Main Cast: Robert Shaw, James Earl Jones, Peter Boyle, Geneviève Bujold, Beau Bridges
Release Year: 1976
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
A latter-day attempt to update the swordplay success of Errol Flynn movies, this film is part burlesque, part homage to old-fashioned pirate films. James Earl Jones and Robert Shaw play Nick Debrett and Ned Lynch, two pirates who save a noblewoman, Jane Barnet (Geneviève Bujold), and take her to Jamaica. They find that their friends have been taken captive by a ruthless dictator -- Peter Boyle plays the foppish villain Lord Durant with an over-the-top swagger. Debrett and Lynch set out to rescue their friends and overthrow the perverted tyrant. Beau Bridges plays Major Folly, a fancy-dressing Scarlet Pimpernel sort. A young Anjelica Huston has a minor part as a nameless woman. There is plenty of swordplay, blood, slapstick, and cleavage, all directed by James Goldstone in a frenzied fashion. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Geoffrey Holder - Cudjo; Anjelica Huston - Woman of Dark Visage; Avery Schreiber - Polonski; Tom Clancy - Moonbeam; Bernard Behrens - Sir James Barnet; Dorothy Tristan - Alice; Mark Baker - Lute Player; Kip Niven - Willard; Harry Basch - Banana Man; Kabir Bedi; Jon Cedar - Pirate Gun Captain; Diana Chesney - Landlady; Sid Haig - Bald Pirate; Louisa Horton - Lady Barnet; Tom Lacy - Chaplain; Robert Ruth - Bearded Pirate; Alfie Wise - Sailor; Tom Fitzsimmons - Corporal; Manuel DePina - Barnet Servant; Robert Morgan - Peglegged Pirate
Credit
Geoffrey Holder - Choreography, Victor Paul - Coordinator, Burton Miller - Costume Designer, Peter Bogart - First Assistant Director, James Goldstone - Director, Edward A. Biery - Editor, John Addison - Composer (Music Score), John J. Lloyd - Production Designer, John Robert Lloyd - Production Designer, Philip H. Lathrop - Cinematographer, Elliott Kastner - Producer, Jennings Lang - Producer, William S. Gilmore - Producer, Hal G. Gausman - Set Designer, Robert L. Hoyt - Sound/Sound Designer, Don Johnson - Sound/Sound Designer, Victor Paul - Stunts, Buddy Van Horn - Stunts Coordinator, Paul Wheeler - Screen Story, Jeffrey Bloom - Screenwriter
Swashbuckler is a romanticadventure film produced in the U.S. by Universal Studios and released in 1976. It is a story that takes place in Jamaica in 1718 about a band of buccaneerpirates, led by Captain “Red” Ned Lynch, pitted against a greedy overlord, evil Lord Durant. Durant has ruthlessly imprisoned his Lord High Justice 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, Anjelica 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 galleonGolden 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.
Swashbuckler received a lukewarm reception from the critics, and was less popular than its similar contemporaries 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 capitalizing on that and his success, albeit formulaic and budget minded. It also tapped into the trend of a revival of classic genres; other examples of this are Chinatown (Film noir) and Star Wars (serial/sci-fi). 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.
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 [handing 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 [his dying words as he falls from the balcony] “Draw the curtains. The farce is ended!”
Nick [as 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 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"
