Cutthroat Island (1995)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers (WGA):

Michael Frost Beckner (story) &
James Gorman (story) ...

Release Date:

22 December 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Romance

Tagline:

The Course Has Been Set. There Is No Turning Back. Prepare Your Weapons. Summon Your Courage. Discover the Adventure of a Lifetime!

Plot:

A female pirate and her companion race against their rivals to find a hidden island that contains a fabulous treasure.

Plot Keywords:

Treasure | Slave | Pirate | Pirate Ship | Ship Wreck

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Geena Davis	...	Morgan
Matthew Modine	...	Shaw
Frank Langella	...	Dawg
Maury Chaykin	...	John Reed
Patrick Malahide	...	Ainslee
Stan Shaw	...	Glasspoole
Rex Linn	...	Mr. Blair
Paul Dillon	...	Snelgrave
Christopher Masterson	...	Bowen (as Chris Masterson)
Jimmie F. Skaggs	...	Scully
Harris Yulin	...	Black Harry
Carl Chase	...	Bishop
Peter Geeves	...	Fiddler Pirate
Angus Wright	...	Captain Trotter
Ken Bones	...	Toussant

Also Known As:

Corsari (Italy)
Die Piratenbraut (Germany)
L'île aux pirates (France)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some strong pirate action/violence and brief sensuality.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA | France | Italy | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #34180) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Australia:PG | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Denmark:16 | Finland:K-14 | Germany:12 | Italy:T | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Malta

Company:

Beckner/Gorman Productions

Trivia:

Oliver Wood was the film's original director of photography. An accident on the set caused him to break his ankle, and he and was immediately replaced by Peter Levy. The injury also cost Wood his next job on Broken Arrow (1996); he was replaced by Levy on that film as well.

Goofs:

Continuity: When William Shaw is in the captain's quarters trying to decipher the treasure map, he looks at a log book dated 1670, though the opening titles indicate the movie takes place in 1668.

Quotes:

Morgan: [about his sword fighting] Very pretty Mr. Shaw.
William Shaw: Thank you, ma'am. I had the good fortune to study with a grand master in Vienna.
Morgan: Glasspoole!
Glasspoole: Aye!
Morgan: [to Shaw] Now, stop diddling and kill the man.
William Shaw: Kill him? Bless me, we never got to that.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko (1999) (VG)

Island of Cut-Throats

Making a valiant stab at becoming an action figure, Geena Davis plays Morgan Adams, a wily, rough & tumble pirate woman who lives for adventure and the like. When her evil Uncle Dawg (Frank Langella) turns on her and her dad, it's a race against time for Morgan as she tries to piece together a map that will lead her to Cut-Throat Island, where unimaginable wealth in stolen pirate gold resides. Along the way she is pursued by an evil British officer who goes into cahoots with treacherous crew members and Dawg, aided by a pretty boy Jack-of-all-trades thief named William Shaw (Matthew Modine), and confronted with a series of wildly over the top set pieces that no human being could possibly survive.

One of the most expensive flops ever made, this overlong but endearing and even occasionally exciting film deserved much better than what it got in the summer of the mid-90s. Not quite as funny as "Pirates of the Caribbean" but still fun.

Already a cardboard cut-out role to begin with, Geena Davis struggles to overcome her natural aura of motherly warmth to play the roughish Morgan, but she plays the part well enough (she really does come across as somebody's mother, albeit the kind of mother neighborhood boys fantasize about). It's easy to imagine her in the ring with Keira Knightley - who played Elizabeth Swann in "Pirates of the Caribbean" - and to have Geena walloping Keira's waif like frame. Matthew Modine has his moments as Shaw and Frank "Dracula/Skeletor" Langella is enjoyably hammy as Dawg.

If nothing else, rent it for the expensive sets, fancy costumes, and elaborate, over the top stunts - many of which Davis and Modine did themselves.