Kings of the Sun (1963)

The Worst Film Ever

Don't listen to the negative reviews

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Blistering performances.

"Kings of the Sun" is a highly fictionalized story about the Mayan civilization of central America. The story has one of the last remaining Mayan groups fleeing to save their civilization. The Mayans were spread across much of modern day southern Mexico into other Central American countries. Others of their groups had been attacked and wiped out or conquered by an invading warring nation. We see clearly the distinction between the advanced civilization of the Mayans and the barbaric nature of their attackers. The movie doesn't give us a date or time frame, so it might have been any time in the latter Mayan period (100 to 700 A.D.). This was all well in advance of European discovery. Many viewers today may not find this movie very interesting or entertaining. It is slow, for sure. There was considerable interest in ancient civilizations around the mid-20th century. And, a host of movies like this were made back then. Today we know more about the ancients, and Western interests for the most part seem to have shifted to the stars, space and the distant future. The fiction of the story here is only slightly interesting. The script isn't that good. Yul Bryner is probably the only good acting job, as Black Eagle. The rest of the cast are just so-so. This movie has a number of conflicts with history. One has the invaders with iron weapons against the Mayans' wooden swords. In fact, there is little evidence of metal discoveries and development in the Americas. Only toward the middle of the second millennium is there some scant appearance of bronze objects. But, iron and steel appear only with the Europeans in the 16th century. That struck me as a strange thing that would belie history as well. If the Mayans were so advanced, and an agricultural society, why had they not discovered bronze or iron with which to make plows and other farming implements and tools? They hadn't yet in this movie, but the barbaric invaders had iron swords. I note some of the reviews and correction comments that take issue with the Indian dress and tepees of Yul Bryner's tribe. But, I don't see or recall anything in the film that says the Mayans landed near the Mississippi Delta. The only evidence of any stream is a very small one. And, the vegetation that we see – trees and underbrush don't resemble anything like the moss-covered forests of Louisiana and the Bayou country. That area is very moist with considerable rainfall. But, this film has the Mayans reaching land in a dry area. So, I suggest that they would have landed in southeast Texas. They might have landed anywhere from present-day Corpus Christi to north of Galveston. That would have put them close to the lower range of the Comanche Indians. The Comanche where a fierce warring and hunting tribe that ranged across the Plains from southern Nebraska to central Texas. And, they built and slept in tepees. If one looks at a map of Gulf of Mexico, it's clear to see that the Mayans could have left the Yucatan Peninsula and sailed "across the sea," landing in southeast Texas.At one point in the film, Black Eagle says that his people can learn much from the Mayans, and that the Mayans can learn from them. The Mayans are not hunters but farmers. We see them build a dam on a creek to divert the water to irrigate their crops. Archaeologists decades ago found irrigation ditches that had been used by the Hopi Indians of Arizona nearly 2,000 years ago. Then, in 2009 near Tucson, scientists discovered more ancient irrigation canals. Those had been used by ancestors of the Hopi in 1,200 B.C.

The Mayan civilization of Central America had achieved a level of sophistication beyond that of much of Europe of the time , creating the Mound Builder culture . It had been speculated on some fairly solid proof that when their cities in Yucatan ( Chichen Itza, Copan , Palenque , Dospilas ) suffered invasion by foreign tribes , Mayan refugees and surviving tribesmen escaped by means of their ships toward north across the Gulf of Mexico and influenced the savage Indians of the Southern United States on the barren lands . Starting with a vivid recreation of a Mayan ceremony shot at a restored pyramid in Chitzen Itza , it goes on a young Mayan named Balam (George Chakiris as unlikely leader) who is proclaimed king and standing on the pyramid is saluted by his people . Balam is obliged to marry a young princess Mayan (a gorgeous Shirley Anne Field ). The king and his followers ( Brad Dexter, Barry Morse , Armando Silvestre ) as their city, Chichen Itza , suddenly being conquered (by Leo Gordon) , then they flee north by sea and try to rebuild their culture on the northern Gulf coast . The Indian chief of a resident tribe named Black Eagle ( extraordinary physique presence of Yul Brynner who personifies the romantic myth of the noble savage ) is captured by the newcomers to his land and there is dissension in the community as to whether the should be sacrificed in the ordinary way demanded by high priest (Richard Basehart) , then Balam eventually forbids sacrifice in the new land and the two peoples try a agreement with some friction . They ultimately unite to fight the original invaders of Chichen , who have pursued the Mayans. This adventure and colorful film is packed with impressive battle scenes, skin deep spectacle, a triangular love story and is pretty entertaining . Well filmed on location in Chichén Itzá , Yucatán, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, and Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico . The film uses the vast numbers of contemporary Mayan extras to good effect ; excellent camera-work by Joseph MacDonald and lighting on the more intimate scenes . Impressive ending battle , is as visually breathtaking , fought around and on the newly built pyramid by the Mayans . Furthermore an awesome musical score by the maestro Elmer Berstein .This large scale motion picture is professionally directed by J. Lee Thompson who directed good Western ( McKenna gold) and all kind of genres as Sci-Fi (Conquest and Battle of planet of apes) , terror (reincarnation of Peter Proud, Eye of the devil), adventures (Kings of the sun, Taras Bulba) and Warlike ( Guns of Navarone, Von Braun). J. Lee Thompson working from the 50s in England, finished his career making Chuck Norris (Firewalker) and Charles Bronson vehicles (Evil that men do, Messenger of death, Death Wish 4 : Crackdown, Caboblanco, St Ives). Watchable results for this outlandish epic/adventure film .

This should be a puzzle, as to how such a bad movie it is look with fondness, and nostalgia by so many? I only have watched this movie once, when it was released in 1963, or 64, and I was ten or eleven years of age, and despite the fact that the movie was filmed in part in my own hometown in Mexico, and I knew personally many of the locals hired as extras, trying to identify them in the background was my only source of amusement! The movie is terrible, based on a total fictitious story, that not only mix Mayans and Apaches their existence in two total different Geographical locations somewhere in the coast of Texas, but time frames as well, Yucatan Chichen Itza Mayans 1000 AD Apaches in the Southwest 1500AD! As for artistic merits, overacted by Yul Brynner, underacted by Chakiris. Costumes totally corny, and the so modern Western preoccupation with Human sacrifice, a cornerstone of the movie, plus of course white men, and women portraying Mayans, and Apaches!

I knew if I came here I would see 90% rave "reviews" mostly by people who saw this when they were ten and impressionable. So, I understand the nostalgia factor, but not the fact that they are still saying it's brilliant. It's so not brilliant - it's bloody bad. The critics knew it, the public knew it, and all the little boys and girls who, for whatever reason, hold a fond place for this isn't going to change the fact that it's bad. I saw this at a sneak preview several months before its release. By mid-way, over sixty percent of the audience had walked out. I stuck it out (I think I was around fifteen at the time), but only barely and only because I wanted to stay and see the main feature afterward. Even at that young age I knew it was a stinker - and I loved Brynner and even Chakiris. So, I think it's time to call a spade a spade - bad movie, fondly remembered for all the wrong reasons by people who can't wait to come here and post that they loved it as a kid and why isn't it on DVD. It is on DVD now - and I just finished watching it for the first time since the sneak preview - and it has not only not aged well, it's worse than it was then. There are times when you just come here really hoping to read some interesting comments and you just end up scratching your head in amazement. This is one of those times.Bottom line - really bad.