Peter Benchley followed his massively successful novel Jaws with another commercial success--but of an infinitely sillier nature. And the movie, directed by Michael Ritchie, isn't much better. Michael Caine stars as a New York reporter who is following a hot lead about the Bermuda Triangle--and gets his story, if he can only live long enough to report it. Because, in fact, there's nothing supernatural going on--just the descendants of 18th- and 19th-century pirates living on an uncharted island. And, naturally, they're able to wreak havoc with modern sailors because they have the element of surprise on their side--not to mention the willingness to perform unspeakable acts of violence. This is less Hollywood product than byproduct. --Marshall Fine
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: A Passable, Waterlogged Adventure/Thriller Comment: Back in 1980, long before Johnny Depp & Co. brought us the never-ending 'Pirates of the Caribbean' fare, novelist Peter Benchley and producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown sought to capitalize on the success of 'Jaws' and 'The Deep' as well as reenergize the pirate-movie genre with this follow-up film adaptation of Benchley's book, but the results were mixed and not always entirely successful. The novel and film offer up a whole new explanation for the lore of the 'Bermuda Triangle' and all its unexplained vanishings over in the years in that, in fact, they are the work of pirates. Yes, pirates.
The ever-stalwart Michael Caine stars investigative journalist Blair Maynard on assignment in the Caribbean islands near the Bahamas with his gun-aficionado, sharp-shooting twelve year old son, Justin, in tow. He's there tracking down a hot lead on a story involving the mysterious disappearances of several commercial and pleasure-craft boaters in the area.
Through a series of events, Maynard and his son get closer to the story than either of them bargained for when they are both captured and taken prisoner by the culprits behind the disappearances --------- the real, authentic descendants of late 17th-century buccaneers (led by David Warner) living sequestered from civilization on one of the nearby uncharted islands for nearly 300 years. This roving band of modern-day buccaneers ------ still living in the 1700's ------ continue their marauding pratices into the 20th century by raiding ships and boats passing through their territory, killing the occupants and living off the stolen goods pillaged from the vessels. (Think of it as 'The Hills Have Eyes', but on the water.) Life is good for these buccaneers except for one minor problem: their gene pool is deteriorating from decades of inbreeding so they enlist the involuntary services of the now captured Maynard to help improve their breeding by impregnating one of the women of the clan (Angela Punch McGregor).
Maynard must now try to stay alive while somehow finding a means of escape from the island and warn the local authorities (which seems to consist of one, lone, bicycle-riding policeman) but also faces a dilemna, too, as he must also find a way to rescue Justin, who has now fallen in among the buccaneers and joined their ranks, where his sharp-shooting gun skills are of use .....
This movie is not without its flaws, but it is still enjoyable and entertaining in many ways. Director Michael Ritchie (Prime Cut, Fletch) does manage to create a few suspensful sequences and some of the attacks on the hapless, unsuspecting victims were surprisingly gory. (I'll admit it ; I did jump once or twice) Caine even has few memorable lines as well. (When asked by one of the film's baddies if he feels privilged to be witnessing what he's seeing, Caine replies, "What's that, a bunch of assh*les playing Long John-f*cking-Silver?!") You get to see all the prerequisite colorful characters one might expect in a pirate movie, a plane crash, a brief sex scene, a jellyfish attack (now what the hell other movie has one of those?!?...), and even a decent action sequence where the bucs actually overwhelm and overtake a Coast Guard cutter. No, really.
Overall, it's a decent little 80's action thriller, even if it does have its sagging moments from time to time. Still worth seeing, although bring the sunscreen and dramamine. It's not great, but not bad, either.
Customer Rating: Summary: Great Gore ! Comment: I liked this movie...but I like Michael Caine. Parts of this bloody movie I had to close my eyes on but rewatch Island every so often for the adventure. One of the few scary creepy features that isn't done on a shoestring and Italian.
Escapism but a good one. Too bad it isn't out on DVD Customer Rating: Summary: NETFLIX SOON!!!! Comment: STILL TRYING TO DOWNLOAD THIS THING!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE NOT WATCHED YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT PAID SEVERAL TIMES!!!!!!!! DOWNLOADED 5 UNBOX PLAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE ALL HARDWARE AND DSL CONNECTION!!!!!!!!!! NO HELP FROM AMAZON YET!!!!!! BEZOS!!!YOU LISTENING?????????????? Customer Rating: Summary: Yo ho ho, this is an interesting, surprisingly gory film Comment: Now, here's a film that should definitely be available on DVD by now. By the time I got around to watching this, I had completely forgotten what it was even supposed to be about - but I put away any misgiving once I saw that it starred Michael Caine and was based on Peter Benchley's post-Jaws novel of the same name. Admittedly, the movie is a little out there and has a couple of weaknesses in the plot, but the whole thing is realistic enough to be plausible and features some pretty shocking violence for a 1980 non-horror movie - the opening scene is a particularly effective attention-getter.
Michael Caine plays Blair Maynard, a New York journalist determined to get to the bottom of a rather shocking number of boats lost near the Bahamas in the last three years. As fate would have it, his son Justin (Jeffrey Frank) turns up in his office unexpectedly (the ex-wife having forgotten to even let Maynard know he was coming), so the two of them jet off to Florida for the weekend. In case you have any doubts as to the age of this movie, just watch a gun shop sell Blair a handgun for his twelve-year-old son upon their arrival. Anyway, the two take a most memorable air jaunt to a remote island, head out to do some fishing, and discover that being a Good Samaritan is rather highly overrated. Before you can say Yar, matie! the two of them find themselves captives of a rag-tag bunch of filthy pirates - actually, they prefer to be called buccaneers. Their archaic culture, which is a really weird mix of religion, ritual, and savagery, has survived for three hundred years out there in the middle of the Caribbean, hidden from the eyes of modern man (except for those they kill, of course). They keep Maynard alive because they need some new blood in the tribe - if you know what I mean - but the tribal leader has other plans for young Justin. Those plans greatly complicate Maynard's efforts to somehow escape from a seemingly inescapable predicament.
Buccaneers will be buccaneers, which means there is plenty of violence every step of the way toward a real bloodbath of a conclusion. I have some issues with the way young Justin's story played out, but all in all I found this to be an intensely interesting movie. The storyline could easily have degenerated into something rather silly, but the director never let that happen. As amusing as some of the buccaneers' antics might be, this is a serious film (except, of course, for the second strangest kung fu sequence I've ever seen) that steadily increases in intensity throughout. It doesn't have the in-your-face life-and-death drama of Jaws, but for my money it's a mighty interesting - and undeniably unusual - movie experience. Customer Rating: Summary: Movie " The Island " Comment: Wow , Movie is flawless and the box was in better shape than really anyone would worry about . Had ben looking for this movie for a couple years and finally have it in my collection.. Thanks again .....
