High adventure, a story of friendship and pride, and the best performance of Sean Connery's long and distinguished career (not to mention one his favorite roles) - The Man Who Would Be King has all of this and more.
The film opens with Kipling himself (Christopher Plummer), a correspondent for The Northern Star in late 19th century India, encountering a ragged, possibly crazy beggar in his office one night with quite the story to tell. The beggar turns out to be Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine), a former British soldier. Kipling had met Carnehan and his fellow soldier Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery) three years ago - after Carnehan picked Kipling's pocket but reluctantly returned it when he realized Kipling was a fellow Freemason like himself and Dravot. After striking up a friendship of sorts, Dravot and Carnehan told Kipling of a scheme they'd concocted. Tired of serving in India and disdainful of returning home to England with nothing to show for it, they planned to raise an army and conquer Kafiristan (now known as the Afghan province of Nuristan), ruling over it for a while before absconding with whatever loot they could.
With the story now complete, Kipling is tempted to write the whole thing off as a delusion or a con by Carnehan...until he's presented with Dravot's crowned skull.