The Wind and the Lion (1975)

 

We are supposed to believe that all war movies are anti-war movies, but an exception could be made for some of John Milius’ films.  Milius, a notorious right winger in liberal Hollywood, has never been interested in pillorying America for military involvement.  He wrote the original script for “Apocalypse Now” and was unhappy when Francis Ford Coppola changed it to take some of the hawk out of it.  He directed and wrote “Flight of the Intruder”, a film which rails against the silly rules of engagement in Vietnam.  And then we have “Red Dawn” which was his fantasy about plucky Americans fighting godless communists.  In 1975, he had the balls to write and direct a movie that was pro-imperialism and foreign intervention.  Milius was inspired by an article in American Heritage magazine by renowned historian Barbara Tuchman.  He also used the book “The Sultan of the Mountains” by Rosita Forbes.  Milius intended Raisuli to be elderly and Perdicaris to be a grandmother, but the studio wisely (he admitted) insisted on more bankable characters.  Sean Connery was a big get and the idea of teaching him a Berber accent was quickly dropped. Connery was in his first post-Bond period.  Ironically, he made an even more Kiplingesque film that same year -  “The Man Who Would Be King”.  Speaking of which, the director of that film, John Huston, appears as Secretary of State Hay in this movie.   Faye Dunaway was to star as Perdicaris, but had to be replaced by Candice Bergen due to exhaustion early in.     

 

The movie was loosely based on the Perdicaris Incident where an American ex-patriate was taken hostage by a Berber rebel named Raisuli in the country of Morocco in 1904.  It opens with Raisuli and his tribesmen riding into an estate in Tangiers and taking Mrs. Perdicaris and her adolescent son and daughter captive.  He makes an outrageous ransom demand to embarrass the corrupt Sultan and to bring attention to the tentacles of European imperialism that have entangled his beloved country.  President Teddy Roosevelt sees the opportunity to boost his presidential campaign with some saber-rattling and proclaims “Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!”  (A line used four times in the movie.)  Raisuli takes the Perdicarises off into the desert so we can get vistas to backdrop the predictable relationship arc between Raisuli and Eden Perdicaris.  She is a decidedly un-Muslim woman and he is tickled by her feistiness.  The movie does not make the mistake of putting them in bed (Ms. Bergen needed a better agent), but they develop a believable friendship.  This is not Stockholm syndrome as Raisuli is a honorable man.  Perdicaris’ son takes him as a role model and even the bellicose Roosevelt (perhaps seeing a bit of himself) comes to respect him.  The movie intercuts back to America to see the progress of Roosevelt’s actions and then interjects the U.S. Marines for the big finish.  The climactic rescue has shades of “The Wild Bunch” . 

 

  The movie takes the acorn of an overblown international incident and grows it into a mighty cinematic oak.  Well, more like a palm tree if you want to use the inevitable comparison to “Lawrence of Arabia”.  Milius was intent on making a new enlightened imperialism film along the lines of “Gunga Din” and “The Four Feathers”.  Since that subgenre is now offensive, and yet still entertaining for action/adventure fans, Milius upped the charm and downplayed the parallels to American foreign policy in the 1970’s.  This was mainly accomplished by casting Connery and taking advantage of his charisma.  Connery has a lot of fun and it juices the film.  Candice Bergen is adequate as the female Perdicaris (the gender having been changed for obvious reasons) and handles deftly the tropish hate to respect to flirting arc of the relationship.  The third leg of the triangle is Brian Keith and his Roosevelt is undoubtedly the best cinematic President Roosevelt (with Tom Berenger as the best Colonel Roosevelt).  The fact that Milius could get the like-minded imperialist into his film must have been satisfying for him.  Milius, ever the militarist, throws in the Marines for a climactic fire-fight with evil Germans.  They were go-to villains even for 1904. 

 

So, how is the movie?  A bit overrated, but still a lot of fun.  Film lovers will delight in the cribbing Milius unabashedly did from classic movies like “Lawrence of Arabia” and even “The Wild Bunch”.  It is not offensively pro-American, but it is hard to see how it did not face a backlash when it came out.  It’s the rising giant America versus the declining European powers and their primitive Moroccan charges.  The strengths are the cast, the score (Academy Award nominee Jerry Goldsmith, doing his homage to Lawrence), the locations (actually Spain), and the action (violent, but not graphic).  Unlike “Lawrence”, Milius injects humor, which tends to give the film a weird vibe.  When Perdicaris first meets Raisuli, the charismatic rebel leader falls off his horse in an out of place bit of slapstick.  This foreshadows immediately that there will be a lack of suspense as to the danger the Perdicarises are actually in.  Plus, how often did Connery play someone capable of caring out a threat to kill a hostage?  The best part of the movie is the intercutting to Roosevelt as he uses the incident for some turn of the century politicking, plus we get to see Theodore being Teddy.  If you are an American who longs for the good ole days of righteous ass-kicking, it is the movie for you. 

 

GRADE  =  B-

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  Ion Perdicaris was a Greek-American playboy who was kidnapped on May 18, 1904 from his residence in Tangiers.  He was 64 years old at the time.  His stepson was also captured, but his wife was left alone.  The abductor was a Berber tribal leader named Raisuli.  Raisuli demanded $70,000 and control of several districts, along with other things.  Roosevelt did use the incident to wave his big stick.  He sent several warships to Morocco and a detachment of Marines, not to rescue the hostages, but to put pressure on the Sultan to give in to the demands.  (Ironically, Perdicaris had renounced his citizenship, so all this was unnecessary, other than as a political stunt.)  Only four Marines were landed and they were tasked with guarding Mrs. Perdicaris and the consulate.  There was no confrontation with foreign forces.  At the Republican Convention, Secretary of State John Hay issued a statement with Roosevelt’s threat:  “This government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead.”  Earlier, the threat had been sent in a telegram to the Sultan.  The first half of the threat was aimed at the Sultan.  The quote electrified the delegates, but TR was destined to be nominated and elected, so it did not change anything.  Perdicaris was released on June 24 after most of the demands were met.  He never was in any danger as Raisuli was not a villain.  The two men became friends, although that might have been a case of Stockholm syndrome.