Kings of the Sun (1963)

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 Amazon.com

 From the sixties........... Great for those times...
If you loved Kings of the Sun when you saw it many moons ago...you will
still love it... If you are 25 years old or less, please take in consideration the year the movie was made. There was no CGI in those days,
actors/actresses physically worked for a living and it was not a blue/green screen world. These types of movies were rare, as most movies
dealts with guns/crime/war/murder.
So when a big adventure movie came up we jumped on it and ...this movie
looked big...big cast...pyramids....it was a kid's dream....
So today the movie still hold, is entertaining and Yule never looked better. May 6, 2008

 KINGS OF THE SUN -finally gets its chance to shine!
Having been given a home video release years earlier in Asia of all places, KINGS OF THE SUN finally arrives on these shores. If you're expecting plenty of extras and a really pristine print, unfortunately this is not the case as noted by other reviewers. But we do have a great action/adventure from British director J. Lee Thompson fresh off completing TARAS BULBA with the same star Yul Brynner. Now theres plenty of stunt action in this picture with hundreds of extras and so on, but the added bonus is the pulsating music score of master maestro Elmer Bernstein. In fact as he said himself on a TCM TV screening with Robert Osborne, it's his most requested score by his loyal fans. He was about to re-record the score before he died, but it never happened.

Shot on location on the beaches of Mazatlan and at the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan of Mexico back in 1963, you just know that there are plenty of beach resort hotels spoiling the same views these days. It's a B-movie story that is livened by the action, music, great photography of Joe MacDonald and the uncredited narration of James Coburn, years before he found a retirement career voicing commercials.
It's Yul Brynner's picture for sure and it's his last iconic period piece prior to finally playing the robot gunslinger in WESTWORLD. George Chakiris is passable coming off WEST SIDE STORY, but Shirley Anne Field and her heavy British accent is way miscast. Still THE GUNS OF NAVARONE director Thompson, keeps your attention with the widescreen layout and detail of the scenes.

I personally remember seeing this in London upon it's intial release and I loved it then. So much so, that I saw it three or four times in the theatre. May 2, 2008

 Watch those reviews!
I read all the reviews and this sounded like a great movie. I like old movies, this isn't one of them. I've seen some stupid shows and this one certainly fits into that catagory.Kings of the Sun April 30, 2008

 Great escapist popcorn eatin story tellin
Aztecs? North American indians? Yul Brynner? George Chakiris? A dusky foxy babe? A Pyramid? Hell-yea! Saw this once as a kid...and loved it. Just ordered it and anxiously wait to devour it. Pure saturday afternoon escapism with an intriguing story. April 27, 2008

 Hints or Mayan History
A Hollywood grade B type movies. Very few changes in set or location. Focus is on the actors. Shallow story. Typical Yul Brynner strutting around near naked, showing his muscular body and famous shaved head. Entertaining as a grade B movie. Not very realistic and not historically accurate. Main theme of pros and cons of human sacrifice hinted at but not explained or resolved. April 26, 2008

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