Pirates Reviews

PIRATES opens with Capt. Red (Walter Matthau), a bearded, peg-legged pirate, and Frog (Cris Campion), a handsome French sailor, sailing on a tiny raft through the vast blue ocean. Soon they sight a Spanish galleon and manage to climb aboard, even though a mutiny is being put down by Don Alfonso (Damien Thomas) and his evil lieutenants. Red and Frog are tossed into the brig along with another prisoner (Olu Jacobs), who whets Red's greed by informing him that in the very next room sits a priceless gold Aztec throne that is being transported by Don Alfonso for the governor (Bill Fraser). While Red is contemplating ways to steal the throne, Frog is thinking of Dolores (Charlotte Lewis), the governor's beautiful niece, who is also on board. PIRATES was conceived as a big-budget epic in the spirit of the classic Errol Flynn swashbucklers. Unable to make a film without adding a personal touch, however, director Roman Polanski crafted a rather unorthodox pirate tale, for the pirate hero is not the athletic, bare-chested Hollywood type, but a decrepit Matthau who is filthy, greedy, peg-legged, and has a cannibalistic streak. The plot is simple, allowing Polanski great freedom to play with his characters and to give his audience rousing fight scenes. Although the film is a bit slow and talky in spots, it fills the long-ignored gap in Hollywood-style swashbuckling pictures. Unfortunately for Polanski, the moviegoing public has either forgotten those great old films that PIRATES spoofs or has never seen a swashbuckler in the first place. The costumes, by Anthony Powell, were nominated for an Oscar.