TR and Hollywood

Nick, it must be my horrid public school education showing, but upon seeing "Teddy Roosevelt" and "lion" in proximity I couldn't shake images from that mid-70s Sean Connery—Candice Bergen period piece The Wind and The Lion from my head.

Once you get past the disconnect of peaty Connery as a Berber chieftain in turn-of-the-century Morocco, the thing ain't half bad, especially Brian Keith as a scene-chewing TR. In fact, I'd lay odds that the WS crowd first swooned over Keith's Olympian TR long before they cobbled together this "American greatness" stuff. Forbidden late-nite HBO fare and a few pilfered Michelob Lites will do that to you.

Amazingly, Wind has yet to make it to DVD, so my standard put-it-in-yer-Netflix-queue rating cannot apply. Hell, we can't even get Ted Turner's hagiographic Rough Riders, which does share a John Milius connection with Wind.

I blame Spain.