The Man Who Would Be King (film)
The Man Who Would Be King (in Spain, The man who could reign; in Latin America, The Man Who Would Be King) is a 1975 British film based on the 1888 short story of the same name, written by Rudyard Kipling.
The film, which was directed by John Huston and starred Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer and Saeed Jaffrey, was nominated for four Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, best costumes and best staging.
Plot
In 1880, two British NCOs stationed in India, Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery) and Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine), embark on a seemingly absurd adventure to conquer the legendary kingdom of Kafiristan in northern India. Before setting out on the journey, they take an oath witnessed by a Freemason they intercept on a train, the writer Rudyard Kipling, and receive his blessing for the journey. Kipling presents Dravot with a pendant with the Masonic symbol. The two adventurers embark on a terrifying and exhausting journey across the Hindu Kush mountain range.
After passing through the mountains of northern India, where there is no road established by the British Empire, they reach a fertile valley, meet a gurkha, Billy Fish, in an abandoned military detachment. (Saeed Jaffrey), who serves as their interpreter, and after many vicissitudes, they win battles against looting towns, establish peace, the natives bring them jewelry, gold and silver as gifts, and manage to conquer a small kingdom from which Daniel Dravot he becomes king, the native people and priests believing that he is a descendant of Alexander the Great because of the pendant with the emblem of Freemasonry (compass, square and eye) that Dravot obtained as a gift from his brother Kipling, similarly forms a sculpture carved under a rock in the sanctuary city.
After forming an army with the natives, with which he achieves victorious conquests of the neighboring kingdoms, Dravot becomes king of Kafiristan, he is shown in an underground vault under the monastery many treasures accumulated over the years; they say that they now belong to him as thanks for his visit and for freeing them from conflicts with neighboring towns. Peachy prepares his return to India by achieving his purpose, making great fortunes in remote lands, loading animals with his share of the loot, and waiting for the summer to try to cross the mountains again, return to India and England, where he hopes to be a man. millionaire with the treasures he carries.
Dravot, possibly affected by the power and glory of being a king comparable to a native god, claims to be the son of Alexander the Great and announces his marriage to a native woman named Roxana. Peachy asks him again to leave the place, go at night and leave everything behind, but Dravot goes ahead with his wedding plans, and at the time of the ceremony she, very nervous thinking that she could be burned for getting so close to a God, it bites his face and it bleeds. When the priests discover that Dravot is not a god, they hunt him down and kill him. Peachy is tortured but released, and with difficulty makes it back to Kipling, to whom he tells the story of what happened. Before leaving his office, he places Dravot's head on her desk, still wearing his gold crown.
Cast
- Sean Connery like Daniel Dravot
- Michael Caine as Peachy Carnehan
- Christopher Plummer as Rudyard Kipling
- Saeed Jaffrey as Billy Fish
- Shakira Caine as Roxana
- Doghmi Larbi as Ootah
- Jack May as District Commissioner
- Karroom Ben Bouih as Kafu Selim
- Mohammad Shamsi as Babu
- Albert Moses as Ghulam
- Paul Antrim as Mulvaney
Huston's Goodbye
The film is often seen as Huston's farewell to the golden years of major epic productions. Since the beginning of the 70s, the great historical films that had swept the box office two decades earlier began to be underestimated by the public and the producers, who launched themselves into a less ostentatious cinema, emphasizing the thesis of the story. Huston, who had directed many big productions like The African Queen, decided to give the adventure genre a grand send-off. The choice of Kipling's story does not seem to be accidental: Two adventurers set out to do the impossible with overwhelming success, like the pioneers of great film productions. However, it is when they take on the role of unquestionable god when the problems begin, an analogy of the production companies that in the early 70s rejected projects that would end up sinking them from the outside.