Cavalieri selvaggi

The Horsemen could have been better, and I was expecting to be bowled over considering the talent there is. It's still however a very decent and interesting film, with its best assets being excellent.

When it comes to how The Horsemen looks, it's in this area where the film excels the most. The magnificent Afghanistan scenery, with its breath-taking sunsets and serene mountain views for examples, are done justice by the colourfully sweeping but also gritty photography, with its frequent use of beautiful aerial shots. The lushly romantic and (at other points) also appropriately brassy music score compliments the mood perfectly and the buzkashi scenes are relentlessly brutal(a warning this is not for the faint-hearted) as well as very compelling.

John Frankenheimer's direction, while not the best he has ever done is restrained while not undermining any tension when it's needed. The characters are interesting and the interplay between them often is quite real, these are not 'likeable' characters by all means(never were they meant to be) but the development and interplay was well done it was easy to care for them. The acting is well above average on the most, with a more restrained than usual but very commanding, eerie and actually also very moving performance of Jack Palance faring best. His make-up is believable too. Leigh Taylor-Young plays her role very sympathetically.

For all these good qualities however, The Horsemen has a few failings. One problem being the script, which has some naturally contemplative and poetic moments but also too many moments of silliness and awkwardness. A good atmosphere is maintained throughout and much of the film is very passionate and emotionally affecting, but the story for my tastes did drag sometimes and felt a little choppy structurally. Omar Sharif(from personal opinion) has also given better performances, it's certainly better than his stiff performance is the badly miscalculated Che Guevara biopic Che(which coincidentally also had Palance in one of his worst performances), but the performance here is a bit one-note and of one expression, Sharif spends most of the time looking very grim and not much of anything else.

All in all, a decent film with some truly excellent things, but also could have been great if other important components were done stronger. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

Omar Sharif and Jack Palance may be the only names in this cast that most will recognize but the story based on an Afghan tale, set in Afghanistan before the Russian invasion, is a classic tale which lays out a great deal of Afghan culture during the period before the great disruption by the West. Afghanistan returned to the public eye after the post-911 invasion to depose the Taliban but the state of knowledge about these marvelous independent people who fought the British Empire to a standstill, still remains obscure. The game of buzgashi, a kind of polo for Weidman, was the core for many of the tribesmen. Its importance as an institution marking the status of tribes and individuals has no real counterpart in Western culture, and this is a tale of intrigue and self-learning, framed in a cultural setting we still have yet to understand.

With a writer like Trumbo (who also did one of the best anti war movies of all time :"Johnny got his gun" )and a director like Frankenheimer ("the Manchurian candidate " "seconds" "birdman from Alcatraz" ,how could you be wrong?Add Omar Shariff and Jack Palance.Plus the marvelous wild landscapes .And the magic of these Asian nights.And however it does not quite make it.The slow-moving story is sometimes boring ,in spite of the talent of the actors (and the horses who play a prominent part ,check the title).The magnificence of the settings makes up for it but make sure you see it on a wide screen in a movie theater.Much of its appeal is inevitably lost on a tiny TV screen.

This is a human condition action adventure that takes place in modern time( meaning 1971) Afghanistan. The film starts by showing how far back in time they are. Everybody is riding around on horses while planes are driving above them. In this country a proud (the best word would be prince but it doesn't exactly fit) Uraz (played by Omar Sharif, mostly known as that guy who had the lead in Doctor Zhivago) sets out to this weird horse tournament on the request of his father, a elderly clan leader and master of the sport played by the great Jack Palance.

It's made obvious from the start that though this man might be proud and even quite noble (he always bets on the weakest), he is in fact cruel to servants and have a rather nihilistic view on life. When he manages to fall off his horse and break his leg he feels a great dishonor and sets out to find the hardest and deadliest road home. On the way everything that is good in humans are questioned! The film has a very different view of the world than most others, at least this early in cinema. Many of the characters are so shady it will almost make you sick. I must say that I did not like these people as humans, though I did like their characters, inhuman behavior and cruelty is something I take a huge interest in. For those of you who enjoy to travel to different worlds and can enjoy and love films even if they perhaps have a different stand than your world view, this is the film for you.

I was quite taken by it I must say. My second favorite Frankenheimer picture to date, meaning that I thought it was better than great films such as The Manchurian Candidate, The Train and Seven Days in May. The colors are great and the mood and pacing is very intense. Most of the frames are quite beautiful. The acting is very good! And it's philosophy as a whole is rather good too but I will not give away anything about how this film turns out but I will say that I thought it was fabulous. A genius film! A masterpiece! You should definitely check it out. A true gem!

There is so much of interest in this compelling film, set in Afghanistan. Based on the book by Joseph Kessells, a writer of rare insight.

Centered around the ancient game of Buzkashi, played on horseback, and only in the three northern provinces of Mazar-i-Sharif, Maimana and Kataghan. [The game had it's origin in a training routine instituted by Ghengiz Khan, which both conditioned his men for warfare and provided a means of feeding his army. A very large circle was formed by his warriors and as the circle closed no animal was permitted to escape.]

There are some terrific scenes of the first "Royal Buzkashi" played on Bagrami Plain, just outside Kabul, which had been decreed by the king. Also some great footage of the country, depicting the beautiful and varied terrain encountered as Uroz makes the self-imposed and dangerous journey back to his home province in the North.

The interplay of all the characters is an education in understanding the powerful role human emotion and upbringing play in all our lives, as both Tursen(the father) and Uroz(the son) attempt to come to terms with their own harsh anger and pride. The consequences spill over and embroil other individuals in the story. The story also gives some insight into the different way of thinking engendered by the cultural mix of religion,relatively isolated living, and living in a harsh environment where survival can be pretty raw.

Contrast is drawn by the mix of ancient and modern. One such scene has Tursen (Jack Palance),who as Head of Osman Bey's stable is addressing the chopendoz,(players of Buzkashi), pauses to look upwards at a jetliner passing overhead whilst he stands on "The Roof of the World". Another takes place in the modern hospital in Kabul.

Both Palance & Sharif give of their finest, very well supported by a great character cast.

A dramatic part of the story unfolds in the Bamian Valley, where Uroz gambles & loses the very thing he later realise he loves and wants back. Historically this part of the film contains important footage of the giant Budhas that were carved into the cliffside, until deliberately destroyed by Talliban militia.

All in all, an excellent and enjoyable film and I am surprised it has not been shown on Television or re-issued on disc, as the world focussed on that area just a short time ago.