Historically inaccurate though at the time it was made, many historians and archeologists believed that there was more interaction between Mesoamerica and North America than current scholars believe. Unfortunately the inaccuracies extend beyond that problem.
The movie was neither commercially nor critically successful. Walter Mirisch of Mirisch Company, the producers, had this to say, "Kings of the Sun was not successful, either critically or commercially. It wasn't made for the right reasons, and that is most often an insuperable handicap. Our creative team lacked passion for what we were doing and its commercial values could not overcome that. Not being enthusiastic about it, I should have taken a position. By just letting the project move from one stage to the next, I allowed it to progress further than it should have. Arnold Picker was enthusiastic and kept pushing it, but the problems of making the film and its content were not his responsibility. I always blamed myself for its failure. I had thought of it as a vehicle for the star power of Yul Brynner, who was an important international star by then. But that was not a good enough reason for doing a film about which I had serious misgivings."
There were many problems but in my opinion two of the greatest were George Chakiris and Richard Basehart who were badly miscast. Anthony Quinn was originally scheduled to make the movie with Yul Brynner. Had that worked out, the movie would have certainly been improved if not saved. Certainly audiences would have been saved from Chakiris' overlong 'deer in the headlights' stares.
Great movie or not, I had a girlfriend in college who loved it. Mainly because of Yul Brynner's costume or lack thereof. She particularly liked the scenes in which he was tied to the bed.
May appeal to other Yul Brynner fans with the judicious use of fast forward.
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries
A. W. Wilson
KINGS OF THE SUN from KINO LORBER REGION 1
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 11, 2018
Spike Owen
More studied than sturdy, an historical epic very much concerned with its characters.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 11, 2011
Darth Maciek
A honest, old style adventure film, with a lot of blue-eyed Mayas and an amazing Yul Brynner
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 14, 2012
Ian France
One exotic epic too many
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 21, 2020
