Piratas de Tortuga

I saw this film quite a few times growing up on independent TV stations. I didn't think it was anything too spectacular then, but hey, it was a pirate flick, and you can't go too wrong... right? Well, before the days of corporate run focus groups and test market screenings for films, the studio moguls, banking on what they believed would sell, would ride movie trends like the corporates do today. Back then Westerns and Pirate flicks were all the rage, and in 1961, hoping to revitalize a waning market, 20th Century Fox invested in this thing.

They must've done it on the cheap. Recycleing old studio props and sets, it looks like they cast bit part players in supporting roles. That and the cinematography is pretty bland, though not too far from b-movie standards at the time.

It's a market driven film. No standards or rules are being bent or pushed. There's a few social messages snuck in here and there, but nothing too shocking by contemporary American social standards.

There's nothing really innovative or impressive about this film, but it does offer two hours of pirate escapism. Take it for what it is.

Oh my. 20th Century Fox must have burned with shame and embarrassment at this wretched turkey being released under their aegis. I enjoy almost all old movies, and up until viewing Pirates of Tortuga had never seen a film that was ALL bad, without any redeeming qualities or entertainment value at all ... but this is the one. Pirates is so very inept in every respect that it can't even be enjoyed as one of those "so bad it's good" pictures. The direction is almost non-existent, with scenes that drag on as is a first rehearsal had been filmed, and filmed before it had even been blocked. This plodding footage is interspersed with stock shots and, in cases, entire scenes lifted from earlier (and MUCH better) movies, and the inserts are glaringly obvious, particularly in the first battle at sea (thirty or so background extras listlessly waving swords at each other as if half asleep, never varying their position, suddenly interrupted by a genuinely action-packed insert from The Black Swan!). The cast is headed by lacklustre Ken Scott, who had lent his wooden presence to other Fox productions (his supporting role in Stopover Tokyo helping to sink that particular dud). John Richardson looks fabulous, but has no technique, looks somewhat lost, and after this film went back to virtual extra status until his breakthrough a few years later in She and One Million Years BC. Worst of all, in fact the worst performance I have ever seen by a leading lady in a studio production, comes from Leticia Roman, a pretty but spectacularly untalented Italian girl playing a cockney and spouting lines like "lord love a duck" and "you ain't ever treated me like a lay-dee" in a voice that's a cross between Monica Vitti and Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. I am in danger here of making Pirates of Tortuga sound like something worth sitting through in order to have a giggle, but believe me it is NOT!

It has been a long time since I've seen this film, over 20 yrs in fact, but there were bits of detail that made it stick in my mind this long. For instance, the character named PeeWee had a distinctive style of sword fighting: he had the rapier or saber in the right hand but he wore a black glove on his left. After some research, I found the glove was used to bat away the blade and acted as a main gouche. Those types of details kept me watching the screen and firmly seated it in my memory. It was a typical pirate movie with the usual stereotypical roles, but it was fun to watch and little bits of the unusual peeked out here and there. I wish I had a chance to watch it again.

A contemporary review by the Los Angeles Times seems to have remarked that the production was "pure costume." I wonder if that sentiment wasn't a bit generous. The first act is almost entirely a sea-faring variation on 'My fair lady,' and that slant continues to be a dominant thrust for the remainder of the runtime, to the point that the narrative we're initially led to believe is the primary thrust of the picture (set-up as such from the start) actually becomes the B-plot. Meg's tale could be a worthy one to explore in and of itself, but when a feature is called 'Pirates of Tortuga' and bills itself as a swashbuckler, one rather expects more swashbuckling. In fairness, we do get fights and action, cheeky humor, and ale-swilling "yo ho!"-ing, and it's not like this isn't entertaining. Yet it's only mildly entertaining, and is this the movie one anticipates from the outside looking in? Not so much.

More to the point, I don't think the screenwriters truly had a clear focus. There were two concurrent stories they wanted to tell, converging in time - but they are both poorly imbalanced, and hasty at the tail end, and the portion chronicling the strife with the titular renegades was not developed well. It also is mostly relegated to the last act, and very weakly resolved for that matter, and Meg's journey takes precedence. For what it's worth, Letícia Román surely gives the best performance of the film; her co-stars are mostly just kind of lingering there, adrift in the same way the storytelling is. Robert D. Webb's direction is fine, I suppose, and it's suitably well made from a technical standpoint. Still, the title is so light on substance, and so indifferent to it, that if not for the contributions of those behind the scenes, this would be pure flotsam on the ocean of cinema.

The costume design really is splendid, and both the production design and art direction are eye-catching. The hair and makeup work is quite well done, and any effects that are employed look pretty swell. Action sequences are a bit of a loose grab bag, but they serve their purpose. All this is well and good. A film cannot be sold on visuals alone, however, and there's no real anchor for 'Pirates of Tortuga.' Without compelling acting, and especially without solid plot, the feature is doomed to just meekly coast along wherever the winds take it. There were good ideas in the writing, but the fact remains that it's so thin and flimsy that the end result doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. It's still passably amusing for a lazy day if you happen to come across it, but even if you're a huge fan of swashbucklers or someone involved, this is a cruise that is not essential by any means.

Pirates Of Tortuga has Captain Ken Scott who is a privateer on a special mission from the Admiralty. He's been told that Henry Morgan the pirate king with whom they had a deal with when Great Britain was at war with Spain has gone rogue again and set himself in grand style living on Tortuga Island as a pirate king. His living of course is the commerce of the merchant fleet of the West Indies. He's been so good at it that Jamaica is close to starvation.

Scott's mission is relieve Jamaica first then get Morgan. Not so easy, but with his picked crew of buccaneers he's confident that they'll get the job done.

Going along for the ride is stowaway Leticia Roman, a cut purse from London who Scott feels sorry for. She's trouble at first, but proves her worth.

Olympic track star Rafer Johnson has a small part in Pirates Of Tortuga and Robert Stephens plays a dastardly Morgan.

Pirates Of Tortuga was done on the cheap with ample stock footage from such 20th Century Fox classics as the Black Swan and Anne Of The Indies.

Pleasant afternoon viewing for action/adventure fans.