Gourt Home::Gourt :: Swashbuckler (film)
Swashbuckler is a romantic adventure film produced in the U.S. by Universal Studios and released in 1976. It's a story that takes place in Jamaica around the late 1600s or early 1700s about a band of buccaneer pirates, led by Captain “Red” Ned Lynch, pitted against a greedy overlord, evil Lord Durant. Durant has ruthlessly imprisoned his Governor and mercilessly evicted his wife and daughter Jane Burnet who eventually attempts a rescue with Lynch’s help. The film stars Robert Shaw as Lynch, Peter Boyle as Durant, Geneviève Bujold as Burnet as well as James Earl Jones, Beau Bridges, Geoffrey Holder, Angelica Huston and Avery Schreiber. The film is based on the story “The Scarlet Buccaneer”, written by Paul Wheeler and adapted for the screen by Jeffery Bloom. It was directed by James Goldstone and rated PG.
The film was shot in Mexico and on the galleon Golden Hinde, a replica of the Golden Hinde captained by Francis Drake from 1577 to 1580. In the film it was called the Blarney Cock and actually received a movie credit.
Public Opinion
Swashbuckler was warmly received by audiences but critically downplayed at Hollywood's attempt to revive a pirate genre that was experiencing limited success in films like The Three Musketeers in 1973 and its sequel The Four Musketeers in 1974. Indeed, adventure and disaster films were all the rage in the seventies with films like The Towering Inferno (1974), Earthquake (1974) and Jaws (1975), which also starred Shaw, and Swashbuckler was catapulting on that, and his, success, albeit formulaic and budget minded. It was a hit or a miss with audiences and a film that was not very serious - more a sequence of comedic skits and sword play than a cohesive story as a whole. It was nonetheless a film that was well suited to the matinee set and younger audiences alike. Besides the tropical allure of its film locales, the film was memorable for its wonderful, light hearted score by John Addison, which included the uplifting "Blarney Cock" theme at the beginning and end of the picture.
Cast
(in order of credits)
- Robert Shaw as Captain "Red" Ned Lynch
- James Earl Jones as Nick Debrett
- Peter Boyle as Lord Durant
- Geneviève Bujold as Jane Barnet
- Beau Bridges as Major Folly
- Geoffrey Holder as Cudjo Quadrill
- Avery Schreiber as Polonski
- Tom Clancy as Mr. Moonbeam
- Anjelica Huston as Woman of Dark Visage
- Bernard Behrens as Sir James Barnet
- Dorothy Tristan as Alice
- Mark Baker as Lute player
- Kip Niven as Willard Culverwell
- Tom Fitzsimmons as Corporal
- Louisa Horton as Lady Barnet
- Sid Haig as Bald pirate
- Robert Ruth as Bearded pirate
- Bob Morgan as Peg Legged Pirate (as Robert Morgan)
- Jon Cedar as Pirate gun captain
- Diana Chesney as Landlady
- Manuel DePina as Barnet servant
- Tom Lacy as Chaplain
- Alfie Wise as Sailor
- Harry Basch as Banana man
Quotes
- Lynch “There's no such thing as fair in a fight to the death!”
- Lynch “I'm not a gentleman; I'm an Irishman!”
- Lord Durant “You're a fool, Captain Lynch!” Lynch “No, m'lord, I'm not a fool... I'm an Irishman!”
- Lynch “Here you are, my lord over a cutlass The blade, you know, is very sharp.” Lord Durant Unlike your wit.
- Nick “A pirate in love! Like a fish out of water. Both are where they shouldn't be. But only the fish has sense enough to know it.”
- Nick “There once was a maiden named Starkey who had an affair with a darkey. The result of her sins was quadruplets, not twins: One white, one black, and two khaki.”
- Lord Durant dying words as he falls from the balcony “Draw the curtains. The farce is ended!”
- Nick newly-freed Jane Barnet and Captain Lynch kiss “We've come to make war, Captain, not love!”
Trivia
- Although seen through most of the film, a very young and beautiful Anjelica Huston had no lines.
- Beau Bridges spent months rehearsing a trick with a horse but after he perfected it, the filmmakers decided not to shoot it.
- Not only did the galleon Golden Hinde receive a movie credit for being the Blarney Cock, it is listed in the IMDB as an "actor"
- Director James Goldstone also directed the second pilot, Where No Man has Gone Before for The Original Series. This episode sold the show to NBC and got Star Trek on the air.
External Links
1976 films | Action films | Adventure films | Children's films | Comedy films | Period films | Pirate films | Seafaring films
"Swashbuckler (film)"