I predatori delle Antille

Although being starred by a porn star (Anita Rinaldi) and directed by Joe D'Amato during the late phase of his career, this is not a sex movie as the English title ("Sex Pirates") want us to believe, but a straight adventure story with some occasional brief nudity.

Actually this was the last attempt of the director in working on a "normal" film, an aspect that in itself makes of this an obligatory item for any serious fan of the legendary Italian filmmaker. The fact he resurrected his old pseudonym "David Hills" to sign the direction and used his real name in the cinematography credit, instead of the usual variation of "Federiko Slonisko" is an undeniable evidence that he was more interested in the material here. He even had a boat constructed for this production and covered the costs by directing a couple of porn flicks using the same boat, set and costumes (no wonder he is sometimes called the "Italian Roger Corman").

The main problem is that we have a premise that is too ambitious to a so meagre budget. I think not even Roger Corman could do an action/adventure plot about pirates with a budget that would be high for a porn production, but too small for a legit one. As a consequence, for most of the action sequences and for every scene requiring a lot of extras, D'Amato made extensive use of stock footage of some old obscure movie and, as expected, the contrast with the material really shot for the film is quite evident. We also have some fight scenes shot by D'Amato, but the total lack of ability by the unknown cast made the result laughable. The film was shot in Hungary, and the cast is mostly composed by people from that country, but except for Anita Rinaldi and an ucredited cameo of porn actor Zenza Raggi, no one else is familiar (to me, at least), and all the performances are very weak.

The main attraction is the aforementioned Anita Rinaldi. She might not be a great actress, but was very gorgeous, and in two brief scenes we can see all the perfection of her stunning curves.

The level of appreciation of "I Predatori Delle Antille" (also known as "Tortuga") will depends on the expectation one creates. If you sit through it expecting a thrilling pirate story in Hollywood style your disappointment will be colossal. By the other hand, if you are familiar with the career of Joe D'Amato and take in consideration that this was his last effort in genuine moviemaking, in a period he was focussed on boring porn made strictly for alimentary reason, the experience will not be that bad. At least, we can still admire his talent as a director of photography, despite the fact it seem to have been shot on video.

Unfortunately, after this film, D'Amato only made a few more pornographic videos before he prematurely died in January 1999, and his other plans to make non-pornographic productions never came to fruition.

Despite a latter-day career of over 100 hardcore porn films, Joe D'Amato proved he could still make a decent movie with SEXY PIRATES, a rollicking adventure tale that plays as well as many Hollywood '50s B pictures from the major studios. It has finally been released in America, though misleadingly sold as "erotica".

The nudity and sex scenes in this 90-minute movie last only seconds and would qualify for a soft R rating. The production is oddly credited to La Idra Musica, a music publishing outfit familiar from Joe's XXX films (e.g., THE JOY CLUB), but evidently backing a modest budget "clean" movie this time as a flyer into that end of the business.

Shot in Hungary, film boasts porn star Anita Rinaldi in the leading role, and Joe photographs her very flatteringly -she is a treat in this movie. I've seen some of her XXX work (VISIONS and Joe's MIDNIGHT OBSESSION), both as director and star, and it is routine compared to this mainstream outing.

She plays Lady Elena Hamilton, stopping at nothing to rescue her husband, Lord Hamilton (stolidly played by erstwhile stunt man Menyhert Dutombe) from pirates. Plot twists are conventional but worth describing as they demonstrate Joe's commitment to making a real movie for a change, even dusting off his "straight" pseudonym David Hills for the occasion.

When pirate George Rackham captures Lord Hamilton, killing his entire crew but saving him for ransom, King Charles of England rejects Elena's plea to save him. The king won't negotiate with pirates (sounds familiar hundreds of years later) and won't waste the treasure to mount a rescue mission.

Elena organizes her own mission, getting Captain Graham (Zoltan Kiss) to take her to Tortuga to enlist legendary "gentleman pirate" Thomas Butler (Carlo De Palma, not the Antonioni/Woody Allen cinematographer who uses the "Di" spelling unfortunately but another bloke).

De Palma resembles a macho version of Fisher Stevens (if one can imagine that) and is less than optimal casting for the lead role, but D'Amato makes do with a colorful cast of companions.

Elena agrees to give herself sexually to Butler if he succeeds in rescuing her hubby, but he proves to be a real gentleman, never forcing her to deliver on this promise. I was glad to see Joe toning down the rush-to-sex groove that he had become locked in for over a decade, and substitute good, old-fashioned story values.

In one plot lapse, Butler's beautiful and tempestuous girlfriend Pilar accompanies them on the mission, even though she and Elena have had a cat fight due to his divided attentions. This is all cleared up by film's end, but rather sloppily handled en route.

They discover that Hamilton has been sold by Rackham to the evil Don Diego de la Vega (sounds like a Zorro character, hammily played by Laszlo Mandrasz) so they recruit a motley crew to head to Maracaibo to assault De La Vega's fortress.

In an homage to Italian Westerns (THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY to be specific) they find a sharpshooter who turns his confederate in for reward and then saves him from the noose with a well-timed shot, a tough way to make a living. An explosives expert Jean (Gabor Kun) is brought aboard and in a clever comic relief scene the hulking bald Gallon (Istvan Hangos) becomes Elena's protector. Oriental martial arts expert Kato (Whu Tang Tung) comes along for the ride.

The team defeats a Dutch ship in battle to arrive at Maracaibo incognito, but De La Vega smells the trap and puts them all in irons. After some escaping, sword-fighting, explosions and other derring-do the happy ending is achieved in a whirlwind finish.

This is low-budget film, but importantly it's adequately budgeted, as Joe photographs the women with lovely back-lighting and beautiful orangey hues, and all the shipboard footage is convincing. His many fans should be pleased at this return to form (copyrighted 1999, the year of his death), and undoubtedly regret that he toiled in the porn wilderness for so long instead of cranking out more quality Bs.

SEXY PIRATES is another erotic costume adventure from Joe D'Amato, made right at the end of his life. Unlike the others he made, however, this one is strictly softcore and a great deal tamer than his others. There are a handful of beautiful women who regularly disrobe for some steamy moments, but otherwise this is more plot-focused and even has some action in it to recommend it. It harks back to the costume adventures of the early '60s, a lot cheaper and with worse acting and production values, but fairly impressive visually and with plenty going on to see you through. A step up, then, from the usual fare D'Amato made during this era.

So I have not translated the original title and what it would mean in english. One of the international titles is more than missleading though (Sexy Pirates). While there is nudity and I reckon you can attest beauty to the people involved, this is more of an by the numbers adventure. The version I saw did cut away when things were about to get steamy. There might be other versions that depict a bit more though I do not think it would make the film better.

What I do think is missing (apart from more meat to the story, no pun intended), is women being more than just pretty little things to look at. It would have been nice if they had some stunt scenes for themselves. Having cliches as team members might be good enough for you, but overall there is not enough to keep anyone interested for the whole run time ... morals aside