Pirates (1986)

Though a bit shaky on historical specifics, this is a visually rich film that is simply fun to watch. This Walter Matthau is NOT the same Grumpy Old Man. This one is a charismatic sociopath who cheerfully and loudly sacrifices everything and nearly everyone in the quest for gold. Still, it is the atmosphere of the film that captures you. You experience the clinging Carribbean air, the rank dungeon and bilge deck prisons, the salt breezes and jungle rot. Though these are evil characters, the audience roots for the pirates as they are turned away from their goal by Spaniards, nature and their own greed. This movie is an evolutionary leap from the Errol Flynn and Burt Lancaster pirates and well worth a bowl of popcorn.

Fmovies: Oh dear me,How can any one say this is a awful film.

Captain Thomas Bartholomew Red played by Walter Matthau,is just great, Walter Matthau plays this roll with great easy it is not so much as what lines he says but the way he plays the roll.

Just look out for the the looks that Walter Matthau gives to camera,it will have you laughing out loud & if you like me will be on the side of Captain Thomas Batholomew Red.

I only wish is that this film will be available on DVD, I look each week hoping to see that it is now available.

I will be the first to add this Film "Pirates" to my collation.

This is the story about the pirate captain Thomas Bartholomew Red, played by Walther Matthau, and his struggle to get a famous aztec treasure from the hands of the Spanish nation. Escaping from a desert island with his faithful french sailor "the Frog", his soul purpose in life becomes that of getting his hands on the treasure, a throne of solid gold.

Walther Matthau plays extraordinarily well in his role as the great captain, with Cris Campion as the faithful right hand.

This movie is extremely underrated, the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean is actually rated higher, is an outrage. The Disney tale of ghosts and magic is just a fairytale. Pirates on the other hand, gives us a view of the fight between the classes, aristocrats versus the common laborer, all based in the pirate age of the caribbean.

This movie gets a 8/10 from me.

Pirates fmovies. This film is one of Polanski's masterpieces. He did to pirate movies what Sergio Leone did to western: showing the opposite of the usual sancticised glamorous movie portrayal of an era, yet achieving an epic effect, and images you want to see again and again.

But a difference to Leone, beyond a high dose of irony and situation comic, is the bittersweet ingredient of the Central-Eastern-European experience, of lack of success and constant failure, constantly hitting all of our heroes in the film.

Memories of living under communism might have also played a role in the (for me) most memorable part of the movie, the failed mutiny followed by the successful mutiny aboard the Spanish ship: the way the aristocrats have power over the people, and make Captain Red and The Frog eat the rat. And then, hilarious juxtaposing, the mutiny is like a parody of a communist revolution.

But the best thing about the film are the actors. Walter Matthau is at his best as the grumpy old liar Captain Red, Damien Thomas is terrific as Don Alfonso the hyper-arrogant Spanish aristocrat who'll never loses his superiority, Roy Kinnear the embodiment of ugliness as the Dutch, and also the young no-names Cris Campion (playing The Frog, the naive young Frenchman at Captain Red's side) and Charlotte Lewis (playing the even more naive daughter of the governor).

When I was a kid growing up I got into this PC game called Sid Meier's Pirates. I wanted to do everything pirate related. For some reason I never fully identified with the Errol Flynn pirate. He was always a good guy, who got caught up in the circumstances and was still trying to be a good guy. He was always chivalrous, clean and relatively good looking. Thank the contents of Davey Jones' locker for Roman Polanski. In all honesty, it was the VHS cover that first attracted me to this movie : Walter Matthau dressed up as a disheveled looking Captain Morgan, cutlass drawn and pointed as us.

The movie revolves mainly around the exploits of the stool-legged Captain Bartholomew Red (Mathau) and his French first mate (who at times resembles dinner), the Frog. On the heels of their last adventure (see Boca del Toro), the movie starts out in the middle of the ocean with our two protagonists on a raft floating around, mad with hunger. After encountering a Spanish galleon (the Neptune) and performing a self-rescue, the story shifts into main gear : the Aztec Throne of Zapotec Anahuak.

This is by far my favorite pirate movie. It has all the right elements - action, adventure, ship battles, wooden appendages, sword fighting, humor, barrels of rum, gold, prison, cross dressing, cockney accents, love, large feathery hats, giant wigs and even the attractive Charlotte Lewis (remember Eddie's love interest from the Golden Child). Walter Matthau is clearly the standout character in this movie. His Captain Red is an amalgamate of various pirates but yet stands on its own because of Matthau. Red is haughty, greedy, ambitious, inspirational, conniving, and single-minded when it comes to gold. This is made all the more apparent by the juxtapose to his highly idealistic first mate. Where as Captain Jack Sparrow is a bit on the weaselly side, Captain Red is more like a scraggly wolf. It was also beneficial that Matthau was a tall 6 foot 3 inches tall, giving Captain Red a larger than life persona. If not for Keith Richards, I think Captain Red could have been more than an appropriate inspiration for Mr. Depp.

Roman Polanski does an excellent job in de-glamorizing the pirate lifestyle. Even Captain Jack Sparrow is a bit on the tame side (Thank You Disney). If Errol Flynn was the prototype, then Walter Matthau is the grittier, colorized version. What Polanski did for vampires with the Fearless Vampire Killers, he does the same for the pirate genre with this movie. On top of the typical "pirate" behavior, Polanski has even added commentary on the day. This would include the class divisions between the officers and crew, the political strife between the English, Dutch, French and the haughty Spanish (the RIAA of the day) and the unquenchable lust for gold.

This movie was maligned by the critics when it came out and has since sunk into anonymity. This should not be so. It contains one of Matthau's best performances and is the best pirate movie ever made. Unfortunately, if you don't like pirates or adventure movies, then you probably will like the English Patient and not this. For everyone else, I highly recommend the Spanish (manga films) region 2 DVD of this movie (presented in anamorphic 16x9).

-Celluloid Rehab

"Arr, mateys, shiver me timbers!" is what you feel like shouting while watching this involving modern pirate movie that should become a classic. Roman Polanski had wanted to make a pirate movie such as this one for a long time, starting in the Lodz Film Academy in Poland, and finally did it - unfortunately, the problems he had affected the movie and made it a theatrical flop. Quite unfairly, as it has everything a pirate fan might want - a lovely score, breathtaking scenery, props and settings, a script that is adventurous and funny, good acting - and plenty of fun and adventure! And, most importantly, the amazing Walter Matthau as the best stereotypical pirate cap'n you'll ever see! Matthau performance is breathtaking - I can see his Cap'n Red standing arm-in-arm with Blackbeard, Black Bart and Captain Kidd, shouting orders at the "mateys"... Highly recommended for any fan of swashbuckling adventures - and for everyone else! (And while you're out to buy this movie, don't miss the equally underrated, and also very good, newer "Cutthroat Island" with Frank Langella).