Very loosely based on the Pedicaris Incident of 1904, this is an only intermittently entertaining action-adventure film. The writer- director John Milius has said that the film was inspired by "Boy's Own". This is certainly seen in the film but, unfortunately, more in the sense of the relentless, over the top imperialism and jingoism (albeit American as opposed to British) than in the sense of hugely entertaining derring-do. If the latter was the equal of the former in the film or surpassed it, the former would have been more tolerable. There are a few flashes of brilliance in the script but most of it is pretty banal and unconvincing with often perfunctory dialogue. The direction is mostly mediocre, particularly during the rather awkward and rather frequent battle scenes. The Spanish locations look great but a nice looking film which is generally badly written and directed is not worth much in my book.
The film stars Sean Connery in a very good performance as Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli, a Berber brigand and the so-called last of the Barbary pirates who kidnaps a young widow named Eden Pedicaris and her two children William and Jennifer in Morocco on October 15, 1904. The real Pedicaris was a 64-year-old man named Ion and his fellow kidnap victim was his adult stepson Cromwell Varley but Milius chose to make the story more cinematic which was one of his more sensible moves. Candice Bergen is an excellent actress but her performance as Eden falls far short of her usual standard. I think that she was miscast, frankly. The audience is supposed to believe that she is a strong woman and there are a few signs of that in the script but the role is a generally underwritten one. Her relationship with Raisuli failed to convince me, particularly the more romantic side of it in the latter half of the film. However, the scene in which they play chess is excellent as it gives us a great deal of insight into Raisuli's character. He is shown to have a warped sense of morality and believes that he is an instrument of the will of Allah. People who attempt to justify their crimes on the basis that it is what their god wanted them to do are very dangerous and I wish that the film had treated this in more than a very superficial way.
Brian Keith gives the best performance in the film as Teddy Roosevelt, who is accurately depicted as being a larger than life figure and an extremely intelligent man. Running for election to a term of his own after the assassination of his predecessor William McKinley in 1901, he sees the Pedicaris Incident as a chance to show the American people (and the international community) the strength of his resolve. As such, he orders the Marines to invade Morocco in order to rescue Mrs. Pedicaris in spite of the fact that the country is a hotbed of imperialist activity with France, Germany and Britain all attempting to gain control of it. My favourite scene in the entire film is the one in which Roosevelt gives an interview concerning a grizzly bear which he had killed in Yellowstone. He compares the grizzly bear to the American spirit: audacious but occasionally blind and reckless and destined to be alone, respected but not liked. If the rest of the film had taken a similarly intelligent and self-reflective tact to its expression of nationalism, I would have enjoyed it quite a bit more.
With a few exceptions such as John Huston as John Hay, Nadim Sawalha as the Sheriff of Wazan and Vladek Sheybal as the Bashaw of Tangier, the film has an unimpressive supporting cast. The worst performances come from Geoffrey Lewis as Samuel R. Gummere and Darrell Fetty as Richard Dreighton. Fetty seems incapable of delivering a line in a natural manner, meaning that his limited screen time felt about five times as long as actually was. Future "Dallas" star Steve Kanaly isn't great either as Captain Jerome but at least he seemed to be enjoying himself.
Overall, this is a disappointing film which could have been a lot more fun than it ended up being.
The film stars Sean Connery in a very good performance as Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli, a Berber brigand and the so-called last of the Barbary pirates who kidnaps a young widow named Eden Pedicaris and her two children William and Jennifer in Morocco on October 15, 1904. The real Pedicaris was a 64-year-old man named Ion and his fellow kidnap victim was his adult stepson Cromwell Varley but Milius chose to make the story more cinematic which was one of his more sensible moves. Candice Bergen is an excellent actress but her performance as Eden falls far short of her usual standard. I think that she was miscast, frankly. The audience is supposed to believe that she is a strong woman and there are a few signs of that in the script but the role is a generally underwritten one. Her relationship with Raisuli failed to convince me, particularly the more romantic side of it in the latter half of the film. However, the scene in which they play chess is excellent as it gives us a great deal of insight into Raisuli's character. He is shown to have a warped sense of morality and believes that he is an instrument of the will of Allah. People who attempt to justify their crimes on the basis that it is what their god wanted them to do are very dangerous and I wish that the film had treated this in more than a very superficial way.
Brian Keith gives the best performance in the film as Teddy Roosevelt, who is accurately depicted as being a larger than life figure and an extremely intelligent man. Running for election to a term of his own after the assassination of his predecessor William McKinley in 1901, he sees the Pedicaris Incident as a chance to show the American people (and the international community) the strength of his resolve. As such, he orders the Marines to invade Morocco in order to rescue Mrs. Pedicaris in spite of the fact that the country is a hotbed of imperialist activity with France, Germany and Britain all attempting to gain control of it. My favourite scene in the entire film is the one in which Roosevelt gives an interview concerning a grizzly bear which he had killed in Yellowstone. He compares the grizzly bear to the American spirit: audacious but occasionally blind and reckless and destined to be alone, respected but not liked. If the rest of the film had taken a similarly intelligent and self-reflective tact to its expression of nationalism, I would have enjoyed it quite a bit more.
With a few exceptions such as John Huston as John Hay, Nadim Sawalha as the Sheriff of Wazan and Vladek Sheybal as the Bashaw of Tangier, the film has an unimpressive supporting cast. The worst performances come from Geoffrey Lewis as Samuel R. Gummere and Darrell Fetty as Richard Dreighton. Fetty seems incapable of delivering a line in a natural manner, meaning that his limited screen time felt about five times as long as actually was. Future "Dallas" star Steve Kanaly isn't great either as Captain Jerome but at least he seemed to be enjoying himself.
Overall, this is a disappointing film which could have been a lot more fun than it ended up being.