Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17802 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-28
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Portuguese
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 123 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A grandly entertaining, old-fashioned adventure based on the Rudyard Kipling short story, The Man Who Would Be King is the kind of rousing epic about which people said, even in 1975, "Wow! They don't make 'em like that anymore". When director John Huston first started trying to make the film, with Gable and Bogart, the project was derailed by the latter's death. It was a few decades before Huston was finally able to realise his dream movie--and with an unimprovable cast. Sean Connery and Michael Caine are, respectively, Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnahan, a pair of lovably roguish British soldiers who set out to make their fortunes by conning the priests of remote Kafiristan into making them kings. It's a rollicking tale, an epic satire of imperialism, and the good-natured repartee shared by Caine and Connery is pure gold. Huston lets the humour emerge naturally from the characters, for whom we wind up caring more deeply than we ever expected. --Jim Emerson

DVD Description
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Subtitles: Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Feature Run Time: 124 minutes

Synopsis
Based on the classic story by novelist Rudyard Kipling, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING follows two British adventurers (Sean Connery and Michael Caine), former soldiers in Her Majesty's Service, as they give up the drudgery of eking out a living, legal and illegal, in poverty Raj-ruled India, and set out for the isolated, desolate land of Kafiristan to become heroes or, perhaps, even kings. Christopher Plummer stars as Kipling himself in John Huston's engaging adventure picture.

Customer Reviews

Superb
Last night I subjected myself to Oliver Stone's 'Alexander', but tonight I watched Michael Caine and Sean Connery in the real thing. Thirty years on, and the cinematography blows the modern Hollywood away - watch Daniel and Peachey as they struggle through the Hindu Kush without the aid of computer enhanced graphics, retracing the steps of Alexander the Great - truly this is one of the greatest films of all time.

Danny and Peachy capture your heart
Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, John Houston....four of the biggest talents of our lifetime that came together to give you very special film. One so emotionally moving and involving I have a very hard time watching it, but then I likely hold the Guinness records on repeat views for Braveheart...so I tell myself I won't watch it again, but end up doing it.

Based on a Rudyard Kipling story, it is full of exotic locates, adventure, and such warm humour, under the master John Houston's direction. Houston had this in mind originally for Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart (not to knock them, but total miscasting), then later was going to do it with Butch and Sundance (Paul Newman and Robert Redford in typically Hollywood style of going for names rather than perfect actors for the roles). Fortunately, Newman had the insight to pass on it and suggested going with the pairing that was absolute perfect as Danny and Peachy.

Caine had showed as Bromhead in Zulu, that he had the proper mien for a man in a red coat and pith helmet, and we know Connery can do anything given the crack. Since both are personal friends off screen, their on screen charisma comes is amplified by the fact the two men who actually like each other, giving good foundation in which to bring Danny and Peachy alive.

Danny and Peachy decide they have had enough with soldering for the British Empire and think it a marvellous idea to go forth into the world and find a forgotten corner and create their own,
and the most forgotten place they can find on the map is Kafiristan. There they plan to become rich as kings. It is a super adventure getting there, but after the reach the small country, the lark turns into something more, with Danny taking being King Quite serious.

Look for a cameo of Mrs. Caine playing the woman to wed Connery.
It just does not get any better than this, with fine fine acting, writing and directing. Just have a hankie near for the ending.

A gut-wrenching film
It's hard to see how this could have been improved upon: great director, great cast (Caine and Connery perfect in the roles of Peachy Carnehan and Daniel Dravot) great photography, great music...Huston, in an almost-forgotten (by film directors) tradition of great story-telling, lets the story and the characters speak for themselves. Carnehan and Dravot may be rogues, but they are loveable rogues who, in spite of their open ambition to seek a fortune by looting a country (remember that this kind of ambition was acceptable in the 19th century) still have their own kind of principles and morality. Chief among these is the idea that one never abandons a friend. In spite of the tragic end to which ambition brings them, both show a kind of nobility and depth of character which shines through in the end. And what an end! I defy anyone who is not emotionally dead to watch the final scene without at least a prickle of a tear behind the eyelids. As for me, I've started sniffling just thinkng about it....

For me, one of the greatest films ever made.