There's a lot to enjoy about this retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic children's novel "Treasure Island", set here in the American West and featuring Kirk Douglas as the one-legged pirate who gathers together a group of very different people to help him find a treasure. Young Mark Lester and his sister, Lesley-Anne Down, handsome Don Stroud, cantankerous Neville Brand and sultry George Eastman are all having a heck of a time in this family film with a lot going for it, but for some reason one of Kirk Douglas's lesser known movies.
The film is stolen ironically by the only non-human in the film, it was cracking parrot. It's funny, filled with adventure, touching as the relationship between Douglas and young Lester grows into something profound, and in many ways magical. Douglas directed this as well (one of two films), and did quite a good job. There's not a moment in this film that lags although the songs seem out of place and certainly don't sound like something from the era that this is set in. It's filled with slapstick that is violent but funny (a goat butts a man, causing him to fall off a high cliff; Douglas using his wooden leg as a battering ram), and is just a total charmer.
The film is stolen ironically by the only non-human in the film, it was cracking parrot. It's funny, filled with adventure, touching as the relationship between Douglas and young Lester grows into something profound, and in many ways magical. Douglas directed this as well (one of two films), and did quite a good job. There's not a moment in this film that lags although the songs seem out of place and certainly don't sound like something from the era that this is set in. It's filled with slapstick that is violent but funny (a goat butts a man, causing him to fall off a high cliff; Douglas using his wooden leg as a battering ram), and is just a total charmer.