The Wind and the Lion (1975)

12/2/06

I had The Wind and the Lion (1975) suggested for my viewing some time ago, and have just finally gotten around to seeing the thing. While the movie is apperently bad history, its passable as adventure story material. The plot concerns the kidnapping of American widow Eden Pedecaris (Candice Bergen) and her two children (Simon Harrison, Polly Gottesmann) by the rebel Mulay Achmed Mohammed el-Raisuli the Magnificent in 1904 Morocco, as well as the efforts of the administration of Teddy Roosevelt (Brian Keith) to get them rescued. Keith is so good as Roosevelt that I wish the movie had just been about him, I felt I'd scene everything that the Connery/Bergen relationship had to offer in other movies. However the scenes with the American ambassadors and military in Morocco where mildley entertaining. The best insight in the movie was TR's speech about America being like a Gizzley Bear, "a little blind and reckless at times." John Huston added some value to the film as Secretary of State John Hay.