Kings of the Sun 1963

Balam George Chakiris is the son of Ah Min Richard Basehart, the ruler of a Mayan city-state whose people still wield wooden swords with obsidian edges. When his father is slain in a battle against metal-blade invaders led by Hunac Ceel [Leo Gordon], Balam ascends to the throne. Guided by advisers including the head priest, he is urged to take his people away from the Yucatán and sail to the American Gulf Coast, hoping distance will allow them to regroup and fight another day.

Their journey leads to a coastal settlement teeming with boats, where the settlement’s chief Ford Rainey agrees to ally with Balam only if he marries the chief’s daughter, Ixchel Shirley Anne Field and makes her queen. Balam agrees, seeing the marriage as a way to secure a foothold in a new land and strengthen his people’s chances for survival.

Across the Gulf, the newcomers reach a province inhabited by a Native American tribe led by Black Eagle Yul Brynner. The settlers are not warmly received, and in a small raid to capture one Maya, Black Eagle is wounded and taken captive to the Maya fortress. Ixchel tends to his wounds, and the two cultures become entwined in a fragile, growing tension as a suitor emerges—one who is more openly in love with Ixchel.

Balam, who has long opposed the practice of human sacrifice, faces pressure from his advisers to offer Black Eagle as a sacrifice. He refuses, choosing mercy and freeing Black Eagle instead. The two leaders decide to coexist in peace for a time, but jealousy over Ixchel sows discord, and the Native Americans depart. Just as Hunac Ceel finds Balam and his people, his army launches a furious attack. The united front of Indians and transplanted Mayans holds its ground, repelling the assault, but Black Eagle falls in the fighting, resolving the love triangle in tragedy and leaving a hard-won, bittersweet peace in its wake.