Le faucon d'or

It's the 17th century in the Caribbean seas. The Spanish and English are allied against the French. Kit 'The Hawk' Gerardo (Sterling Hayden) is a French privateer. His obsession is to take down Spanish pirate Luis del Toro who is responsible for his mother's death. Lady Jane (Rhonda Fleming) is an English pirate known as Captain Rouge.

This is a Technicolor seafaring adventure. Everybody's costumes are too clean. The fake background is fake although I do like some of the real exterior actions. The ship action has miniatures. I don't buy Sterling Hayden as French. I don't see him as any hero. I don't know if anybody is the hero of this piece. Maybe Lady Jane is one. It all feels rather fake and old fashion, but there is a kind of charm to all that. I just wouldn't recommend this to anybody.

Amusing adventures with intrepid pirates and exotic scenarios. Clean-cut heroics, anachronist storyline , brave privateer played by Sterling Hayden and handsomely roguish villainy from John Sutton. The seafaring adventures of French privateer Kit 'The Hawk' Gerardo during the Franco-Spanish-English war of the 17th century. Stars Kit Gerardo (Sterling Hayden), also known as The Hawk, is one of Frances's most daring buccaneers, rescues Rouge (Rhonda Fleming) from a Spanish ship (acceptable miniature ships). She is working to restore the fortune the French took from her. The pirate nicknamed The Hawk join forces to Captain Jeremy Smithers (Paul Cavanagh) and Bernardo Díaz (Michael Ansara). When Kit is captured by the governor of Cartagena, Luis del Toro (John Sutton), Rouge demands that he be hanged for piracy. Later on, they decide to take the ruler headquarter, the location strongest fortified from Cartagena de Indias. Daring Privateer Meets Notorious Lady Pirate!. The Most Popular Sea Story of Our Time!

Heroism , sword-play , ambushes and full of villainy swashbuckler, being financed by Columbia Pictures. The film is a nice pirate-adventure movie , produced in medium budget with habitual dueling, getaways , disguises and sexual hostility between hero and heroine, including a love triangle among Rhonda Fleming-Sterling Hayden-Helena Carter. Typical swashbuckler, the type no longer made in Hollywood, but exhilarating to see. This classic story of romantic adventure comes to life enriched by Technicolor cinematography and accompanied by an attractive score. It is the tale of a buccaneer named Kit Gerardo who takes over a ship of corsairs and wreak havoc on the high seas .

This is an agreeable entertainment juvenile romp in B-series, written for the screen by Robert E. Kent and based on the popularly successful novel by Frank Yerby. The movie displays in grandiose style noisy action, swashbuckler, heroism , swordplay, overwhelming fights, and spectacular sea battles with appropriate scale models. This release has some nice and even hilarious moments here and there , though isn't always interesting, sometimes is diverting and fresh and on a couple of sympathetic occasions is frankly delicious. Sterling Hayden is cool as the pirate hero who finds dangerous situations while trying save the damsel in distress. It has two exceptionally photogenic leading ladies in Rhonda Fleming and Helena Carter. This adventure movie with a budget enough packs breathtaking locations, sea-fight and amusing plot with plenty of roguish situations, thrills and emotion. It's enriched by colorful cinematography by cameraman William V. Skall. Furthermore , lively and rousing musical score. The motion picture was acceptably directed by Sidney Salkow. He was a craftsman who had already filmed adventures and Western movies . He realized all kind of genres such as routine westerns (Sitting Bull , The great Sioux massacre , Pathfinder) , Adventures (Prince of Pirates , Sword of the avenger) , war films , Sci-Fi (The last man on Earth) , Terror (Twice-told tales) and melodramas (City without men) . Salkow first worked for Republic, after joining Universal . At Columbia , he handled , among other assignments, four installments of the popular Lone Wolf series . After 1953, Salkow was primarily active as a director of episodes for television. Rating : 6/10

This standard and entertaining 50's swashbuckling that combines with certain gusto all staples of the genre to be liked for Sterling Hayden and Rhonda Fleming fans. Rating : 6/10, acceptable and passable , worthwhile watching .

Although Rhonda Fleming and Maureen O'Hara were both Titian-tressed beauties whom technicolor was seemingly invented, O'Hara was known for playing the kind of parts that she would have been playing in The Golden Hawk, that of a lady pirate. I wonder if Sam Katzman sent this script to the wrong redhead or he couldn't get O'Hara and settled for Rhonda Fleming.

As history I really couldn't quite figure out just when The Golden Hawk is taking place. We've got Spanish pirate John Sutton, French pirate Sterling Hayden, and English lady pirate Fleming. Add to that Helena Carter who is the promised bride of Sutton who Hayden holds for a ransom at one point. So we've got the nationalities straight, but I couldn't figure out the time and place historically for how these alliances seem to shift and change.

As for the casting these are all competent players, but Sterling Hayden is as French as Anna May Wong. As for Sutton, fine actor that he is why didn't Sam Katzman go get Gilbert Roland who would have been believable. Maybe he did and Roland turned him down.

The hidden plot gimmick is that there's something going on between Sutton and Hayden which I can't reveal. There are some nice battle sequences, but that's the best thing The Golden Hawk has to recommend it.

Maureen and Gilbert dodged a bullet with this one.

Kit Gerardo, also known as The Hawk, is one of Frances's most daring privateers, rescues Rouge from a Spanish ship. She is also a pirate, working to restore the fortune the French took from her. When Kit is captured by the governor of Cartagena, Luis del Toro, Rouge demands that he be hanged for piracy. Only one person knows it, but Kit is the governor's son.

The Golden Hawk has all the usual ingredients of a pirate romp: ship, adventures, sword fights, plots/counter plots and gunpowder explosions and of course romance - there's a little twist regarding the man Golden Hawk wants to kill. It's a bit melodramatic and sometimes talky but the sprightly sword fights and ship battles as well as the beautiful ladies like Rhonda Fleming uplifts this film. As for Sterling Hayden, he's an odd choice as a dashing pirate captain, a Casanova of the high seas, and largely he isn't too bad. He's a bit more alive than he's in other films. But someone like John Payne would've been a better fit.

Kit Gerardo (Hayden) has a strong motive to get revenge over his mother's death, carrying the quest for twenty years against Captain Luis Del Toro; but when an opportunity arises, instead of killing the man, he collects a ransom from a prisoner he holds, which happens to be Del Toro's fiancée. He also battles other foes, some of which were on land while riding horses after getting commissioned by a French leader to destroy the Spanish settlements - in return he and his men can be rewarded with land to settle on.

Rhonda Fleming was Captain Rouge, and she was a pirate; but this was not discovered until after the first 30 minutes. Now that delay had some circumstances for her, and would have been okay if she still would have maintained her Captain's status, giving off vibrations that definitely could put a man in erection city; but she soon ends up back on her plantation, becoming a victim to Kit Gerardo's men who are on that mission to destroy settlements … stoking her hatred of men.

Part of Hayden's character was to be a lover, and he passes the test since he does not overdo any charming routine. His success with women sure does take a nose dive, though; he finds that the fiancée and Captain Rouge are women who sure are fickle: one minute they want Kit Gerardo dead, and the next minute they want his loins … all this in the midst of a twist in the story.

There were believable characters, authentic clothes, villages … good fighting scenes, and beautiful mature women - a pretty good swashbuckler for only half of the movie being filmed at sea. The reason I gave it a 7 instead of an 8 was because of Rhonda's character not staying in her pirate's mode.