Pirates ** (1986, Walter Matthau, Cris Campion, Damien Thomas, Richard Pearson, Roy Kinnear, Ferdy Mayne, Charlotte Lewis) – Classic Movie Review 8852

Tess in 1979 was the final film directed by Roman Polanski for seven years until his 1986 swashbuckler pirate movie Pirates.

Roman Polanski’s rollicking 1986 pirate romp Pirates boasts a jolly performance by Walter Matthau as the scallywag, cockney Captain Thomas Red, a handsome production, stirring music and much silly slapstick humour.

In the story, Captain Red joins forces with dashing young French sailor The Frog (Cris Campion) to battle the Spanish fleet to grab the prize of an Aztec golden chair.

On the demerit side, the plot is tiny for a 124-minute epic, decorative young heroine Charlotte Lewis betrays her inexperience as María-Dolores de la Jenya de la Calde, the dubbing is poor and Polanski is not at home with raucous comedy.

Too much ($8 million) of the $40 million budget was spent on the Spanish galleon, which, admittedly, looks terrific. The captain’s role was written for Polanski’s pal, Jack Nicholson, who wisely bailed out. It took only $1,641,825 in America.

Pirates was filmed in Tunisia, Malta and the Seychelles.

Also in the cast are Damien Thomas as Don Alfonso de la Torré, Richard Pearson, Roy Kinnear, Ferdy Mayne as Captain Linares, Olu Jacobs, Tony Peck, David Kelly, Anthony Dawson, Richard Dieux, Jacques Maury, José Santamaria, Robert Dorning, Luc Jamati, Emilio Fernandez, Ian Dury, Cardew Robinson, Michael Elphick, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Sydney Bromley, Daniel Emilfork and Bill Fraser.

Pirates is directed by Roman Polanski, runs 124 minutes, is made by Carthago Films, Accent Films and Cominco is released by Cannon Film Distributors (1986) (US), is written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, John Brownjohn, is shot by Witold Sobocinski, is produced by Tarak Ben Ammar, is scored by Philippe Sarde and is designed by Pierre Guffroy.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8852

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com