The Man Who Would Be King

The Man Who Would Be King captures the Imperial Moment of Rudyard Kipling, and it does so with beauty and fun.  The film follows two ne’er do well (former) British sergeants as they seek their fortunes in barbarous Kaffiristan, which looks to me like Northern Pakistan.  They’re British as British can be, seeking to expand the cultural empire even while they mean to carve out a little piece of the world for themselves.  The men’s unwavering belief in all things British, especially when surrounded by unfriendly locals, is both touching and telling of a time when such belief would seem not just laudable, but natural.

Michael Caine and Sean Connery play the sergeants, two men who realize that it’s better to be occupy the lowest rung of the social ladder in the far reaches of the Empire (where being British means something) than to work as bootblacks or doormen in London.  After knocking around India a bit, they hit on a plan to become kings of their own realm.  They have a chance meeting with Mr. Kipling, which both creates a framing story and makes the voiceovers organic, and they set out across Imperial India, across the Hindu Kush, and into deepest Kaffiristan.  There, they will be kings, or they’ll get themselves killed - those who will not risk can not win!

The film, from a Kipling story, has everything we could want in an adventure: greed, loyalty, humor, avalanches, desperate battles – you name it.  And Caine and Connery are just delightful in their roles.  They come across like a couple of blokes who’ve been in their share of scrapes and who, though scoundrels, are guys you’d want on your team.  It’s a pleasure to watch pros like this do their thing and, under the hand of master director John Huston, they do it well.

I enjoyed The Man Who Would Be King as an adventure film, as a spectacle, and as a window into a time, place, and state of mind that has long by.  It’s everything I could ask for.