Pirates (1986 film)

Pirates
Directed by	Roman Polanski
Written by	Gérard Brach John Brownjohn Roman Polanski
Produced by	Tarak Ben Ammar
Starring	Walter Matthau Cris Campion Roger Ashton-Griffiths Damien Thomas
Cinematography	Witold Sobocinski
Edited by	Hervé de Luze
Music by	Philippe Sarde
Distributed by	AMLF Cannon Releasing
Release date	July 18, 1986 (1986-07-18)
Running time	124 minutes
Countries	France Tunisia
Language	English
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$6,341,825

Pirates is a 1986 adventure-comedy film written by Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, and Roman Polanski and directed by Polanski. It was screened out of competition at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot summary

The film begins with Captain Red (Walter Matthau) stranded aboard a raft at sea with his first mate, Frog (Cris Campion), both of whom are presumably close to death from dehydration. After Red, cracking under the starvation, tries to kill and eat Frog, the duo is picked up by a Spanish Galleon and are forced into slavery before instigating a shipwide mutiny with the other prisoners and taking control of the vessel. Frog falls in love with María-Dolores de la Jenya de la Calde (Charlotte Lewis), the niece of the governor of a Spanish colony. Red covets the golden throne that the Spanish have taken from an Aztec king. Large amounts of explosions and gunfights occur as they recruit a crew of cutthroats to win over the gold (with Frog trying to romance the girl as well) throughout the remainder of the film. Ironically, the film ends in a Pyrrhic victory for the heroes, with Captain Red and Frog again stranded on a raft, Red sitting on the golden throne urging Frog to eat and "fatten up" (hinting at a possible relapse in his cannibalistic urges).

Production

Riding on the success of the highly acclaimed Chinatown, Roman Polanski began to write a screenplay for a swashbuckling adventure film called Pirates. Originally, Polański intended for Jack Nicholson to play the central role of Captain Thomas Bartholomew Red, a grizzled old pirate, but complications arose partially due to the enormous fees Nicholson was demanding (according to Polanski, when Nicholson was asked what exactly he wanted, he replied, "I want more.") Following this, the production was delayed for a number of years when Polanski was arrested in California on a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, which caused him to flee the United States to avoid sentencing. Production restarted later in Paris, this time with a different production company, Cathargo Films, and a new producer, Tarak Ben Ammar. The role of Captain Red went to Walter Matthau and the film finally came out in 1986, 12 years after it was first conceived.

The film's original estimated budget, while Polański was aligned with Paramount on the picture, was $15 million, but the final budget is estimated to have cost US$40 million. The reported gross box office revenues in the United States was $1.65 million. Despite the film's financial disasters, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

A full scale galleon was built for the film in a shipyard in the village of Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia, adjacent to the Tarak Ben Ammar Studios, which had been constructed exclusively for this production. An accurate replica above the waterline, but sporting a steel hull and a 400 HP auxiliary engine, the "Neptune" was and still is entered into the Tunisian naval register and is currently a tourist attraction in the port of Genoa, where its interior can be visited for a 5 euro entry fee.

Accusations against Roman Polanski

On May 14, 2010 Charlotte Lewis and her attorney Gloria Allred accused director Roman Polanski of predatory sexual conduct against the actress when she was 16 years old on the set of Pirates.

Cast

• Walter Matthau - Captain Thomas Bartholomew Red
• Cris Campion - The Frog - Jean-Baptiste
• Damien Thomas - Don Alfonso de Salamanca de la Torre
• Olu Jacobs - Boomako
• Roger Ashton-Griffiths - Moonhead
• Ferdy Mayne - Captain Linares
• David Kelly - Surgeon
• Tony Peck - Spanish Officer (as Anthony Peck)
• Anthony Dawson - Spanish Officer
• Richard Dieux - Spanish Officer
• Jacques Maury - Spanish Officer
• José Santamaría - Master at Arms (as Jose Santamaría)
• Robert Dorning - Commander of Marines
• Luc Jamati - Pepito Gonzalez
• Emilio Fernández - Angelito (as Emilio Fernández)
• Wladyslaw Komar - Jesus (also as Wladislaw Komar)

References

• Roman by Roman Polanski

External links

• Pirates at IMDb
• Template:Amg movie
• Neptune - photo of the galleon built for the film Pirates, now in Genoa.