Le Pirate des Caraïbes

Critics were hard on "Swashbuckler" in my Country too. However I've been watching films for 45 years now and there are some things I'm pretty sure on movies. As most things in life everything is just a matter of opinion and each one's own preferences and tastes. Critics are just movie fans -like any other one- that have the possibility of making their opinions known, but that's the only difference with us, and in fact I don't agree with them very often. "Swashbuckler" is one of those cases. Considering this film within it's genre -there's no other way to analyze a film- I found it most entertaining and enjoyable.

The first point in favor of "Swashbuckler" is that the director, crew and actors didn't take it too seriously and they aimed to an action, romance, amusing and unpretentious pirate movie; and they succeeded in my opinion.

Robert Shaw was no Errol Flynn and he didn't even try to be but he is convincing as pirate Captain Ned Lynch who joins a noble damsel in distress (Genevieve Bujold) to fight tyrannic Jamaica governor Durant played by Peter Boyle (he isn't Basil Rathbone and also doesn't pretend to be) who achieves a most original and colorful villain (his deadly sword training with more than one opponent at a time is most enjoyable and interesting). The rest of the cast that includes James Earl Jones, a funny Beau Bridges and Angelica Houston are a good support too.

Director James Goldstone does a prolix job in beautiful Caribbean outdoor sceneries and keeps entertainment all along with very well achieved action scenes and sword play.

All in all, if you enjoy pirate films this is one to see (the critics opinions notwithstanding).

I LOVE this movie. I don't care how terrible critics might think it is. It's fun, romantic, entertaining, an old fashioned yarn. It came out right after Robert Shaw made a "splash" in Jaws, and he's fabulous as usual. Don't let them make you feel guilty about loving this movie. It's great.

Pirate Ned Lynch (Robert Shaw) and his gang (including James Earl Jones) help Jane Barnet (Genevieve Bujold) fight evil Lord Durant (Peter Boyle).

This film has a very bad reputation. Critics hated it and it was a financial disaster at the box office. I can't figure out why. It's not perfect but it's not horrible. The bad things in it: Shaws' Irish accent makes some of his dialogue unintelligible; the scripts dialogue is aimed at kids; the character of Cudjo (Geoffrey Holder) is introduced--and then disappears for an hour!; ditto with Major Folly (Beau Bridges); the treatment of Bujold is horrible (and she acts very lost in this movie); there are some really strange kinky touches such as Bridges almost being tortured, Bujold's pointless nude swimming scene and Durant's bath with a young boy and having Anjelica Huston in the film...and giving her NO dialogue!

The good: With the exception of Bujold the cast is having a whale of a time (Bridges especially is enjoying himself); it's fun to see Jones so young and full of life; there's plenty of action (with some great sword fights); it's very lavishly produced and there's a rousing music score by John Addison.

Basically it's a fun way to kill of 100 minutes--I was never bored.

This is one of Hollywoods many failed attempts to revive the pirate movie. Through the 1980s and 90s they gave us --"The Island", Polanski's "Pirates", "The Pirate Movie" and "Cutthroat Island". All big budget bombs. Maybe Hollywood should give up (I'm not counting "Pirates of the Caribbean"--that was not a movie-it was an ad for a Disney theme park.)

Worth catching.

I'm tired of Leonard Maltin and anyone else who panned this movie! I agree with 85-95% of what he usually reviews. HOWEVER, there are some movies you just gotta accept as fun, and disregard bad parts (like the whole Peter Boyle role--geez, they coulda gotten a better bad guy). Robert Shaw is a perfect pirate, and he and James Earl Jones made a great duo. The acrobatics / fencing / cannons is just a whole lot of action packed fun, with the HAHAHHAHA guy from the soda commercials and James Bond "Live and Let Die" movie. Beau Bridges' part is the perfect MASH / Frank Burns type; great for the other characters to make fun of. But, being a musician, what stood out to me is the music. Too bad they didn't use more Sound studio effects like reverb or chorusing, because the score is awesome. The cinematograpy is awesome, too; beautiful wide / panned shots of Jamaica and its mountains / coastline. Not the best movie to have your kids watch with you, as it gets suggestively racy in some parts, but, I'd put this in the same category of "almosts" like Remo Williams, Punisher, King Solomon's Mines (Richard Chamberlain / Sharon Stone). So, lighten up, get yer popcorn and Diet Coke, and have fun! Aye, Cap'n!!

Despite Maltin's great slagging-off of this movie (has he actually seen it, I wonder??), I reckon it was a little gem in an era when a lot of filmmakers took themselves and their work far too seriously! Guaranteed to lift the blues on any bad day, it may be a bit corny, it might have been misguided to make a pirate flick in the mid-70s, but there are certainly a lot worse examples of the genre around, and this one is quite a cute and appealing film.