Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

dramatic, amusing, useful lesson about the moral values , meets, love, sacrifice and history. a remarkable performance of Sean Connery. and the clash between two different worlds. the atmosphere, the dry humor, a Theodor Rooselvelt who has the chance to have inspired portrait and the crumbs of dreams from Arabian Nights. that could be all. if you ignore its profound message about humanity and about the meaning of life. because, in a strange manner, it is only a poem. not only for atmosphere or for images. but for the wise way to reflect things, gestures and feelings. a great film is the easy definition. but, in special manner, it is more. and to define it becomes a delicate mission.

Director John Milius' "The Wind and the Lion" qualifies as an excellent historical yarn about a true incident. Of course, certain liberties have been taken with the material, and Milius acknowledges the most important change. In real life, the person kidnapped was not a well-dressed woman, but a man. This gripping adventure wouldn't be half as much fun if a man were the hostage. Sean Connery proves that he was an actor when he took on this role because he looks nothing like James Bond. Brian Keith proved himself to be a formidable actor, too, in his portrayal of President Theodore Roosevelt. The action scenes are orchestrated with flair by Milius, and Candice Bergen and Sean Connery have charisma. If you are a Sean Connery fan, "The Wind and the Lion" show him in top form. John Huston steals every scene that he is in as Roosevelt's adviser John Hay. Since Milius wrote and directed this movie, you can be certain that the firearms are correct, too.

This was the final step in Sean Connery's return to stardom after leaving the Bond franchise and making Zardoz (one good step, one horrible one). And he did it without the rug. His Scots accent gets in the way for awhile only--Omar Sharif would've been more authentic. You could call it the anti-"Sheik" movie. I mean, the Raisuli and Eden Pedicaris never even kiss! The closest to a romantic statement he makes is "Mrs. Pedicaris, you're a great deal of trouble." The opening is breathtaking and the rest confounds expectations at every turn. And of course Brian Keith plays the quintessential Teddy R. I mean, this is John Milius, who wishes he'd been TR (see "Rough Riders" if you doubt me, it could be called a prequel to this film). It makes Keith the only actor to play 2 succeeding Presidents, McKinley (his last role) and Teddy. NOT a picture for Islamophobes, being intelligent and treating them Ay-rabs as human people. It also has maybe Jerry Goldsmith's best score--big and heroic and the best desert score since "Lawrence of Arabia." Definitely a picture that could NOT be made today, unfortunately.

"The Wind and the Lion" is undoubtedly great entertainment, but it takes regrettable liberties with the truth. I strongly object to movies that pretend to be historical, but set aside unexciting facts in favor of more dramatic fictions. In reality, a man was kidnapped, not a widow and her two children. Only the kidnapping victim's last name was retained when his story became the basis for the movie.Such is the power of good acting and writing that most IMDb users seem to regard Raisuli (Connery) as a noble character. How quickly these users forget that in the opening scene, Raisuli and his men gallop through Mrs. Pedecaris' (Bergen) estate, slaughter her servants and a house guest, and carry her and her children off to parts unknown. (We learn later that he does all of this just to spite his brother.) In another scene, Raisuli summarily beheads two unfortunate nomads who had the audacity to drink from his well. Not only have IMDb users forgotten these atrocities, but apparently Mrs. Pedecaris herself forgot about them, because at the end of the movie she is willing to risk her life and her children's lives in order to rescue him. I couldn't imagine a more preposterous ending.Besides Brian Keith's justly praised portrayal of Teddy Roosevelt, and Sean Connery's convincing turn as Raisuli, the real stars of the movie may be cinematographer Billy Williams and composer Jerry Goldsmith.