Friendship Between Two Rascally Rogues

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2005)

What a treat to unearth this film, made around 30 years ago, and to think both male stars, Connery and Caine, are very much still in business, although dear Michael Caine seemed to have a bit of a limp in "Bewitched." More power to them both. They are great actors and we lap them up on screen. Funny, though, I rented this because Saeed Jaffrey was in it playing "Billy Fish." I enjoyed watching Saeed in the Merchant-Ivory pictures and in the British thriller "Killing Kind," and in the new pyx w/ Burt Reynolds set in Amsterdam called "Snapshots." These guys have such appealing chutzpah together and twinkle along with preposterous schemes and grandiose impulses, and they have a kind of honor about friendship and loyalty. Guided by a lot of luck, they do manage to take over leadership of a small, devout country that accepts the Masonic emblem as proof of Connery's Divinity! What a comedic romp this becomes. And Sean, at first Solomon-like in his wisdom,soon becomes tarnished and, with veiled lasciviousness, decides to wed. That sets off the old Dudes who were the Guiding Gurus before Connery got there. Michael Caine should not have stuck around for the wedding. Caine was ready to split because he couldn't stomach the direction Connery was going in, with the Kingship Routine and the hedonism. But Caine DID stick around and when the wedding day dawned, and when the bride BIT Connery and he BLED, well, the Old Dude Gurus gave the go-ahead for the mob of citizenry to give Connery 'what fer.' And they managed to do this. Caine lived thru it all to come back and regale Kipling (what a terrific, never-before-seen job of underplaying a role Chrisopher Plummer did here - he was simply magnificent and I did not recognize the actor in any way/shape/form as accustomed to him by his later roles)with the entire story. This is an original tale. The photography was luscious. It makes you appreciate John Huston's work all the more. Some movie people you just don't wanna see age. And that applies to Caine, Connery, Huston, Plummer, and certainly not the fine Saheed Jaffrey, whose cultured speaking intonations are thrilling to hear and who has aged to perfection, now around 76. I hope the movie-makers will utilize this gentleman in good roles of grace and meaning until he is too old to memorize dialogue! This is a great film for younger people to go back and see. It will remind them of their own fragile humanity and give them an idea of the passage of time and the parade of viable and gifted humans who inhabit our earth.