MovieChat Forums > The Man Who Would Be King (1975) Discussion > 'Watched it with my Dad' flick

'Watched it with my Dad' flick

posted 19 years ago by gumborific
62 replies | jump to latest

After reading a bunch of threads and posts I have gathered that this film seems to be typical of the film your Dad would turn you onto.

I am 36, and distinctly remember the summer day in the early 80's that I watched this film with my Dad on HBO.

This film has always been on my top 10 list for many reasons.

1. My father liked it. Maybe not for the reasons I do now, but definitely because as a baby boomer, and 2nd generation American, he knew well made film, respected the actor's craft, and came from a generation that enjoyed the escapism that film provided. Oh, and my Dad liked it...I can list many films I still watch because of that fact...yes he hugged me regularly, and that helped.

2. Huston....enough said.

3. Literature...as I got older (Lit. major/film minor) I learned more about Kipling. I was ecstatic that even though my father liked the film there was so much to discover about its roots in literature and history.

4. Freemasonry - I have read enough about Templars and Freemasons that if I ever became a freemason I would have to just be promoted to grand poobah of needless information.

5. It's big! Films nowadays are not big. Gladiator isn't even big compared to this film. Perhaps this is just another compliment for Huston, but few films after Apocalypse Now feel "BIG" to me...it's one of those things you can't really explain but I know some of you understand.

6. Puberty - Without being too graphic or gratuitous I gathered something about what men desire. And that's okay.

7. Caine and Connery - after many years of enjoying film you just realize that there have been very little combinations of actors that compare to this one. Of course it's debatable, but you have to admit...."BIG"...there goes that word again.

So, grab a bottle of India Pale Ale, and watch this movie again if you are my age. If you are younger, you are lucky, because you have a computer nearby to research anything that took me years to ascertain. If you are older, THANK YOU, because like my Dad, I have never met anyone older than I that doesn't have a healthy respect for this film.

[–] AtrusDent007 18 years ago

Funny, I just got done watching this with my dad. I agree with you completeley.

[–] jijjers22 18 years ago

Yup, I remember my dad talking about it for years and when we finally watched it together, I loved it!

[–] aamirabbas 18 years ago

I watched this film alone but I enjoyed it very much.

[–] wmburke 18 years ago

i watched it with my father too, years ago........i'm only 21 now, and my father is still alive and well, but i too remember fondly the time we saw it together.....i was about 11........i cried when connery was singing the song at the end........it was a beautiful movie, and a story of a tremendous friendship and the corruption of power.........i loved it, and i still do........i hope to watch it with my son someday

[–] rdn-2 18 years ago

I watched it with my dad when i was really young, like 9 or 10 and i loved it.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ishotlibertyvalance 18 years ago

so spot on...i watched this with my dad when i was about 13 and i couldnt believe how interesting and exciting it was...the whole premise was basically things i imagined doing as a kid; conquering others, gaining power and wealth, and doing it all in a remote location outside of modern influences. needless to say, when i saw this movie it was instantly a favorite, and the ending teaches a valuable lesson.

[–] danisnot 18 years ago

watched it with my dad at about 15, and we've both read it too. those are the kind of things i miss

[–] Nikon11 18 years ago

That's a pretty good way to label it.

I know I first saw it when it was on TV when I was around 14 - and my dad and I watched it together.

[–] tucosgunwasempty 18 years ago

If it weren't for my dad I know my DVD collection would look a hell of a lot different. There would likely be no Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Ride the High Country or The Getaway; no The Wind in the Lion, Bad Day at Black Rock, Patton, or Jeremiah Johnson; no Outlaw Josey Wales, Shane, The Great Escape or The Magnificent Seven; no The Shootist, The Hard Way, Taxi Driver, or Highlander; no Bullitt, Gone In 60 Seconds (1974), or Vanishing Point; no The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; no Treasure of the Sierra Madre, African Queen, Maltese Falcon, Casablanca; no King Kong (1933). Hell, if it weren't for my dad I doubt if I'd even watch that many movies. I'll be 32 in a couple of weeks and from about the time I was 11 when we got our first VCR my dad brought home anywhere from three to seven movies a week until about the time I moved out in the early nineties. I hope I can point my own son toward movies that are worth watching, mostly so I can get a new partner to watch "guy" movies with.

[–] prtkahn 18 years ago

Last month, my older brother loaned me his DVD of _The Man Who Would Be King_, encouraging me to watch it. I don't know if he picked it up because he'd just recently joined the Masons himself (our dad's heavily involved in the Masons, and this now leaves me as the only non-Mason male in the family), or because he'd heard good things about it from our dad (it's the sort of movie he'd like, and Michael Caine's one of his favorite actors), but I enjoyed watching it more than I thought I would. I generally don't think much of my brother's taste in movies (or my dad's for that matter), but he was definitely right about this one.

[–] heckchap 18 years ago

From Tucosgunwasempty:

Very interesting list!

My dad had a very specific bunch of films he liked, which -- when I was a kid -- I fairly largely dismissed. Now that I'm an adult, I look at that list, and I'm flabbergasted that I almost completely agree totally with those movie.

Aside from Pat Garrett, Ride The High Country, Getaway, Jeremiah Johnston, The Hard Way, your list is identical to my dad's and myself.

I'm 40, btw. Your list trashes many of the lists of people in the movie business I know who can't even remember movies before 1975...pathetic!

BTW: TMWWBK is an exceptional movie, and one that would be utterly screwed if attempted now. This and "The Duellists" are cut from the same cloth.

[–] AJB_GB 18 years ago

this is sort of funny, all these people reminising about watching this with their dad or because their dad suggested it, because I saw it on the advice of my mom. I guess i'm the odd man out.

[–] TommyDeMoore 18 years ago

I watched this movie with my mother last day and y uncle Al.
My uncle Al liked it, but mother dind't liked and she god after an half-hour.

[–] hazanegg 18 years ago

I just saw this on the top 250 and i thought to myself "Yer that was the one that i watched with my dad!!" weird that is

This is a tasty burger...

[–] ruready2getduffed 18 years ago

Hahah... weird... my dad picked this movie up for us to watch at Blockbuster when I was in middle school. Guess I wasn't the only one.