Reviews

The Wind and the Lion is a version of the good old "Sword and Sand" pictures that Hollywood used to make in the 30's and 40's. As such, it was considered a kind of a throwback when it originally appeared in 1975. These days it seems to fit right in with pictures such as "Gladiator" and "Lord of the Rings". As another poster has mentioned, the real story was changed considerably for the screenplay. In reality it was Mr. Perdicarus who was kidnapped, not his wife. The real story is amusing in its own right as it seems that the United States, having made such a fuss about having one of its citizens returned, then found out that Mr. Perdicarus was not really an American citizen! You'll find the story well told in an essay in Barbara Tuchman's book "Practicing History: Selected Essays".

Was this show only on for one season? That amazes me because I still remember many of the episodes so vividly. I was about 10 years old when "The Great Adventure" was on television and I always wondered why my history classes in school couldn't be this engrossing. I still remember the farms on the western plains being attacked by swarms of locusts, a young Andrew Jackson being struck by a British officer's sword, the founding of the Society for the prevention fo Cruelty to Children", and the claustrophobic feeling inside the USS Monitor. Why don't they have programs like this today? Why don't they run this series again on TVLand?