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The Man Who Would Be King

FREEMASONS VS. AFGHANS.

Probably one of the best adventure films ever made. It's from 1975 but looks sharp and clean and new… better than most modern films. Wonderfully shot (70mm Panavision?).

British Army deserters Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery) and Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) pick Rudyard Kipling's pocket, steal his Masonic watch fob and head north into the Hindu Kush to seek their fame and fortune.

It's a great straightforward story, and Huston told it without frills, without artifice, and without the narrative jumps and switches that we've become accustomed to in recent movies.

Caine and Connery are the best buddy team ever and the characters they portray are truly the Blessed of "Bob". Saeed Jaffrey is terrific as ex-Ghurka Billy Fish, and watch for Caine's future wife, Shakira, in the role of Roxanne.

This is one of those movies that I will forever kick myself for missing it in the theatre. But even on video, it's still one of the greats.

There's a real problem with the DVD, though. This is a flipper (two-sided DVD), allegedly for length, although I've seen longer films on a one-sided disc. In any case, the flip point is MID-SCENE, which is just crass and stupid. Thrre minutes more or less and they could have put the flip point at a scene break. They obviously made the flip point decision without watching the film.

In my Top 25. Watch this every other year or so, just to remind yourself that movies can be more than they are now.