The Man Who Would Be King [DigiBook] [Blu-ray]

Director: John Huston

Overview

The Man Who Would Be King opens with author Rudyard Kipling (Christopher Plummer) working in his study. His solitude is broken by the arrival of a tattered, half-mad derelict, who is soon revealed to be his old acquaintance Peachy Carnahan (Michael Caine). As Kipling listens in rapt fascination, Peachy relates the incredible adventures of himself and his partner-in-chicanery Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery). Con men Carnahan and Dravot have masterminded all sorts of underhanded money-making schemes, the most elaborate of which takes them to a remote city in the hills of eastern Afghanistan. Here, through methods both foul and fair, Daniel passes himself off as the incarnation of Alexander the Great, the better to lay his hands on the vast riches all around him. Unfortunately, Daniel begins to believe his own lies, and the results are disastrous for both himself and Peachy. Inadvertently exposing Daniel's scheme is his native wife, played by Shakira Caine (Michael Caine's real-life wife).

Product Details

Release Date:	06/07/2011
UPC:	0883929150328
Original Release:	1975
Rating:	PG
Source:	Warner Home Video
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:09:00
Sales rank:	10,344

Special Features

Vintage featurette Call It Magic: The making of The Man Who Would Be King ; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Sean Connery	Daniel Dravot
Michael Caine	Peachy Carnehan,Roxanne
Christopher Plummer	Kipling
Saeed Jaffrey	Billy
Karroum Ben Bouih	Kafu-Selim
Jack May	Commissioner
Doghmi Larbi	Ootah
Albert Moses	Ghulam
Paul Antrim	Mulvaney
Graham Acres	Officer
Kimat Singh	Sikh Soldier,Sikh Soldier
Yvonne Ocampo	Dancer
Nadia Atbib	Dancer
Mohammad Shamsi	Babu
John Foreman	Actor
Maurice Jarre	Composer

Technical Credits

Gladys Hill

John Huston

Rudyard Kipling

Gladys Hill	Screenwriter
John Huston	Screenwriter
John Foreman	Producer
Rudyard Kipling	Screenwriter
Wally Veevers	Special Effects
Basil Fenton-Smith	Sound Effects
Leslie Hodgson	Sound Effects
Gordon K. McCallum	Sound Effects
Graham V. Hartstone	Sound Effects
John C. Foreman	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The Man Who Would Be King is writer-director John Huston's enjoyably tongue-in-cheek paean to action-adventure movies of the Douglas Fairbanks variety. For the most part, it's good, old-fashioned fun, but it's also an incisive commentary on English imperialism and the quest for imaginary power. Huston first attempted to make Man in the mid-1950s, with Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart as the leads; over the years, other pairs were considered, including Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, and Robert Redford and Paul Newman. But it's hard to imagine anyone more appropriate than Michael Caine and Sean Connery for the slyly goofy roles. Both actors had previously played archetypically cool British action heroes: Caine as Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File and other films; Connery as James Bond.