The eye for the gold

Rating: 6/10 (10 February 2019)

Directed by John Huston. When it was made it had no Oscar winning actors. Now it has three.
The Man Who Would Be King benefits greatly from the chemistry between Michael Caine and Sean Connery.
They play two scoundrels, British soldiers in 19th century India who go looking for adventure and riches.
The film is framed by Peachy (Caine) narrating his story to Rudyard Kipling (Christopher Plummer.)
Peachy and his friend Daniel (Sean Connery) make a treacherous journey to the mountainous region of Kafristan that is located near Afghanistan. Daniel through luck or destiny is held to be a divine king by the tribal people in this region. A direct descendant of Alexander the Great.
Peachy and Daniel see this as a way to loot all the treasures and make their way home to really live like kings. Daniel starts to take the king bit seriously, making pronouncements on various tribal issues like he was born to do it. The holy men suspect that Daniel might just be a mortal when he wants to take a wife to ensure his line of succession.
The film is hokey fun but it does pull its punches with issues of colonialism. Ultimately it gives you the impression that the white man was born to rule.
There are also dialect issues. Saeed Jaffrey plays Billy Fish who translates everything into Urdu even though the likelihood is that these tribes would not be able to understand him.
Shakira Caine plays the love interest for Daniel. She looks uncomfortable which is reflected in her acting. They should had cast someone who was not married to Michael Caine.