Pirate captain Red and his first mate frog get into shenanigans involving Spaniards and a golden throne that may have a curse
A long gestating passion project, the film was in development for a little over 10 years. Earlier incarnations would've had Jack Nicholson as captain Red and Polanski himself as Frog. However plans fell through due to scheduling, lack of finance, and Polanski's 1977 Arrest that lead to him fleeing the United States so the film languished in development hell with various producers and leads attached (including a bizzare pairing of Michael Caine and Rob Lowe). The movie was eventually made with Walter Matthau as Red and Cris Campion as Frog, and while the $40 Million budget is clearly visible on screen, it's unfortunately in the service of a film that doesn't have direction or drive.
From the film's opening wherein we see Red and Frog aimlessly floating on a makeshift raft in the middle of the ocean. The movie lingers on scenes and situations far longer than it should. The opening 20 minutes consist of Red and Frog being on the raft and then getting on the galleon the Neptune. There's not much in the way of humor or action during these scenes, and what little they actually have is so slowly paced it kills any semblance of comedic rhythm and timing. There's also not much in the way of comedic chemistry between Matthau and Campion as Matthau basically shouts while Campion mousilly obeys.
There is merit to Pirates. The costumes are elaborate and creatively designed and earned the movie a well earned Oscar nom for costuming. And while Matthau isn't given much direction, he does do a good job of disappearing into the role of Captain Red. Polanski isn't well known for comedy and Pirates unfortunately shows there's a good reason for that. Polanski supposedly wished to make this film for the family audience as both an homage to the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disneyland that he was a fan of as well as a response to the dark cynical films being produced during the New Hollywood Era. In the 10 year period since the movie was first conceived the New Hollywood era gave way to the blockbuster era of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, so what point Pirates had was already lost. Even taking into account its intended family audience, the movie is very dialogue heavy with long conversations about the proceedings as viewed by the catholic church, discussions of the mortal sin of cannibalism, and antiquated medical techniques of vinegar enemas. The movie's slow pacing and odd choice of comedic material doesn't seem like it would appeal to children because of how needlessly complex it is.
Pirates is not a terrible film, but it is a failed film. The movie wants to be a comic adventure for family audiences, but its turgid pacing, lac of direction, and general ineptitude at establishing and paying off comic situations make it a slog that yields an occasional half hearted chuckle or well filmed imagery, but it's simply not very good.
A long gestating passion project, the film was in development for a little over 10 years. Earlier incarnations would've had Jack Nicholson as captain Red and Polanski himself as Frog. However plans fell through due to scheduling, lack of finance, and Polanski's 1977 Arrest that lead to him fleeing the United States so the film languished in development hell with various producers and leads attached (including a bizzare pairing of Michael Caine and Rob Lowe). The movie was eventually made with Walter Matthau as Red and Cris Campion as Frog, and while the $40 Million budget is clearly visible on screen, it's unfortunately in the service of a film that doesn't have direction or drive.
From the film's opening wherein we see Red and Frog aimlessly floating on a makeshift raft in the middle of the ocean. The movie lingers on scenes and situations far longer than it should. The opening 20 minutes consist of Red and Frog being on the raft and then getting on the galleon the Neptune. There's not much in the way of humor or action during these scenes, and what little they actually have is so slowly paced it kills any semblance of comedic rhythm and timing. There's also not much in the way of comedic chemistry between Matthau and Campion as Matthau basically shouts while Campion mousilly obeys.
There is merit to Pirates. The costumes are elaborate and creatively designed and earned the movie a well earned Oscar nom for costuming. And while Matthau isn't given much direction, he does do a good job of disappearing into the role of Captain Red. Polanski isn't well known for comedy and Pirates unfortunately shows there's a good reason for that. Polanski supposedly wished to make this film for the family audience as both an homage to the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disneyland that he was a fan of as well as a response to the dark cynical films being produced during the New Hollywood Era. In the 10 year period since the movie was first conceived the New Hollywood era gave way to the blockbuster era of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, so what point Pirates had was already lost. Even taking into account its intended family audience, the movie is very dialogue heavy with long conversations about the proceedings as viewed by the catholic church, discussions of the mortal sin of cannibalism, and antiquated medical techniques of vinegar enemas. The movie's slow pacing and odd choice of comedic material doesn't seem like it would appeal to children because of how needlessly complex it is.
Pirates is not a terrible film, but it is a failed film. The movie wants to be a comic adventure for family audiences, but its turgid pacing, lac of direction, and general ineptitude at establishing and paying off comic situations make it a slog that yields an occasional half hearted chuckle or well filmed imagery, but it's simply not very good.