Rating: 
Summary: The DVD ruined the best scene
Review: First the good stuff. This is a pretty enjoyable movie. Connery's casting as the barbary pirate / lord of the Riff starts out as rather unbelievable, but it grows on you. Brian Keith is perfect as Theodore Roosevelt. Keith and the script do a great job of showcasing this man's beliefs, pretenses, and genuine nobility. My only complaint about the performances; It would've been nice if Candice Bergin had picked one accent and gone with it. The romance is a little forced, but hey, it's a movie."LOOSELY" based on a historical incident, it remains relevant even in today's world. The contrast between a slumbering but decisive America that is willing to negotiate to a point, but go it alone if it must to protect it's citizens, versus a self-absorbed charismatic leader who uses religion to justify his own desires for power and place. Sound familiar? Based on the above, I'd give the movie itself a weak 4 star rating, but the DVD fumbles. The pinheads in charge of subtitling this better than average film managed to screw up one of the finest depictions of 1900's era small unit actions in the history of cinema. This piece of film is (or was until recently) used in the training of US Marine Corps officers. They obviously used historical and technical experts to get the movie right, why couldn't they have talked to even an ROTC cadet to make sure that the command verbage in the subtitles was correct? Very shoddy, and unfortunately it is becoming typical of the level of quality in the DVD market. A minor point for most, but a notable and easily avoidable flaw.
Rating: 
Summary: Last of the Barbary pirates
Review: Review of the dvd:
Grand adventure told on an epic scale. Sean Connery plays Berber chieftain Mulay Achmed Mohammed el-Raisuli the Magnificent, who in 1904 Morocco kidnaps plucky Eden Pedecaris (Candice Bergen) and two young children. The dashing and indomitable Raisuli makes substantial ransom demands as he roams the desert with Pedecaris and her gallant brood.
Connery is simply outstanding in the lead role. It's impossible to imagine this movie without him - his character is brutal, demanding, philosophical, funny. Brian Keith, brilliant as President Theodore Roosevelt, is just about as indispensable to THE WIND AND THE LION. To writer and director John Milius's credit both characters, easily caricatured, are complex, complete, and sympathetic individuals.
The only weak link is the Candice Bergen character. She simply doesn't generate enough warmth, never had and never would, to sustain a romantic subplot. On the commentary track Milius tells us Faye Dunaway was the first actress hired to play Eden Pedcaris, but she fell ill and the role went to Bergen. I'm not sure Dunaway would have been much of an improvement as far as communicating warmth goes. Still, the sexual tension he wrote into the characters isn't much there.
If you're a fan of grand adventure, THE WIND AND THE LION is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but Often Nice to Look At
Review: A crisply photographed showboat, "The Wind and the Lion" is at times off-kilter dramatically, especially when it awkwardly mixes a fascination with brutality with a flirtation with camp. The opening sequence is a perfect example: as the berbers slash and rampage through Tangier's streets and houses, writer/director John Milius injects the too-stoic last stand of an Englishman and an odd slapstick scene involving a horse and the local chieftan (Sean Connery, who sometimes is impressive and sometimes just doesn't seem to be trying that hard). It doesn't help that co-star Candice Bergen demonstrates a more limited range here than she did years earlier in "The Sand Pebbles" or would years later in "Murphy Brown"; there are few sparks between her and the former James Bond. Milius has much better success with the scenes involving Brian Keith as Teddy Roosevelt--the star of "Family Affair" is simply a delight as the feisty but thoughtful U.S. President. The best thing about "The Wind and the Lion" as a whole is the careful attention to detail, such as the hairstyles and uniforms, and Jerry Goldsmith's score is suitably lush, even if strains sound like his "Klingon theme" from Star Trek. And though he relies on too many close-ups of horse's legs or small numbers of people standing in for crowds during action, Milius musters some impressive battle scenes and military paraphrenalia, re-creating an often overlooked period of history with a sense of both romance and authenticity.
Rating:
Summary: The DVD ruined the best scene
Review: First the good stuff. This is a pretty enjoyable movie. Connery's casting as the barbary pirate / lord of the Riff starts out as rather unbelievable, but it grows on you. Brian Keith is perfect as Theodore Roosevelt. Keith and the script do a great job of showcasing this man's beliefs, pretenses, and genuine nobility. My only complaint about the performances; It would've been nice if Candice Bergin had picked one accent and gone with it. The romance is a little forced, but hey, it's a movie. "LOOSELY" based on a historical incident, it remains relevant even in today's world. The contrast between a slumbering but decisive America that is willing to negotiate to a point, but go it alone if it must to protect it's citizens, versus a self-absorbed charismatic leader who uses religion to justify his own desires for power and place. Sound familiar? Based on the above, I'd give the movie itself a weak 4 star rating, but the DVD fumbles. The pinheads in charge of subtitling this better than average film managed to screw up one of the finest depictions of 1900's era small unit actions in the history of cinema. This piece of film is (or was until recently) used in the training of US Marine Corps officers. They obviously used historical and technical experts to get the movie right, why couldn't they have talked to even an ROTC cadet to make sure that the command verbage in the subtitles was correct? Very shoddy, and unfortunately it is becoming typical of the level of quality in the DVD market. A minor point for most, but a notable and easily avoidable flaw.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Fantastic
Review: I saw this movie at the theater, many years ago, and was taken by the fantastic story of Theodore Roosevelt vs the Sheik. The main stars of this movie perform splendidly and the rest are just as entertaining. As someone who studied Teddy in school and later in life, I must add that I thought Brian Keith's portrayal was far and away the best likeness of Teddy that has ever been done in a movie. Sean Connery plays the Sheik masterfully and nobly and in this current time it is nice to see a balance approach to the "barbaric" Islam tribes. Connery plays the Sheik as honorable and worthy of respect. Definitely a must see movie.
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