The Buccaneer (1958)

Cecil B. DeMille's last film (directed by his son-in-law Anthony Quinn, his only film) is a lavish and colourful feast for the eye all the way with some excellent acting by Yul Brynner himself (with hair on for once), Charles Boyer as a pathetic relict of the Napoleon grandeur, Claire Bloom as a wild cat of a pirate's daughter gradually emerging as the only real woman, while Inger Stevens is more like a Barbie doll, E.G.Marshall treading carefully as the governor of New Orleans and many others, but the great story and drama gets somehow obfuscated in the sumptuous and generous mass scenes in splendid Technicolour, every scene making out an impressing image, a typical trait of Cecil B. DeMille, and with glorious fights and fisticuffs in between - the every day life of the pirates of Jean Lafitte is almost the most memorable part of the film. Charlton Heston is a bit exaggerated as old Hickory Andrew Jackson but makes a great impression also.The main thing is the drama, though, which gets a bit muddled up in all the great battle and crowd scenes. It's a tragedy, and does Jean Lafitte really have to take the responsibility for Captain Brown's plunder and sinking of the 'Corinthian'? Whether he had to stand for this crime or not, that's what makes the drama and the tragedy, which nevertheless is saved for a satisfactory end by Claire Bloom as Bonnie Brown, who gets the ultimate victory as a woman and definitely saves the show.

The movie, The Buccaneer, is a movie which might best appeal to older children, 10 - 14 and those who are 40 and up who enjoy adventure type films with pirates and or old style soldiers. It is not quite your typical pirate film. It is a fictional drama about the war of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans. The most remarkable thing about this film is that Yul Brynner has HAIR in this film. I am sure that he did other films with hair, but this is my first film which I have seen him in with HAIR. I had to keep listening to him to re-verify that it was indeed Yul Brynner. This is a good movie to watch on a lazy afternoon or late at night. Other than the hair, it is an easily forgotten movie. Enjoy it for the fictional historical type drama. Remember it is Hollywood, not the historical society putting the film on.

Taken in the context of the time it was made, I found this a worthwhile movie. While the details may be 'dramatized', the overall history was a nice primer. In addition, I found spotting actors I knew a real pleasure. Who would imagine Ben Cartwright as a dastardly cad? I'll leave the rest of the star spotting to you. As to the secondary casting, this movie (as one would expect from a movie made in the late thirties) has many an enjoyable character actor, but top kudos' to Andrew Jackson's right hand man Peavey. The perfect touch of comedy. Well shot, with beautiful ships, and competent acting throughout out, I recommend this for anyone with a taste for the slightly camp, or an eye for a double-period piece, set at the dawn of America, and made in a period when great names, and top notch character actors, were a real pleasure to enjoy.

This was the last film that Cecil B. DeMille had anything to do with. He originally planned to direct this remake of his 1938 film The Buccaneer, but ill health prevented him from doing so. So apart from a brief prologue and a production credit saying the film was presented by him, DeMille left the producing to good friend Henry Wilcoxon and the directing to his son-in-law Anthony Quinn.This version has the added attractions of great technicolor photography and Paramount's new wide screen Vistavision process. I saw in the theater when I was 11 years old and it is quite an eyeful. Yul Brynner makes as dashing a Jean Lafitte as Fredric March did in the 1938 film. Charlton Heston repeats his Andrew Jackson role from The President's Lady which he made earlier in the Fifties. Heston though was not satisfied because he realized that he was made up to look like the Andrew Jackson we know from the double sawbuck when he was in the White House. At New Orleans he was a bit younger. But like Moses and the circus boss from The Greatest Show on Earth, you follow him to Hades and back.The best role in the film for me though was Charles Boyer as Dominic You, Lafitte's cynical second in command. A former artillery officer in Napoleon's army, he left there and took up piracy out of disillusionment with how the French Revolution turned out. Boyer has some good and wise lines in his counsel to Lafitte even if he's drunk while delivering some of them.After The Ten Commandments, DeMille had plans to make a film about Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts and was in negotiations with David Niven to play Baden-Powell. He got sidetracked with this film and then he died in early 1959. Of course the Boy Scout film never did get made by anyone.Although DeMille eliminated one element of the plot from 1938 the traitorous Senator played by Ian Keith the rest of the film is pretty much the same. This is hardly the real story of Jean Lafitte. When not on the action, the film does drag in spots. Maybe that's why Anthony Quinn never directed another film.This version of The Buccaneer had one additional thing going for it. Country singer Johnny Horton had a mega hit record of The Battle of New Orleans at the same time the film came out. Both must have fed off each other in profit making. I well remember you couldn't go a day without hearing The Battle of New Orleans playing some time on the radio.It's not history, it's DeMille at his gaudiest.