The Wind and the Lion
Encyclopedia
The Wind and the Lion is a 1975 adventure film
. It was written and directed by John Milius
and starred Sean Connery
, Candice Bergen
, Brian Keith
and John Huston
. It was based somewhat on the real-life Perdicaris incident of 1904.
This movie blends historic facts into a violent fictional adventure in which an American woman, Eden Perdicaris (played by Bergen), and her two children are kidnapped by Berber
brigand Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli (Connery), prompting American President Theodore Roosevelt
(Keith) to send an armed invasion and rescue mission to Morocco. (The real Perdicaris incident involved the kidnapping of a middle-aged man and his stepson, who were not harmed.)
The film was the first co-production between MGM
(which managed US distribution) and Columbia Pictures
(which managed international distribution). Coincidentally, Columbia's current parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment
currently owns some of MGM, although the US rights to this film are now with Warner Bros.
/Turner Entertainment
.
is the source of conflict by the powers of Imperial Germany, France
, and the British Empire
, all of whom are trying to establish a sphere of influence in that country. Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli is the commander of a band of Berber insurrectionists opposed to Sultan Abdelaziz
and his uncle, the Bashaw (Pasha
) of Tangier, whom Raisuli considers as corrupt and beholden to the Europeans. He kidnaps Eden Pedecaris and her children, William and Jennifer, from their home, after murdering Sir Joshua Smith, a British friend of Eden's. Raisuli then issues an outrageous ransom demand, deliberately attempting to provoke an international incident in order to embarrass the Sultan and start a civil war.
In the United States, President Theodore Roosevelt
is struggling for re-election. He decides to use the kidnapping as both political propaganda (inventing the phrase "Pedecaris alive or Raisuli dead!") and as an effort to demonstrate America's military strength as a new power—despite the protests of his cautious Secretary of State, John Hay
.
The American Consul to Tangier, Samuel Gummere
, is unable to negotiate a peaceful return of the hostages, so Roosevelt sends the South Atlantic Squadron, under the command of Admiral French Ensor Chadwick
, to Tangier, either to retrieve Pedecaris themselves or to force the Sultan to accede to Raisuli's demands. During the story, however, Roosevelt finds himself gaining more and more respect for Raisuli, thinking him an honorable man who just happens to be his enemy.
The Pedecarises are kept as hostages by the Raisuli in the Rif
, far from any potential rescuers. Though her children seem to admire Raisuli, Eden finds him "a brigand and a lout." The Pedecarises attempt an escape, helped by one of Raisuli's men, but they are betrayed and given to a gang of desert thieves. Luckily, Raisuli has tracked them and kills the kidnappers. He reveals that he does not have any intention of harming the Pedecarises and is merely bluffing. Eden and Raisuli become enamored of each other as Raisuli reveals his story—that he was once taken captive by his brother, the Bashaw, and kept in a dungeon for several years.
Gummere, Chadwick and his aide, Marine
Captain Jerome, tire of the Sultan's perfidy and the meddling of the European powers and decide to engage in "military intervention" to force the Sultan to negotiate. Jerome's company of Marines, supported by a small detachment of sailors, march through the streets of Tangier, much to the surprise of the European legations, and overwhelm the Bashaw's palace guard, taking the Sultan hostage and forcing him to negotiate.
By such coercion, the Bashaw finally agrees to accede to the Raisuli's demands. But during a hostage exchange, Raisuli is betrayed and captured by German and Moroccan troops under the command of Von Roerkel, while Jerome and a small contingent of Marines are present to secure the Pedecarises. While Raisuli's friend, the Sherif of Wazan, organizes the Berber tribe for an attack on the Europeans and Moroccans, Eden attacks Jerome and convinces him and his men to rescue the Raisuli.
A three-way battle results, in which the Berbers and Americans team to defeat the Germans and their Moroccan allies, rescuing Raisuli in the process. In the United States, Roosevelt is cheered for this great victory, and the Pedecarises arrive safely back in Tangier. Roosevelt reads a letter he received from Raisuli, comparing the two men (thus explaining the title): "I (Raisuli), like the lion, must stay in my place, while you, like the wind, will never know yours."
He cites the famous British periodical Boy's Own
, as well as the stories of Rudyard Kipling
, as inspirations for the film. Milius' inspiration had come from reading an article by Barbara W. Tuchman about the Perdicaris incident in American Heritage
magazine, and he found the story fascinating; he decided to adapt it into a screenplay once he figured how to make the story more cinematic — by making Ion Perdicaris a woman, Eden.
Milius also researched Rosita Forbes
's biography of Raisuli, The Sultan of the Mountains (1924); much of the film's dialogue is appropriated almost word-for-word from Forbes's book. He took similar care in researching the scenes with Theodore Roosevelt.
In terms of film, 1930s adventure films such as Gunga Din
and The Four Feathers
provided inspiration for the film's style and storytelling technique. The use of children as protagonists is also inspired by the book and movie A High Wind in Jamaica, while the relationship between Raisuli and Eden is based on Rudolph Valentino
's The Sheik
. Raisuli's rescue of the Perdicarises on the beach is similar to another mounted sword-fighting scene in Akira Kurosawa
's The Hidden Fortress
, and the scene of Jennifer Perdicaris being cornered by Aldo Sambrell's character and kidnapped is a reference to The Searchers
.
Perhaps most noticeably, the film inherits the cavalier attitudes towards imperialism
, foreign policy and military intervention present in those movies — attitudes which were relatively unpopular in 1975 America, at the end of the Vietnam War
. Perhaps surprisingly, Milius's apparent endorsement of imperialism and warfare was not attacked by critics, perhaps due to the film's supposedly satiric manner.
However, Milius also had inspiration from more recent films while making the movie. He based the film's cinematography, use of desert landscapes, and filming of battle scenes on David Lean
's Lawrence of Arabia
, also using many of the same sets, including the "Aqaba" set which had been constructed for Lean's film, here serving as the setting for the final, three-way battle between the Berbers, the Europeans and their Moroccan allies, and the Americans. The Bashaw's palace was the Palace of the Americas in Seville
, having appeared in both Lawrence and Anthony Mann
's El Cid
. Another major influence is The Wild Bunch
, which inspired the final confrontation between the American and German troops and the scene where the Sultan test-fires his Maxim gun
.
to play Raisuli, and Faye Dunaway
as Eden Perdicaris, but Sharif refused the part and Dunaway became ill, having to be replaced at short notice by Bergen. Anthony Quinn
was also considered for Raisuli. Milius said he wrote the part of Eden with Julie Christie
in mind, although she may not have actually been approached for the role.
Filming was done in Spain
, with the towns of Seville
, Almeria
, and Madrid
all doubling for Tangier
and Fez
, and the "Washington" scenes being filmed in and around Madrid. For the deserts of Morocco, Milius used many locations in the Almeria region, some of which had been previously used in historical epics such as Lawrence of Arabia and El Cid
, as well as several Spaghetti Westerns, though he claims to have discovered the beach where Raisuli rescues the Perdicaris family after their escape. The scene at Yellowstone National Park
(where Roosevelt gives his famous grizzly bear
speech) was filmed in the Meseta Central, north of Madrid. These latter two locations would each re-appear in Milius's Conan the Barbarian. The U.S. Marines and sailors used in the Tangier attack scene were Spanish special forces troops, along with a handful of USMC advisors, who marched with precision through the streets of Seville and Almeria en route to the Bashaw's palace. According to Milius (on the DVD commentary), the US Marine Corps actually shows this scene to its advanced infantry classes for midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy
.
According to John Milius, virtually all of the film's stunts were performed by Terry Leonard, who also has a minor part as Roosevelt's boxing opponent early in the film. Milius claims that only four stunt men were used in the entire final battle scene, and he and Leonard have defended the film against criticism for alleged "animal cruelty", claiming that not a single horse was seriously hurt during filming. While filming this scene, Antoine Saint-John revealed himself to be terrified of horses, and would often hide somewhere on the set when his sword fight with Sean Connery was to be filmed.
Several the film's crew are cast in the movie, most notably the cinematographer, Billy Williams (perhaps best known for Ken Russell's film of Women of Love), plays the gun-shooting, white-suited Englishman in the opening scenes at the villa. The special effects supervisor Alex Weldon appears as Roosevelt's Secretary of War, Elihu Root
, and Milius himself cameos as the one-armed German officer who gives the Sultan his Maxim gun to test-fire ("Herr Sultan is displeased?").
The Wind and the Lion debuted in New York during May 1975 and Britain in October. It received considerable industry recognition, including Academy Award nominations for best music and best sound. Jerry Goldsmith's score also was nominated for the Grammy and the British Academy Film Awards. Additionally, the Writers Guild of America
nominated Milius' screenplay. The film was also a financial success, though Steven Spielberg
's movie Jaws
distracted attention from it.
Shortly after its release, the movie was screened at the White House for President Gerald Ford
and his staff, who reportedly loved it.
The film has also gained considerable recognition in the Islam
ic world for its accurate, detailed, and sympathetic depiction of Berber and Islamic culture.
Milius' next projects were uncredited dialogue in Jaws
(also in 1975) and direction of Big Wednesday
, a surfing film released during 1978.
A novelization of the film by Milius was published by Award Books in January 1975. Based on the screenplay, the story is slightly different from the finished movie, with several additional scenes (notably, Eden Perdicaris taking a bath at Raisuli's palace and Gummere watching the Atlantic Squadron arrive in Tangier) included, and the story's chronology slightly different. The first printing included a chapter about production events and brief biographies of most of the cast and crew.
. True to the style of such Golden Age
scores as Maurice Jarre
's Lawrence of Arabia
, Goldsmith used a diverse ensemble that relied heavily upon a large percussion section and a variety of Moroccan
instrumentation. The music went on to garner Goldsmith an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score
though he lost to fellow composer John Williams
for Jaws
. It is often regarded as one the best scores of his career and was one of the American Film Institute
's 250 nominated soundtracks for the top 25 American film scores
.
; Jerry Goldsmith
for Best Original Score
and Harry W. Tetrick
, Aaron Rochin
, William McCaughey
, Roy Charman
for Best Sound.
released the film on DVD on January 6, 2004, featuring a brief "making-of" featurette, the theatrical trailer, and a commentary by Milius. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
has released a bare-bones DVD in Australia (R4) and in several European markets (Region 2), notably Germany, though not yet in the United Kingdom (the Sony release is English-friendly though).
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
. It was written and directed by John Milius
John Milius
John Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures.-Early life:Milius was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elizabeth and William Styx Milius, who was a shoe manufacturer. Milius attempted to join the Marine Corps in the late 1960s, but was rejected...
and starred Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
, Candice Bergen
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
, Brian Keith
Brian Keith
Brian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...
and John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
. It was based somewhat on the real-life Perdicaris incident of 1904.
This movie blends historic facts into a violent fictional adventure in which an American woman, Eden Perdicaris (played by Bergen), and her two children are kidnapped by Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
brigand Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli (Connery), prompting American President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
(Keith) to send an armed invasion and rescue mission to Morocco. (The real Perdicaris incident involved the kidnapping of a middle-aged man and his stepson, who were not harmed.)
The film was the first co-production between MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
(which managed US distribution) and Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
(which managed international distribution). Coincidentally, Columbia's current parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
currently owns some of MGM, although the US rights to this film are now with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
/Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
.
Plot
During 1904, MoroccoMorocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
is the source of conflict by the powers of Imperial Germany, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, all of whom are trying to establish a sphere of influence in that country. Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli is the commander of a band of Berber insurrectionists opposed to Sultan Abdelaziz
Abdelaziz of Morocco
Abdelaziz of Morocco , also known as Mulai Abd al-Aziz IV, served as the Sultan of Morocco from 1894 at the age of sixteen until he was deposed in 1908. He succeeded his father Hassan I of Morocco...
and his uncle, the Bashaw (Pasha
Pasha
Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
) of Tangier, whom Raisuli considers as corrupt and beholden to the Europeans. He kidnaps Eden Pedecaris and her children, William and Jennifer, from their home, after murdering Sir Joshua Smith, a British friend of Eden's. Raisuli then issues an outrageous ransom demand, deliberately attempting to provoke an international incident in order to embarrass the Sultan and start a civil war.
In the United States, President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
is struggling for re-election. He decides to use the kidnapping as both political propaganda (inventing the phrase "Pedecaris alive or Raisuli dead!") and as an effort to demonstrate America's military strength as a new power—despite the protests of his cautious Secretary of State, John Hay
John Hay
John Milton Hay was an American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln.-Early life:...
.
The American Consul to Tangier, Samuel Gummere
Samuel R. Gummere
Samuel Rene Gummere was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as US Consul-General in Tangier, Morocco from 1898–1905, and Ambassador to Morocco from 1905–09, and became well known for his roles in the Perdicaris incident of 1904 and the Algeciras Conference two years later.Born in Trenton,...
, is unable to negotiate a peaceful return of the hostages, so Roosevelt sends the South Atlantic Squadron, under the command of Admiral French Ensor Chadwick
French Ensor Chadwick
Rear Admiral French Ensor Chadwick USN was a United States Navy officer who became prominent in the naval reform movement of the post-Civil War era...
, to Tangier, either to retrieve Pedecaris themselves or to force the Sultan to accede to Raisuli's demands. During the story, however, Roosevelt finds himself gaining more and more respect for Raisuli, thinking him an honorable man who just happens to be his enemy.
The Pedecarises are kept as hostages by the Raisuli in the Rif
Rif
The Rif or Riff is a mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco, with some fertile plains, stretching from Cape Spartel and Tangier in the west to Ras Kebdana and the Melwiyya River in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the river of Wergha in the south.It is part of the...
, far from any potential rescuers. Though her children seem to admire Raisuli, Eden finds him "a brigand and a lout." The Pedecarises attempt an escape, helped by one of Raisuli's men, but they are betrayed and given to a gang of desert thieves. Luckily, Raisuli has tracked them and kills the kidnappers. He reveals that he does not have any intention of harming the Pedecarises and is merely bluffing. Eden and Raisuli become enamored of each other as Raisuli reveals his story—that he was once taken captive by his brother, the Bashaw, and kept in a dungeon for several years.
Gummere, Chadwick and his aide, Marine
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Captain Jerome, tire of the Sultan's perfidy and the meddling of the European powers and decide to engage in "military intervention" to force the Sultan to negotiate. Jerome's company of Marines, supported by a small detachment of sailors, march through the streets of Tangier, much to the surprise of the European legations, and overwhelm the Bashaw's palace guard, taking the Sultan hostage and forcing him to negotiate.
By such coercion, the Bashaw finally agrees to accede to the Raisuli's demands. But during a hostage exchange, Raisuli is betrayed and captured by German and Moroccan troops under the command of Von Roerkel, while Jerome and a small contingent of Marines are present to secure the Pedecarises. While Raisuli's friend, the Sherif of Wazan, organizes the Berber tribe for an attack on the Europeans and Moroccans, Eden attacks Jerome and convinces him and his men to rescue the Raisuli.
A three-way battle results, in which the Berbers and Americans team to defeat the Germans and their Moroccan allies, rescuing Raisuli in the process. In the United States, Roosevelt is cheered for this great victory, and the Pedecarises arrive safely back in Tangier. Roosevelt reads a letter he received from Raisuli, comparing the two men (thus explaining the title): "I (Raisuli), like the lion, must stay in my place, while you, like the wind, will never know yours."
Cast List
- Sean ConnerySean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
as the Raisuli - Candice BergenCandice BergenCandice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
as Eden Perdicaris - Brian KeithBrian KeithBrian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...
as President Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity... - John HustonJohn HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
as Secretary of State John HayJohn HayJohn Milton Hay was an American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln.-Early life:... - Geoffrey Lewis as Samuel R. GummereSamuel R. GummereSamuel Rene Gummere was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as US Consul-General in Tangier, Morocco from 1898–1905, and Ambassador to Morocco from 1905–09, and became well known for his roles in the Perdicaris incident of 1904 and the Algeciras Conference two years later.Born in Trenton,...
- Vladek SheybalVladek SheybalVladek Sheybal , born Władysław Sheybal, was a Polish character actor, whose career lasted from the 1950s into the 1980s. He was probably best known for his portrayal of the chess grandmaster Kronsteen in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love, a role for which he had been personally...
as the Bashaw of Tangier - Steve KanalySteve KanalySteven Francis "Steve" Kanaly is an American actor, best known for his role as Ray Krebbs, foreman of the Southfork Ranch, on the television soap opera Dallas from 1978 to 1989. He reprised the role for the final episode of the series in 1991, and again for the made-for-TV reunion movie Dallas:...
as Captain Jerome - Roy JensonRoy JensonRoy Jenson was a Canadian-born actor.Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he moved to Los Angeles with his family as a child. He joined the U.S. Navy and then graduated from UCLA...
as Admiral ChadwickFrench Ensor ChadwickRear Admiral French Ensor Chadwick USN was a United States Navy officer who became prominent in the naval reform movement of the post-Civil War era... - Nadim SawalhaNadim SawalhaNadim Sawalha is a Jordanian-born English actor and father of actresses Julia and Nadia Sawalha.He was born in Madaba in 1935 and came to England from Jordan in the 1950s, to study drama...
as the Sherif of Wazan - Darrell FettyDarrell FettyDarrell Kenneth Fetty is an American actor and screenwriter, born in Milton, West Virginia. A close friend of director John Milius, he worked in theater, film, and television...
as Vice-Consul Richard Dreighton - Marc ZuberMarc ZuberMarc Zuber was an actor.Film appearances include: The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The Wind and the Lion, The Sea Wolves, Shirley Valentine and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.Television credits include: The Onedin Line, Doomwatch, The Regiment, The Changes, Space: 1999,...
as Sultan AbdelazizAbdelaziz of MoroccoAbdelaziz of Morocco , also known as Mulai Abd al-Aziz IV, served as the Sultan of Morocco from 1894 at the age of sixteen until he was deposed in 1908. He succeeded his father Hassan I of Morocco... - Antoine Saint-JohnAntoine Saint-JohnAntoine Saint-John is a French actor.Born in Avignon, France, he found work as a stage actor until the early '70s, when he began working on films. Most of his films are virtually unknown outside of Europe...
as Von Roerkel - Simon HarrisonSimon HarrisonSimon Harrison is a British auto racing driver. Racing mainly in saloon cars, he is best known for his time spent in the British Touring Car Championship.-Racing career:...
as William Perdicaris - Polly Gottesman as Jennifer Perdicaris
- Deborah BaxterDeborah BaxterDeborah Baxter is an English actress who appeared in the films A High Wind in Jamaica and The Wind and the Lion.Born in England, at aged twelve she was selected from 1,000 applicants for the starring role of Emily Thornton in the film A High Wind in Jamaica, after having been discovered by talent...
as Alice RooseveltAlice Roosevelt LongworthAlice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
- Jack Cooley as Quentin RooseveltQuentin RooseveltQuentin Roosevelt was the youngest and favorite son of President Theodore Roosevelt. Family and friends agreed that Quentin had many of his father's positive qualities and few of the negative ones. Inspired by his father and siblings, he joined the United States Army Air Service where he became a...
- Chris Aller as Kermit RooseveltKermit RooseveltKermit Roosevelt I MC was a son of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. He was an explorer on two continents with his father, a graduate of Harvard University, a soldier serving in two world wars, with both the British and U.S. Armies, a businessman, and a writer...
- Aldo SambrellAldo SambrellAlfredo Sanchez Brell , known as Aldo Sambrell, was a Spanish film actor, director and producer who made over 150 appearances in film between 1961 and 1996....
as Ugly Arab - Luis Barboo as Gayaan the Terrible
- Billy WilliamsBilly Williams (cinematographer)Billy Williams OBE, BSC is a British cinematographer.Williams was responsible for shooting a number of films, including Women in Love , Gandhi , for which he won an Oscar, and On Golden Pond . Williams joined his father, also named Billy, as an apprentice cameraman, remaining with him for four years...
as Sir Joseph - Shirley Rothman as Edith RooseveltEdith RooseveltEdith Kermit Carow Roosevelt was the second wife of Theodore Roosevelt and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1901 to 1909.-Early life:...
- Rusty Cox as Marine Sergeant
- Larry Cross as Senator Henry Cabot LodgeHenry Cabot LodgeHenry Cabot "Slim" Lodge was an American Republican Senator and historian from Massachusetts. He had the role of Senate Majority leader. He is best known for his positions on Meek policy, especially his battle with President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 over the Treaty of Versailles...
- Alexander Weldon as Elihu RootElihu RootElihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man", who shuttled between high-level government positions in Washington, D.C...
, Secretary of War - Dr. Akio Mitamura as Japanese Ambassador
- Bill Linnehan as President's Aide
- Audrey San Felix as Miss Hitchcock
- Ben Tatar as Sketch Artist
- Michel Damian as President's Secretary
- John MiliusJohn MiliusJohn Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures.-Early life:Milius was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elizabeth and William Styx Milius, who was a shoe manufacturer. Milius attempted to join the Marine Corps in the late 1960s, but was rejected...
as the One-armed military advisor
Inspiration/Sources
Milius stated both in interviews and the DVD commentary that he was consciously echoing a number of classic adventure films and stories.He cites the famous British periodical Boy's Own
Boy's Own Paper
The Boy's Own Paper was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967.-Publishing history:The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society as a means to encourage younger children to read and also instil Christian morals...
, as well as the stories of Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, as inspirations for the film. Milius' inspiration had come from reading an article by Barbara W. Tuchman about the Perdicaris incident in American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
magazine, and he found the story fascinating; he decided to adapt it into a screenplay once he figured how to make the story more cinematic — by making Ion Perdicaris a woman, Eden.
Milius also researched Rosita Forbes
Rosita Forbes
Rosita Forbes, née Joan Rosita Torr was an English travel writer and explorer. In 1920-21 she was the first European woman to visit the Kufra Oasis in Libya , in a period when this was closed to westerners...
's biography of Raisuli, The Sultan of the Mountains (1924); much of the film's dialogue is appropriated almost word-for-word from Forbes's book. He took similar care in researching the scenes with Theodore Roosevelt.
In terms of film, 1930s adventure films such as Gunga Din
Gunga Din
-Background:The poem is a rhyming narrative from the point of view of a British soldier, about a native water-bearer who saves the soldier's life but dies himself. The last line suggests a deep-down unease of conscience about the prevailing views of natural hierarchies, both in the depicted...
and The Four Feathers
The Four Feathers
The Four Feathers is a 1902 adventure novel by British writer A.E.W. Mason that has inspired many films of the same title.-Plot summary:...
provided inspiration for the film's style and storytelling technique. The use of children as protagonists is also inspired by the book and movie A High Wind in Jamaica, while the relationship between Raisuli and Eden is based on Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
's The Sheik
The Sheik (film)
The Sheik is a 1921 silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky, directed by George Melford and starring Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, and Adolphe Menjou...
. Raisuli's rescue of the Perdicarises on the beach is similar to another mounted sword-fighting scene in Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's The Hidden Fortress
The Hidden Fortress
is a 1958 jidai-geki film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshirō Mifune as General and Misa Uehara as Princess Yuki. A literal translation of the Japanese title is The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress.-Plot:...
, and the scene of Jennifer Perdicaris being cornered by Aldo Sambrell's character and kidnapped is a reference to The Searchers
The Searchers (film)
The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...
.
Perhaps most noticeably, the film inherits the cavalier attitudes towards imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, foreign policy and military intervention present in those movies — attitudes which were relatively unpopular in 1975 America, at the end of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Perhaps surprisingly, Milius's apparent endorsement of imperialism and warfare was not attacked by critics, perhaps due to the film's supposedly satiric manner.
However, Milius also had inspiration from more recent films while making the movie. He based the film's cinematography, use of desert landscapes, and filming of battle scenes on David Lean
David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
's Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...
, also using many of the same sets, including the "Aqaba" set which had been constructed for Lean's film, here serving as the setting for the final, three-way battle between the Berbers, the Europeans and their Moroccan allies, and the Americans. The Bashaw's palace was the Palace of the Americas in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, having appeared in both Lawrence and Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...
's El Cid
El Cid
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar , known as El Cid Campeador , was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat...
. Another major influence is The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...
, which inspired the final confrontation between the American and German troops and the scene where the Sultan test-fires his Maxim gun
Maxim gun
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...
.
Production
Milius originally wanted Omar SharifOmar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...
to play Raisuli, and Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
as Eden Perdicaris, but Sharif refused the part and Dunaway became ill, having to be replaced at short notice by Bergen. Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
was also considered for Raisuli. Milius said he wrote the part of Eden with Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
in mind, although she may not have actually been approached for the role.
Filming was done in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, with the towns of Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, Almeria
Almería
Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...
, and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
all doubling for Tangier
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
and Fez
Fes, Morocco
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
, and the "Washington" scenes being filmed in and around Madrid. For the deserts of Morocco, Milius used many locations in the Almeria region, some of which had been previously used in historical epics such as Lawrence of Arabia and El Cid
El Cid
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar , known as El Cid Campeador , was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat...
, as well as several Spaghetti Westerns, though he claims to have discovered the beach where Raisuli rescues the Perdicaris family after their escape. The scene at Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
(where Roosevelt gives his famous grizzly bear
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
speech) was filmed in the Meseta Central, north of Madrid. These latter two locations would each re-appear in Milius's Conan the Barbarian. The U.S. Marines and sailors used in the Tangier attack scene were Spanish special forces troops, along with a handful of USMC advisors, who marched with precision through the streets of Seville and Almeria en route to the Bashaw's palace. According to Milius (on the DVD commentary), the US Marine Corps actually shows this scene to its advanced infantry classes for midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
.
According to John Milius, virtually all of the film's stunts were performed by Terry Leonard, who also has a minor part as Roosevelt's boxing opponent early in the film. Milius claims that only four stunt men were used in the entire final battle scene, and he and Leonard have defended the film against criticism for alleged "animal cruelty", claiming that not a single horse was seriously hurt during filming. While filming this scene, Antoine Saint-John revealed himself to be terrified of horses, and would often hide somewhere on the set when his sword fight with Sean Connery was to be filmed.
Several the film's crew are cast in the movie, most notably the cinematographer, Billy Williams (perhaps best known for Ken Russell's film of Women of Love), plays the gun-shooting, white-suited Englishman in the opening scenes at the villa. The special effects supervisor Alex Weldon appears as Roosevelt's Secretary of War, Elihu Root
Elihu Root
Elihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man", who shuttled between high-level government positions in Washington, D.C...
, and Milius himself cameos as the one-armed German officer who gives the Sultan his Maxim gun to test-fire ("Herr Sultan is displeased?").
The Wind and the Lion debuted in New York during May 1975 and Britain in October. It received considerable industry recognition, including Academy Award nominations for best music and best sound. Jerry Goldsmith's score also was nominated for the Grammy and the British Academy Film Awards. Additionally, the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
nominated Milius' screenplay. The film was also a financial success, though Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's movie Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
distracted attention from it.
Shortly after its release, the movie was screened at the White House for President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
and his staff, who reportedly loved it.
The film has also gained considerable recognition in the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic world for its accurate, detailed, and sympathetic depiction of Berber and Islamic culture.
Milius' next projects were uncredited dialogue in Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
(also in 1975) and direction of Big Wednesday
Big Wednesday
Big Wednesday is an American coming of age film directed by John Milius. Milius co-wrote Big Wednesday with Denny Aaberg, and it is loosely based on their own experiences at Malibu and a short story Aaberg had published in a 1974 Surfer Magazine entitled "No Pants Mance." The picture stars...
, a surfing film released during 1978.
A novelization of the film by Milius was published by Award Books in January 1975. Based on the screenplay, the story is slightly different from the finished movie, with several additional scenes (notably, Eden Perdicaris taking a bath at Raisuli's palace and Gummere watching the Atlantic Squadron arrive in Tangier) included, and the story's chronology slightly different. The first printing included a chapter about production events and brief biographies of most of the cast and crew.
Soundtrack
The score to The Wind and the Lion was composed and conducted by Jerry GoldsmithJerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
. True to the style of such Golden Age
Classical Hollywood cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production used in the American film industry between roughly the 1910s and the early 1960s.Classical style is...
scores as Maurice Jarre
Maurice Jarre
Maurice-Alexis Jarre was a French composer and conductor.Although he composed several concert works, he is best known for his film scores, and is particularly known for his collaborations with film director David Lean. Jarre composed the scores to all of Lean's films since Lawrence of Arabia...
's Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...
, Goldsmith used a diverse ensemble that relied heavily upon a large percussion section and a variety of Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
instrumentation. The music went on to garner Goldsmith an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
though he lost to fellow composer John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
for Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
. It is often regarded as one the best scores of his career and was one of the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's 250 nominated soundtracks for the top 25 American film scores
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005.-The List:-External links:**...
.
Awards
The film was nominated for two Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
; Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
and Harry W. Tetrick
Harry W. Tetrick
Harry W. Tetrick was an American sound engineer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Sound.-Selected filmography:* The Wind and the Lion * Rocky * King Kong...
, Aaron Rochin
Aaron Rochin
Aaron Rochin is an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for eight more in the same category.-Selected filmography:Rochin won an Academy Award and was nominated for eight more:Won* The Deer Hunter...
, William McCaughey
William McCaughey
William McCaughey was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for four more in the same category.-Selected filmography:...
, Roy Charman
Roy Charman
Roy Charman was a British sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for three more in the same category.-Selected filmography:Charman won an Academy Award and was nominated for three more:...
for Best Sound.
DVD releases
In Region 1, Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
released the film on DVD on January 6, 2004, featuring a brief "making-of" featurette, the theatrical trailer, and a commentary by Milius. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
has released a bare-bones DVD in Australia (R4) and in several European markets (Region 2), notably Germany, though not yet in the United Kingdom (the Sony release is English-friendly though).