Swashbuckler (film)
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''Swashbuckler'' is a 1976 American romantic
adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...
. The film is based on the story "The Scarlet Buccaneer", written by Paul Wheeler and adapted for the screen by
Jeffrey Bloom Jeffrey Allen Bloom is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter and photographer, currently residing in Studio City, California. His film projects include ''Flowers in the Attic'', ''Nightmares'', ''Blood Beach'' and ''Dogpound ...
. It was directed by
James Goldstone James Goldstone (June 8, 1931 – November 5, 1999) was an American film and television director whose career spanned over thirty years. Career Goldstone was noted for the momentum and "fifteen-minute cliffhangers" that he brought to TV pilots ...
and was rated PG. The film was released in the UK as ''The Scarlet Buccaneer''.


Plot

In
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
in 1718, a band of
pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
led by Captain "Red" Ned Lynch oppose the greedy acting Governor, the evil Lord Durant. Durant has ruthlessly imprisoned his Lord High Justice (taking over the role himself) and mercilessly evicted the judge's wife and daughter. The daughter, Jane Barnet, attempts to assassinate Durant by paying Lynch to ambush him at the port. The ambush fails, resulting in Jane and three of Lynch's crew being captured and sentenced to death. The other prisoners, including the judge, are also awaiting execution. Lynch returns to the island and joins forces with the local inhabitants to overthrow the military forces and return everything Durant has stolen to its rightful owners. In the process Durant is killed by Lynch and all the prisoners are released.


Cast


Production

Pirate films had gone out of fashion with major Hollywood studios since the 1950s, due in part to high cost. The success of ''The Three Musketeers'' (1973) showed there was still an appetite for swashbucklers, so original producer Eliot Kastner prepared a pirate script where most of the action took place on shore. "It was prepared to avoid all the hazards of filming on water and it could have been inexpensively made", said co-producer Jennings Lang. "But we decided that it would be cheating the public to do a pirate movie without boats, that would not be using the basic material." The film was shot in Mexico and on the
galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...
''
Golden Hinde ''Golden Hind'' was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as ''Pelican,'' but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Ha ...
'', a replica of the ''Golden Hind'' captained by English
privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
,
Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...
from 1577 to 1580, which had been moored in San Francisco harbor after a five-month journey to
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
from England. According to the Special Feature section of the DVD, it was the only pirate movie filmed aboard an actual ship of that era. "I just hope the audience doesn't think its too small", said Goldstone during production about the ship. "All those
Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...
movies—the captain's table was 17 feet long. There are parts of our ship that aren't even that wide."
Anjelica Huston Anjelica Huston ( ; born July 8, 1951) is an American actress and director. Known for often portraying eccentric and distinctive characters, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as no ...
was cast for her role over Martine Beswicke and
Barbara Steele Barbara Steele (born 29 December 1937) is an English film actress known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. She has been referred to as the "Queen of All Scream Queens" and "Britain's first lady of horror". She played th ...
. Robert Morgan, a stuntman who lost his leg making '' How the West Was Won'' (1963), played a one-legged pirate. Robert Shaw said during filming:
I'm underplaying this part when all the others are overplaying. I'm trying to be real but I'm also trying to find some sort of contemporary style. It's a mix between 1976 and what we used to call panache. It's as if you were to do
Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...
in '76 – I stand apart and alone. In ''Jaws'' I was conscious of overplaying. I'm not ashamed of it. I had to bring those American guys up to a certain pitch of energy. But here I'm taking it down and trying to go in the other way. Trying to be real in an unreal situation. I hate all this action, I loathe it. What am I doing running around like this? I'm better off sitting down, playing a scene like I'm talking to you. What I know about life is a fair bit, but it is not contained in sword fights or running up and down the masts of a ship or taking a punch. It's doubly hard because I'm English. English actors are always being asked to play princes or generals or pirate captains. I never get to sit in a booth with a girl and have a conversation.
Geneveive Bujold made the film under her contract with Universal. She said later she did not regret making the film because "Robert Shaw is a man worth knowing." Director James Goldstone stated during filming:
We're not doing a boffo comedy. We are not making fun of ourselves. One of the cardinal rules here is that every actor really believe what he is doing could actually happen... I hope to evoke all those feelings that audiences felt when they first saw Errol Flynn's movies, but at the same time I realise that if you saw an actual Errol Flynn movie today, marvelous as they were, you'd laugh. My job here is to keep the energy up, the motion moving forward, to maintain a level of joy.
Costume director Burton Miller said:
Instead of researching the period, I took on producer Jennings Lang's challenge for a non-historical approach and started walking along the unsetStrip. I took what groupies and rock stars wear today and took it back 200 years... The film offered more avenues for self expression than anything I'd ever done before. Universal were very generous ith the costume budget


Release

The working title for the film was ''Swashbuckler'', which was changed during production to ''The Blarney Cock''. "We want to avoid the movie being considered a kid's picture", said Lang. "We wanted a title that is arresting to adults as well as kids. This ship in the movie is called "The Blarney Cock", so we decided to make use of that name as the title." Before release, however, Universal had a change of heart about the suggestive nature of the title and it was reverted to ''Swashbuckler''.


Reception

The film fared poorly at the box office and was described as an "expensive flop". In Leonard Maltin's annual publication of movie ratings, the film is rated as a "BOMB".


Novelization


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swashbuckler (Film) 1976 films 1970s historical adventure films American historical adventure films American action comedy films American swashbuckler films American children's films Films set in the 1710s Pirate films 1970s English-language films Films set in Jamaica Films directed by James Goldstone Films scored by John Addison Universal Pictures films 1970s American films