future.