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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 1388
Released: March 25, 2008 |
| Our Price: $7.82 |
| Used Price: $9.01 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
When his father is killed in battle Balam (George Chakiris) succeeds his father as King and leads his followers out of Mexico to a coastal region. The Mayan's new home however is already the province of a hostile Indian tribe led by Black Eagle (Yul Brynner) who leads a raid against the Mayan's camp. Balam is severely injured but Black Eagle's wife Ixchel (Shirley Ann Field) tends to his wounds and eventually the two leaders agree to settle their differences and coexist in peace. Hunac Ceel (Leo Gordon) Balam's old nemesis is not so forgiving. He has followed the Mayans to their new home where he and his troops mount a furious attack with the Indians and the Mayans leading a united front against the invaders.System Requirements:Running Time: 108 minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 883904103011 Manufacturer No: M110301
Description of Kings of the Sun:
Fans of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto may well enjoy J. Lee Thompson's 1963 Kings of the Sun, an exotic, widescreen adventure about the ancient Mayan civilization and its rocky relationship with a nomadic tribe. George Chakiris plays Balam, a young and inexperienced Mayan king who must lead his people from one part of Mexico to another via ships. Arriving at a seemingly uninhabited coast, Balam oversees the construction of a new kingdom, complete with a tall temple upon which an altar for human sacrifice rests. The problem for Balam is that he doesn't believe in the need for sacrificing people, creating a conflict when his own high priest (Richard Basehart) demands that Black Eagle (Yul Brynner), wounded chief of a local Indian tribe, be offered up to the Mayan gods. Complicating Balam's life even more is that his love interest, Ixchel (Shirley Anne Field), falls for Black Eagle while nursing him back to health. Everything leads to a kind of social experiment in coexistence that gets shaky whenever the subject of Ixchel comes up. Screenwriter Elliott Arnold (Broken Arrow) does a fine job of alternating the big picture of conflicting traditions and peoples with intimate moments of passion and disappointment. Thompson wraps the story in a fever-dream intensity, underscored by the undeniable sexuality of Brynner (who moves like a bronze cat) and Chakiris (who looks like a haughty demigod). The characters' lurches toward a more modern view of sacrifice and cooperation are fascinating and make Kings of the Sun as thoughtful as it is bigger-than-life. --Tom Keogh
Kings of the Sun Reviews:
Kings of the Sun 
2008-09-06 - This is one of my all time Favorite movies.
Again I saw this movie a child, it was great
then, today it's even better!!
The Maya on the Big Screen 
2008-08-19 - Kings of the Sun has a lot of historic maybes. According to my reading on Ancient Mexico, there was a conqueror named Hunac Ceel(but I don't think he died somewhere on the Texas-Louisania coast). The time period looks around 800-1000AD, and there were temple mounds along the Mississippi-Ohio-Missouri rivers at about that time. Those cultures received at least some influence from the south. Maybe a refugee group of Maya did reach the Gulf Coast. The movie ends with a hint that was indeed the case. The Maya also conducted a coastal trade along the Gulf using canoes with 30-50 rowers, so the story has some factual basis(although using sails is in dispute).
I first saw this movie when it was released in 1963, and it started a personal interest in the Maya and other groups in preColumbian America. I was really happy to finally get a copy.
Expected Better Quality
2008-07-16 - I received this DVD quickly and it was in fine shape - no problems.
However, the picture and sound quality were not as good as I expected.
It is about as good as high quality VHS.
5 star transaction though.
Review
2008-06-23 - It is a very possible story. It happens before any white man set his footprints on Texas. Outstanding story, excellent actors. I highly recommend this movie.
Ah, finally it made it on DVD...
2008-06-21 - For years I was condemned to watch this movie on an old VHS tape, in Pan & Scan (aaargh), but now, finally we have it in glorious Cinemascope.
As per usual habit of the people at MGM/UA though, there is not very much about special inserts. Also, the sound is not very special. Just a lame Mono or Stereo sound, which seems to be their specialty for most of their titles, unless naturally, treated by someone else (see the Sony treated James Bond Collection and you see what I mean).
Only thing that indeed got a vast improvement is the image. Crystal clear and in the correct widescreen format (for those who actually like the black bars on top and at the bottom of their screens).
The story is not very accurate and takes many liberties with Mayan and Toltech history.
It is, after all, just an adventure movie, with just a hint of historic background intertwined in its plot.
But who would like to miss out on a Yul Brynner movie?
Now, if only they would release "The Ultimate Warrior" on DVD, also starring Yul Brynner, in a perhaps more potent role, then I would really be satisfied...
