"Farewell to the King" is a very well made, acted and photographed film version of Schoendoeffer's novel. The theatrical version seems too short for the epic scope of the story. Don't know if it was heavily edited or whether the production's grasp exceeded their financial means but there is something missing here. This is a film that could have been Milius's great masterpiece (although Big Wednesday is a pretty great film). It has something important and striking to say about war and about the nature of the bond between Western adventurers and "savage" tribal people applicable to the American misadventure in Vietnam and to earlier periods such as Lawrence of Arabia during World War One. It doesn't quite succeed. Still this 1989 war film, unfairly dismissed at the time as a blond version of Rambo, has some of Milius' best work as a filmmaker. This is a film ripe for re-evaluation in a deluxe edition DVD.
Review of Farewell to the King
