Not a single Native or Latino in sight.
Instead, a blue eyed actress as the female lead and Greek actor George Chakiris with an immaculately blow dried brown pompadour.
Tanning makeup less believable and more orange than even the current president.
Elderly white actors with Little Richard style dos and Liberace style costumes. Even more odd, they are the only ones without orange tans and are as pale as ghosts.
Even the great Yul Brynner can't save this. He uses the same accent whether he's playing a pharaoh or a Thai king or a supposed-to-be...Mohawk? Apache? Lakota?
Because the costumes of the two "tribes" are as ridiculous as anything else, made up, mangled, no effort to be even a tiny bit accurate. Brynner has a haircut like a Mohawk. His people have Lakota tipis, but the whole setting is supposed to be somewhere near the southwest desert.
Chakiris's supposed Mayas have Roman style togas, Egyptian style other clothing, and Babylonian style head pieces, except for the priests who, again, have Liberace style headdresses.
Why didn't they just make it a complete fantasy with hobbits, dragons, and unicorns? It's about as accurate and wouldn't inspire nothing but laughter.
And no, spare us the "of that time" excuse. The Lone Ranger's Jay Silverheels was a dozen years before this, and Gunsmoke also had entire casts of actual Natives playing Natives. The first famous Native actor was Lilian St. Cyr way back in the 1910s. Whole films like Daughters of Dawn and Eskimo had all Native casts since the silent film days. The director and producer were just lazy and indifferent.
Giving a few stars only because it's fun to watch obviously white extras in horsehair wigs that keep almost coming off in fight scenes. It's fun to watch for the same reason Plan Nine from Outer Space is.
Instead, a blue eyed actress as the female lead and Greek actor George Chakiris with an immaculately blow dried brown pompadour.
Tanning makeup less believable and more orange than even the current president.
Elderly white actors with Little Richard style dos and Liberace style costumes. Even more odd, they are the only ones without orange tans and are as pale as ghosts.
Even the great Yul Brynner can't save this. He uses the same accent whether he's playing a pharaoh or a Thai king or a supposed-to-be...Mohawk? Apache? Lakota?
Because the costumes of the two "tribes" are as ridiculous as anything else, made up, mangled, no effort to be even a tiny bit accurate. Brynner has a haircut like a Mohawk. His people have Lakota tipis, but the whole setting is supposed to be somewhere near the southwest desert.
Chakiris's supposed Mayas have Roman style togas, Egyptian style other clothing, and Babylonian style head pieces, except for the priests who, again, have Liberace style headdresses.
Why didn't they just make it a complete fantasy with hobbits, dragons, and unicorns? It's about as accurate and wouldn't inspire nothing but laughter.
And no, spare us the "of that time" excuse. The Lone Ranger's Jay Silverheels was a dozen years before this, and Gunsmoke also had entire casts of actual Natives playing Natives. The first famous Native actor was Lilian St. Cyr way back in the 1910s. Whole films like Daughters of Dawn and Eskimo had all Native casts since the silent film days. The director and producer were just lazy and indifferent.
Giving a few stars only because it's fun to watch obviously white extras in horsehair wigs that keep almost coming off in fight scenes. It's fun to watch for the same reason Plan Nine from Outer Space is.