John Milius doing his Milius-y thing... war, honour, romanticism, gunfire. It doesn't quite work and the whole way through I was wondering why. There is much to admire - the stunning photography, sweeping music, location work in Borneo. Nick Nolte is ideally cast as the American deserter who becomes king. Maybe it's the direction - Milius was/is a better writer than director. But could Coppola have made it work?
The concept was an issue. I remember when this came out thinking it was late in the day to make a tale about a white man who becomes king over the natives. Milius came to fame in the 1970s jazzing up old fashioned concepts with a modern twist: Dirty Harry, Jeremiah Johnson, Apocalypse Now, Judge Roy Bean, Wind and Lion and so on all took stock ideas (man in wilderness, man on mission in war, woman kidnapped by Shiekh, vigilante cop) and added this satirical flourish. That's missing here - it's all done too straight. I think in the 70s Milius would have done this better - he takes it too seriously. Maybe the lead needed to be more of a con man, a sly tpe.
The film lacks a character like Teddy Roosevelt in Lion or Kilgore in Apocalypse Now a true eccentric. There is General MacArthur who looks like he's going to be wacky and memorable but he's not - he has genuine praise for the King; ditto James Fox as a British soldier.
It also struggles to convey its relationships. Milius kills off the lead's wife, as he did in Judge Roy Bean and Jeremiah Johnson, but it doesn't mean as much here because Nolte never seems that interested in his wife, more in a bromance with Nigel Havers. Havers just sort of observes, and never seems to go on any sort of journey - maybe that's the actor's fault. Shouldn't Havers be really affected by what he sees? Havers has a wife - played by Milius' wife - and I get the sense the part is put in there to keep Mrs Milius happy though I might be mistaken.
The story lacks the simplicity of Wind and the Lion which was a kidnap and rescue story. This one is more over the shop - arrive, help take on Japanese, that gets hard, Japanese kill wife, goes crazy, then Nolte gives self up...It's a bit more all over the place. Maybe it needed Nolte just to do the one specific task i.e. help attack bridge. I know that's less historically accurate but Kwai wasn't accurate.
Other observations:
- this has Aussies as baddies, in a way, kicking around Nolte in the end - but at least it references Aussies in Borneo which is more than the Oz film industry has ever done.
- Frank McRae plays a soldier in the Kings African Rifles which is cool - there's also a South African and an Australian in amongst the Allied soldiers who help Nolte and "go native".
-Gerry Lopez is very effective as Nolte's 2IC - Elena Oberon (Mrs Milius) less so as Havers' random woman.
- I think Havers is meant to be Jack Hawkins in Bridge on the River Kwai - doesn't quite work. Who is Havers' character? What's he meant to be? He's so blank.
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