Cutthroat Island
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''Cutthroat Island'' is a 1995
adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
swashbuckler film Swashbuckler films are a subgenre of the action film genre, often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, known as swashbucklers. Real historical events often feature prominently in the plot, morality is often clear-c ...
directed by
Renny Harlin Renny Harlin (born 15 March 1959) is a Finnish film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter who has made his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood and Cinema of China, China. His best-known films include ''A Nightmare on Elm ...
and written by Robert King and
Marc Norman Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...
from a story by Michael Frost Beckner, James Gorman, Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon. It stars
Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor
,
Matthew Modine Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character ...
and
Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flori ...
. It is a co-production between the United States, France, Germany and Italy. It had a notoriously troubled and chaotic production involving multiple rewrites and recasts. It received generally negative reviews from critics, who praised its high production values, action sequences, shooting locations and musical score, but criticized its script, acting, and unrealistic stunts. It was one of the biggest box office bombs in history, with losses of $147 million when adjusted for inflation. It is listed in the Guinness World Records as the biggest box-office bomb of all time, and significantly reduced the bankability and Hollywood production of pirate-themed films until 2003's '' Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl''. Its failure caused the closing of
Carolco Pictures Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an American independent film studio that existed from 1976 to 1995, founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna. Kassar and Vajna ran Carolco together until 1989, when Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures. Carolco hit ...
.


Plot

In 1668
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 ...
, Morgan Adams having escaped a sting operation to capture her with aid of her father's
Boatswain A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervi ...
Mr. Glasspoole and Bowen, hunts down her uncle and fellow pirate Dawg Brown, who has captured her father, Black Harry. Black Harry has one of three pieces of a map to a huge stash of gold on the remote Cutthroat Island, that only Harry and Brown's father managed to escape from. Dawg has another piece, having stolen it from the corpse of a third brother, Richard, while a fourth brother, Mordechai, has the last piece. Harry refuses to give Dawg his piece and escapes with Morgan's help, but not before being mortally wounded by Snelgrave, Dawg's one armed and one eyed
First Mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship ...
. A dying Harry reveals to his daughter the location of the map piece: on his scalp. At the same time in
Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...
during a ball hosted by its corrupt Governor Ainslee, William Shaw a con man and thief is captured by Captain Trotter fleeing from the household, having fleeced several guests of their valuables. After
scalping Scalping is the act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp, with hair attached, from the head, and generally occurred in warfare with the scalp being a trophy. Scalp-taking is considered part of the broader cultural practice of the tak ...
her dead father for the piece, Morgan, now the captain of her father's ship, the ''Morning Star'', sets out for the treasure. Unfortunately, the instructions appear to be in Latin, which no one on board reads. So, they go to nearby
Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...
to find a translator. There, they learn that one of the slaves up for auction, the very same named William Shaw, is fluent in Latin. After threatening a man determined to outbid her, Morgan wins the auction. Unfortunately, she is recognized from her wanted poster and is chased out of town, along with her crew and Shaw. Humiliated, Ainslee vows to find her, either to arrest her or form a partnership for half her profits. He enlists the help of chronicler John Reed, who often follows pirates to write his books. The crew then goes to Mordechai in Spittlefield Harbor. Before they can learn where the second piece is, Dawg appears (with Snelgrave capturing Morgan with a chain attached to his arm). A fight ensues, during which Mordechai is mortally wounded (with Dawg killing the pirate responsible) and Morgan is shot, while Shaw secretly finds the piece and keeps it to himself. After they escape on the ''Morning Star'', Morgan collapses from her wound, but is saved by Shaw, who is a self-proclaimed doctor. The two start a romance. Morgan figures out that the words on the map, when read backwards, spell out half the coordinates to the island. Meanwhile, Dawg takes his rage out on one of his crew (who was delaying his ship's departure due to lack of provisions) setting off after the ''Morning Star'' Dawg's ship, the ''Reaper'', bears down on them. Morgan directs hers toward a coral reef and a gale. Shaw manages to piece together the location of Cutthroat Island with his and Morgan's piece, but is caught and thrown in the brig. During the storm, Reed sends a carrier pigeon revealing their location to Ainslee. Meanwhile, the majority of the crew led by the treacherous Scully mutinies and maroons Morgan and those loyal to her in a boat. The tide takes them straight to Cutthroat Island, which is uncharted land northeast of
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. As Morgan goes after the treasure, Shaw, who escaped during the storm, steals the last piece from Dawg, who's on the island. Shaw falls into quicksand and Morgan, realizing he has the piece, frees him. Together, they find the gold, only for it to be stolen by Dawg, forcing them to jump off a cliff into the tide. After regaining consciousness, Shaw finds Reed, who leads him into a trap set by Dawg, Ainslee, and the mutineers, who have joined forces and intend to split the gold between them, with Ainslee intending to pardon Dawg and his crew by re-classing them as privateers, leaving his conflicted second Captain Trotter at a loss. As Shaw is captured and they make their way out to sea with the gold, Morgan sneaks aboard the ''Morning Star'' and retakes it from Scully and the mutineers, throwing them overboard to swim back to Cutthroat Island (while overpowering Captain Trotter and his soldiers killing several). Dawg who intends to use his newly acquired ill-gotten gains to become the new governor of Jamaica (by using its current governor to reinvent himself) convinces Ainslee to hang Shaw from his
yardarm A yard is a spar on a mast from which sails are set. It may be constructed of timber or steel or from more modern materials such as aluminium or carbon fibre. Although some types of fore and aft rigs have yards, the term is usually used to desc ...
. The crew then tries to sneak attack the ''Reaper'', but Dawg counterattacks by forcing the ''Morning Star'' crew to reveal themselves (when Morgan's
quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...
Mr. Blair shoots the intended hangman). A sea fight ensues, during which Shaw escapes and Ainslee, his men, and Reed are killed by cannon fire. Realizing his future in the army is over, Captain Trotter saves Mr. Blair by killing a fellow soldier before turning on the rest his remaining comrades, while Mr. Glasspoole tricks Snelgrave into entangling himself in the anchor with his chain attached arm before dropping the
anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...
into the depths taking Snelgrave with it. Morgan boards the ''Reaper'' and blows out the ship's bottom to get to the gold. She then duels Dawg while Shaw gets trapped below in rapidly rising water with the treasure. Morgan kills Dawg with a cannon and saves Shaw, forced to abandon the treasure to escape the sinking ship. Morgan attached a marker barrel to the treasure beforehand, allowing them to retrieve it, and the newly rich crew sets sail for their next adventure in Madagascar.


Cast


Production


Development

When the film was produced,
Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor
and director
Renny Harlin Renny Harlin (born 15 March 1959) is a Finnish film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter who has made his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood and Cinema of China, China. His best-known films include ''A Nightmare on Elm ...
were married. Harlin convinced producer
Mario Kassar Mario F. Kassar ( ar, ماريو قصار; born October 10, 1951) is a Lebanese film producer and industry executive who produced the first three films of the ''Rambo'' series, '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', '' Total Recall'', ''The Doors, Ange ...
to cast Davis, who was until then known for light comedies, hoping it would turn her into an action-adventure star.
Carolco Carolco Pictures, Inc. was an American independent film studio that existed from 1976 to 1995, founded by Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna. Kassar and Vajna ran Carolco together until 1989, when Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures. Carolco h ...
, already deeply in debt when the film entered preproduction, initially budgeted $60 million for the project and pinned its hopes for survival on its success. To fund it, the cash-starved company cancelled its only other project in production, ''Crusade'' starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
, costing it $13 million. It also sold a $20 million interest in
Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...
's ''
Showgirls ''Showgirls'' is a 1995 erotic drama pulp noir film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. The film stars Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, and Gina Ravera. Produced ...
'', ''
Last of the Dogmen ''Last of the Dogmen'' is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Tab Murphy (in his feature directorial debut). It stars Tom Berenger, Barbara Hershey, Kurtwood Smith, and Steve Reevis. Set in the mountains of northwest Montana, U ...
'', and ''
Stargate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...
'', and aggressively marketed ''Cutthroat Island'' to overseas distributors, promising them it would be a sure hit.


Casting

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...
originally agreed to play Shaw under two conditions: filming had to start immediately because he was available only for a limited time, and his character had to have the same amount of screen time as Davis. Douglas eventually pulled out, claiming that Davis's role was expanded at his character's expense, while Davis wanted to quit when Douglas did, but was contractually obligated to finish the film. After Douglas quit, Harlin was so preoccupied with trying to find a male lead that set construction and script work were done without his input. Consequently, Harlin did not like what he saw when shooting was set to begin, leading to expensive rebuilding and rewriting.
Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Gol ...
,
Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...
,
Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...
,
Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...
,
Jeff Bridges Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Bridges comes from a prominent a ...
,
Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes ( ; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shak ...
,
Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Platoon'' (1986), ''Wall Street'' (1987), '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' The Rookie'' (1990), ''The Thr ...
,
Michael Keaton Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He is known for his various comedic and dramatic film roles, including Jack Butler in ''Mr. Mom'' (1983), Betelgeuse in ''Beetlejuice'' ( ...
,
Tim Robbins Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film ''The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and has won an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards for his role ...
,
Daniel Day-Lewis Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English retired actor. Often described as one of the preeminent actors of his generation, he received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned over four decades, incl ...
and
Gabriel Byrne Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, audiobook narrator, and author. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's s ...
all turned down the role of Shaw before Modine agreed to do the role, partly due to his experience as a fencer.
Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...
was originally cast for a cameo as Mordechai Fingers, but was fired after getting in a bar fight and attempting to expose himself to Davis while intoxicated.
George Murcell Arthur George Murcell (30 October 1925 – 3 December 1998) was a British character actor. Life and career Born in Italy, he made his film debut in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's ''The Battle of the River Plate'' (1956), Murcell went ...
eventually took his place.


Filming

Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...
was delayed for various reasons, allowing the budget to spiral out of control. When Harlin fired the chief camera operator following a dispute, more than two dozen crew members quit. In addition, broken pipes caused raw sewage to pour into the water tank where the actors were supposed to swim. Harlin spent $1 million of his own money to rewrite the script, as Carolco Pictures was in so much debt that they could not afford to pay further. The first week into production, the film's original cinematographer, Oliver Wood, fell off a crane and into one of the water tanks, breaking his leg; he had to be replaced by cinematographer Peter Levy. Wood's contributions to the film would be acknowledged in the closing credits. The film was shot on location in
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. Indoor scenes were shot at Mediterranean Film Studios in Kalkara, Malta, and models were shot at the Paddock Tank at
Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
, in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England. Harlin required actors to do their own stunts whenever possible. While promoting the film, Davis appeared on talk shows with clips of her doing stunts over and over (including one take where she fell out of a window too soon, rolled down the roof and under a carriage) and described the bruises and injuries she sustained while filming.


Music

The film's
orchestral score Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...
was composed by
John Debney John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres including comedy, horror, thriller, and action-adventure. He is a ...
. It is one of the film's aspects that has been critically acclaimed, compared with the classic works of
Erich Wolfgang Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and compo ...
.


Release


Box office

''Cutthroat Island'' had a total production budget of $92–98 million million (though some put the figure as high as $115 million) and the total U.S. gross was $10,017,322. In 2014, the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' listed the film as one of the most expensive box office flops of all time. As well as making the Guinness World Record as the biggest box-office bomb of all-time. It debuted at No. 13 at the US box office.


Critical reception

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film has a 39% rating based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4.90/10. The site's consensus reads: "''Cutthroat Island'' may aspire towards the earnest thrills of classic swashbucklers, but a distinct lack of charm and stilted script make this adventure a joyless hodgepodge of the pirate genre's flotsam and jetsam." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the film has a score of 37% based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Critics were also unimpressed with the lack of chemistry between the leading actors, the one-dimensional villain, the unrealistic stunts (particularly a scene where Adams and Shaw jump through a scaffolding several stories high and come out unharmed) and the incoherent script. Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film a grade "B-" on scale of A to F.
Todd McCarthy Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for ''Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...
from ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said: "What seemed like a dubious proposition on paper plays even more dubiously onscreen, as ''Cutthroat Island'' strenuously but vainly attempts to revive the thrills of old-fashioned pirate pictures. Giving most of the swashbuckling opportunities to star Geena Davis, pic does little with its reversal of gender expectations and features a seriously mismatched romantic duo in Davis and Matthew Modine." ''
Time Out London ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...
'' commented that "we get Geena Davis doing the all-action honours, and a hotchpotch script that seems to think pirate movies are so funny in themselves the need for more humour is superfluous. The plot's well worn". Janet Maslin of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said that "It's not possible to believe that Ms. Davis is the highly respected captain of a pirate ship, and it's not even fun to try."
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
gave the film two stars out of five stating "It's mindless entertainment, but its critical and commercial failure doomed the pirate genre to a watery grave" complimenting though the locations and the set pieces stating that "The film is at its best in the gorgeous locations and the huge (we're talking Harlin -
Die Hard 2 ''Die Hard 2'' (also known by its tagline ''Die Harder'')The film's onscreen title is ''Die Hard 2'', as also given at the initial home-video release'official website The film's original advertising used "Die Harder" as a tagline, and many rele ...
,
Cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
- huge) set-pieces, concluding in a wild sea battle that is more
John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...
on water".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film a three-out-of-four-star rating, commenting: "This is, in short, a satisfactory movie – but it doesn't transcend its genre, and it's not surprising or astonishing. I saw it because that was my job and, having seen it, I grant its skill, and award it three stars on that basis. But unless you're really into pirate movies, it's not a necessary film." Susan Wloszczyna from ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' stated: "If the sight of half-naked, tattooed sailors firing cannons at each other shivers your timbers, climb aboard. Even passable pirate movies don't sail by every day," awarding the film a 2.5 star rating out of 4. Harlin was nominated for a
Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director The Razzie Award for Worst Director is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst director of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film(s) for which they we ...
for his work on the film, but "lost" to
Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...
for ''
Showgirls ''Showgirls'' is a 1995 erotic drama pulp noir film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. The film stars Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, and Gina Ravera. Produced ...
''.


Legacy

In a radio interview in 2011, Harlin discussed the film's
box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...
failure. He pointed out that Carolco was in ruin before shooting even began, but had to make the film since financing from foreign investors was already in place.
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
, the film's distributor, was in the process of being sold and thus could not devote itself into financing a marketing campaign for the film. Carolco filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
a month before ''Cutthroat Island''s release. In another interview, Matthew Modine said that other factors contributing to the production costs running out of control were Harlin always having three cameras rolling at the same time; and Harlin and Davis had several cases of
V8 Vegetable Juice V8 Vegetable Juice, sometimes referred to as V8, is a trademarked name for a number of beverage products sold worldwide that are made from eight vegetables, or a mixture of vegetables and fruits. Since 1948, the brand has been owned by the Camp ...
shipped out to the set in Malta for themselves. Towards the end of the shooting, an entire room was found to be full of unopened juice, so it had to be served to everybody. The failure of ''Cutthroat Island'' is also credited with significantly reducing the bankability and Hollywood production of pirate-themed films, which recovered only with the production of Disney's '' Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' in 2003. Even at the time, the pirate genre was already not particularly popular due to the high costs of shooting, and even today, very few pirate movies outside of Pirates of the Caribbean franchise exist. Scott Mendelson of
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
stated on the film's 25th anniversary that the film, along with ''Aeon Flux'', contributed to the failure of women-led films in the box office before the 21st century.


Video game

A video game was published by
Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide d ...
and released for the major platforms of the time (such as the
Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...
,
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
, and
Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...
) to tie in with the film. It loosely follows the events of the film.


See also

* ''
The Pirate Movie ''The Pirate Movie'' is a 1982 Australian musical romantic comedy film directed by Ken Annakin, and starring Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol. Loosely based on Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera ''The Pirates of Penzance'', the origin ...
'' – 1982 pirate themed comedy musical film loosely based on
Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ''H.M.S. Pina ...
's ''
The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 ...
'' that starred
Christopher Atkins Christopher Atkins Bomann (born February 21, 1961) is an American actor and businessman, perhaps best known for his debut in the 1980 film '' The Blue Lagoon'' and playing Peter Richards in ''Dallas'' (1983–1984). Early life Christopher Atki ...
and
Kristy McNichol Christina Ann McNichol (born September 11, 1962) is an American former actress. She is known for such film roles as Angel in ''Little Darlings'', Polly in '' Only When I Laugh'', and Barbara Weston in the TV sitcom ''Empty Nest''. She won two Emmy ...
that was an Australian production that received mostly negative critical reviews and bombed at the box office * ''
Yellowbeard ''Yellowbeard'' is a 1983 British comedy film directed by Mel Damski and written by Graham Chapman, Peter Cook, Bernard McKenna, and David Sherlock, with an ensemble cast featuring Chapman, Cook, Peter Boyle, Cheech & Chong, Martin Hewitt, Mi ...
'' – 1983 pirate-themed comedy film which also had a troubled production and fared poorly both commercially and critically * ''
Nate and Hayes ''Savage Islands'' (also known as ''Nate and Hayes'' in the United States) is a 1983 swashbuckling adventure film set in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax and filmed on location in Fiji and New Zealand, it ...
'' – 1983 film starring
Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' The ...
as 19th-century Pacific pirate
Bully Hayes William Henry "Bully" Hayes (1827 or 1829 – 31 March 1877) was a notorious American ship's captain who engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s.James A. Michener & A. Grove Day, ''Bully Hayes, South Sea Buccaneer'', in ''Rascals in Parad ...
* ''
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 ...
'' – 1986 film by
Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...
starring
Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...
, another high-profile pirate film that was not a major success


References


Bibliography

*


Further reading

* Prince, Stephen (2000) ''A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow, 1980–1989''.
University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
,
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...
/
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.


External links

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