Farewell to the King (1989)

From my favorite movies..

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

In WWII, British Captain Fairbourne (Nigel Havers) and Sergeant Tenga (Frank McRae) parachute into the jungles of Borneo to recruit the locals for the fight against Japanese occupation. They are shocked to find a white man as their king. Learoyd (Nick Nolte) had escaped the fate of Corregidor by joining other American deserters on a small boat. They landed on the island but he was the only one who escaped the Japanese executions. His blue eyes saved his life in the tribe. The women saw the sea in them, and the sea means salt, and salt means life. He was able to win against the evil ruler, bring peace to the tribes, and unite 22 longhouses. A Japanese plane strafes the settlement after triangulating on Tenga's radio. Learoyd agrees to fight the Japanese for the freedom of the tribes.There is a poetry to this jungle epic. It's an old fashion action adventure that feels very literary. Nick Nolte's acting can be divisive. His grandiose performance fits a man gone mad and reborn as a king. In addition, Nolte is perfect to play it. There is a possible way to see a white man leading locals as racist. I don't think that's valid since more white men came and ultimately destroyed paradise. There are memorable scenes and turns in this. It is grand cinema and minor box office failure.

Learoyd started off in the Philippines, was deserted by his country, so he fled and landed on an island as a deserter, where he was lost in the jungle, and found by head hunters. What happened next was the basis of an amazing story and a wonderful movie.The man was crazy, and yet was brought back to life by the tribe, the women of the tribe seeing his eagle tattoo and believing he was sent by the gods. Eventually he became king of the village, and the tribe, and life was settled and happy, until the British army parachuted into this seeming island paradise, and drew the king and his tribe into the war against the Japanese.While the setting of the story is war, this is a psychological drama concerning loyalty, and honor, and courage. The movie is attractive to the eye, and comparisons to a Joseph Conrad story are appropriate. John Milius, who directed the movie and wrote the screenplay, presents this movie in almost a tantalizing, epic manner. The scenery, the musical score are wonderful! And if at times the plot is a little rough, it is easily forgotten because of themes like friendship, and life and death. And of course, what would a tragedy be like without betrayal? If you can leave your cynicism at the door, and even a few of your sensitivities against violence at the back of the room, then you can enjoy this movie. Ultimately, as good, and sad as this movie is, there are also themes of redemption, especially at a personal level. Nick Nolte is excellent as Learoyd. Nigel Havers is solid as Captain Fairbourne. In fact, I could not spot any poor acting in this movie.In this movie, the lines between friends and enemies are blurred, but positive human qualities transcend the faces of war, and that is why I suppose I enjoyed this movie so much.

I just caught "Farewell to the King" on cable, and maybe it's just because I'm a girl, but I thought this was on the craptastic side. The script and direction are pretentious (once I found out John Milius was responsible, it all became clear). The supporting actors actually weren't bad - James Fox was outstanding. The biggest disappointment was Nick Nolte, who I usually enjoy. Once he goes native, he starts speaking a very stiff, stilted English, and half the time, he seems kind of distracted, as if he'd just smoked some of the bounty of Borneo's rain forest. And then the end -- what the ??? Learoyd just happens to be on the same boat as The Botanist (by the way, had the Botanist dumped the girlfriend, or what?)??? The boat just happens to run aground conveniently close to an island ripe takeover by a crazy Anglo ex-headhunting Army deserter??

1st watched 11/19/1999 - 5 out of 10 (Dir-John Milius): Unbelievable although well-played out story about an American army soldier washed up on the shore of Bornea during World War II who became a king of a headhunting tribe.Not enough understanding as to why things are happening throughout the story.