The Wind and the Lion (1975)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

John Milius

Writer:

John Milius (writer)

Release Date:

26 October 1975 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

Between the wind and the lion is the woman. For her, half the world may go to war.

Plot:

At the beginning of the 20th century an American woman is abducted in Morocco by Berbers. The attempts...

Plot Keywords:

Military | American | Morocco | Berber | Famous Score

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Raisuli
Candice Bergen	...	Eden Pedecaris
Brian Keith	...	Theodore Roosevelt
John Huston	...	John Hay
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Gummere
Steve Kanaly	...	Capt. Jerome
Vladek Sheybal	...	The Bashaw
Nadim Sawalha	...	Sherif of Wazan
Roy Jenson	...	Admiral Chadwick
Deborah Baxter	...	Alice Roosevelt
Jack Cooley	...	Quentin Roosevelt
Chris Aller	...	Kermit Roosevelt
Simon Harrison	...	William Pedecaris
Polly Gottesmann	...	Jennifer Pedecaris (as Polly Gottesman)
Antoine Saint-John	...	Von Roerkel (as Antoine St. John)

Also Known As:

John Milius' The Wind and the Lion (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #24156) | Netherlands:12 | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Singapore:PG | UK:A (original rating) | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The final battle took two weeks to film. Real dynamite was used. Four American stuntmen did all the horse falls.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Raisouli and his followers pray while the muezzin is calling. In fact, the actual praying is done after the muezzin finishes - it's his job to remind the faithful to go pray. This is a common mistake in Hollywood productions, possibly done for dramatic purposes.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Eden: Don't you agree that the most important part of the meal is the wine? Everything must follow the wine. And in this case, I should favor a Red Bordeaux.
Sir Joseph: A Red Bordeaux at lunch? Your late husband would never have approved.

Movie Connections:

References The Searchers (1956)

Milius has a strong interest in TR, and this is an enjoyable adventure based loosely on a true incident during TR's presidency.

Sean Connery is very good as the Great Raisuli, Lord of the Rif and Defender of the Faithful. This is an adventure movie with Arabs, Germans and the USMC all coming to grips at one point or another. There is also a lot of humor in the interplay among the main and supporting characters. The story is based on the true incident in which a wealthy Greek-American businessman was kidnapped by the Raisuli in the early 1900s. Milius has substituted Candace Bergen and her two children as the victims of the kidnapping, and this opens the story to a lot of literary license.

On the other hand, the movie gives Milius the opportunity to remind the viewer of two of the most famous (though mostly forgotten) political quotations of the TR era. Brian Keith (very good as TR) says, "Pedecaris alive or the Raisuli dead!"; and John Huston (also good as Sec of State John Hay)asks the Japanese Ambassador at a White House dinner, "You likee knifee, you likee forkee?"