Review of The Wind and the Lion (1975) by Edith N — 07 Apr 2007

So let me get this straight. Sean Connery is Mulay Achmed Mohammed el-Raisuli the Magnificent, an Arabian prince. Candice Bergen is Eden Pedecaris, who in the actual history this is (very, very loosely) based on was Ion, a man. And her stepson is played by Rex Harrison's grandson? Oh, 1975--the drugs people took!

Oh, of course Brian Keith plays an excellent Teddy Roosevelt; one can actually see him wanting to sweep into Morocco and save Candice Bergen himself. I mean, this is among the single most unbelievable Nobel Peace Prize winners of all time, Teddy Roosevelt. San Juan Hill and all that. And some Arabian prince with a suspiciously Scottish accent is going to kidnap an American woman? By Gods, he'll do something about that!

It's a sweeping, epic film, but you cannot take it seriously. Just when you're starting to, during the scenes with Brian Keith and company (including the hordes of young actors playing Roosevelt children, with an exceptionally capable Deborah Baxter as Alice), we go back to Morocco and that accent. Are they kidding me? I mean, I admit, it wasn't yet known that Sean Connery is just incapable of doing any other accent, but isn't that the sort of thing you discover during filming?

Candice Bergen does a perfectly acceptable job as the somewhat stuffy, very determined American woman, working to protect her stepchildren against a world that seems determined to make her crazy. However, the role's a little cliche, and one gets the feeling that she can do better. She is still a year away from her appearance on [i]The Muppet Show[/i] and far more than that from her landmark role as Murphy Brown.

I watched this movie with Elaine, my sister, a very long time ago--I think I was in seventh grade. It still delights, and it still isn't particularly good.