For no good reason other than procrastination and because it's been so long I did one of my top tens I thought I'd post my top ten swashbuckling films (criteria: must be a period film and the blades can't be lasers)
1) Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl (2001): the memory is kind of tainted by the sequels but this is still a good movie with a strong script - so strong that while Johnny Depp deservedly got a lot of kudos for his performance I think it would've worked with another actor in the role provided he could go "big" eg Robert Downey Jnr
2) The Princess Bride (1987) - an easy choice, though I would argue the sword fights aren't that great (Rob Reiner was never much of an action director) but the script and cast are sublime
3) The Prince Who was a Thief (1951) - Tony Curtis' Bronx accent is a little odd in this "Eastern" but the film is great colourful fun - and you know something? these films (about evil Wazirs and dancing girls and genies and stuff) remain the most positive depiction of Musim characters in Hollywood history
4) Night Creatures aka Captain Clegg (1963) - a sub genre of swashbucklers was the "smugglers on the coast of England" film (eg Moonfleet, Jamaica Inn) -this is a great one, one of a surprisingly large number of swashbucklers from Hammer Studios (Devil Ship Pirates has always been a favourite), which has amazing colour and one of Peter Cushing's best performances
5) Against All Flags (1952) - there's a whole bunch of Errol Flynn movies I could pick for this list and several are, if I'm honest, much better (eg Captain Blood, Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, the one I list below) but I'll go for this one in part because it's not that well remembered and I like it so much - the script writers have gleefully raided history for pirate names and there's a great support cast (Maureen O'Hara as a very sexually liberated female pirate and Anthony Quinn)
6) The Vikings (1958) - full on viking movie, with amputations, people being eaten by dogs and brothers stabbing each other to death
7) The Three Musketeers (1948) - Gene Kelly isn't known as a great swashbuckler star but I love this movie - his dancing agility is used so well it makes you wish he'd done more swashbuckling
8) Scaramouche (1952) - Stewart Granger's best movie, Eleanor Parker's best performance (when her hair was red she turned into a star), great fun despite the insipid Granger-Janet Leigh romance
9) The Adventures of Don Juan (1948) - I'm limiting myself to two Errol Flynns - Robin Hood, Captain Blood and Sea Hawk are actually better movies but this is still lots of fun, in part because it suits having old decaying Errol in the lead... a man who's done a lot of hard living, looking for a cause - looks amazing with a great music score
10) The Hidden Fortress (1958) - best known as a chief inspiration for Star Wars this is a good movie in its own right though it really takes too long to set up the story.
Other favourites: The Black Pirate (1926), Son of Monte Cristo (1940), The Corsican Brothers (1941), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 and 1952 versions), At Sword's Point (1951) , El Cid (1961), The Four Musketeers (1974), The Mark of Zorro (1940), The Crimson Pirate (1952)
Random honourable mention - to "Nate and Hayes" (1983) a New Zealand swashbuckler (it's set in the south seas) co written by John Hughes of all people... with Michael O'Keefe, Tommy Lee Jones and Jenny Seagrove - the film doesn't quite work but I include it on this list because it's so random
No comments:
Post a Comment