What made for one of the biggest box office flops
in history? I have no idea. This is good fun with strong doses of comedy,
action, thrills and stunts all well mixed together. Was it bad marketing?
Were pirate films too old fashioned? Maybe it was because a female was the
lead? Of course, a few years later with a male lead, Pirates in the Caribbean
was a smash. Through no fault of her own, I go with Geena Davis being the
culprit. She had been quite popular in a series of romantic comedies but
wasn't known for action roles. This was corroborated to some degree the following
year when her husband Renny Harlin once again made her an action figure in
The Long Kiss Goodnight as an assassin who has lost her memory. The Long
Kiss Goodnight is one of the first great western Girls with Guns films, but
it did poorly at the box office. Both films have rightfully gained a large
fanbase since then.
The production was a mess - rewrites, casting,
redoing sets - but the final product looks pretty good with beautifully built
ships and a few towns that get demolished. There are two large very impressive
action set pieces - one with Davis riding a coach through a town with the
whole world chasing after her and then the classic scene of two ships within
spitting distance just unloading cannon shot on each other. But at its heart,
this is a traditional treasure hunt with various parties vying for it.
Davis is Morgan, the daughter of a pirate
(Harris Yulin), who inherits his ship as well as his scalp. Cut off his dead
body. On it is one of three sections of a map to a treasure. One is held
by another pirate who is a friend of sorts; the other by her uncle (Frank
Langella) who is a complete villain. Into this picture enters a slick well-mannered
thief (Matthew Modine) who is bought by Davis as a slave because he can read
Latin. It turns into one big adventure film of escapes, betrayals and near
death. All done with a light touch and few serious moments. There isn't much
doubt how it will turn out. Apparently, Oliver Reed was hired to play the
second pirate but got drunk and exposed himself to Davis. Modine got the
job after nearly every other leading man in Hollywood turned it down, but
he is fine keeping it light. Patrick Malahide plays the British commander.
I mention him because earlier in the day I watched him as Inspector Alleyn
in the British TV series and had never seen him elsewhere. He makes a better
Inspector than a bewigged corrupt British Commander.
