Treasure Island

I've never read the book. In fact, the only version of this novel I knew was a comic book version where Dennis the Menace was Jim. And I don't even remember anything about that except that Long John hit one of the other pirates for showing Jim his long underwear, and that Ben Gunn looked like he hadn't seen another person in years.

And this type of adventure movie is not really for me. But it was all that was on, and I seem to recall it was a literary classic. Still, it seemed to be a family adventure if you don't mind the blood (personally, I could have done without quite so much violence). I thought Kevin Zegers did quite a good job as Jim, and while I was surprised Long John was so old, Jack Palance did a fine job with the role as it was written here.

I thought most of the actors did a good job, particularly David Robb as the doctor and Walter Sparrow as Ben Gunn. Sarah Holland had maybe two lines as a young lady who seemed to have less than a stellar reputation, but she still managed to impress.

I wouldn't rank this as one of the great movies. I also had trouble figuring out who was on what side--at times Long John seemed to be one of the good guys! But he was usually with the pirates. One thing is certain: most of the pirates seemed quite mean, ugly, dirty and unpleasant.

It's an interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon, I guess.

The titles say the film is "based on" the novel by R. L. Stevenson. That seems to mean they chose the same names for the characters. As the film progresses, the plot diverges more and more from the novel. The end is completely different and gave me the impression the budget ran out and they had to kill the cast off and finish the film as quickly as possible rather than stick to the story. I watched them making the film on the Isle of Man and bought the DVD to see what they had produced. I can't think of any other reason to buy it.

Very free version based on the appealing adventures starred by two fabulous and unforgettable characters , Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver , in which a young boy sets off on a voyage armed with a map to buried treasure. This astounding adventure with an attractive and fantastic starring , Jim Hawkins, and a nasty as well as likable pirate called Long Silver in search of the buried treasure of the buccaneer Captain Flint . Middling retelling filmed in television style with the literary heroes Jack Hawkins and the pirate Long John Silver undertaking several and risked adventures . Again we live the roaring adventure , this time set in a far island . We share the struggles , the heartaches , the laughter of courageous souls who leave their houses they love to dare the wrath of the angry pirates . Jim Hawkins encounters a map that leads to a distant Caribbean island where is a buried treasure . Enchanted by the idea of locating treasure buried by Captain Flint , a group formed by Captain Smollett , Squire Trelawney , Dr. Liveesy and Jim Hawkins charter a sailing voyage on a ship called La Española to a Caribbean island . Upright men and greedy pirates in conflict with their destiny by re-enacting the Robert Stevenson's thrilling story in search for the legendary loot of Captain Nathaniel Flint . Then , the young boy join forces with his friends and , of course , a boisterous , rogue Long John Silver (Jack Palance) sailing to the island of hidden bounty . The young cabin boy Hawkins (Kevin Zegers) has a treasure map and a boatload of kill-crazed pirates eager for the riches hidden on Treasure Island . Unfortunately, a large number of Flint's old pirate crew are aboard the ship, including Long John Silver himself . Jim Hawkins matches with stick-legged , a notably snarly Long Silver and adventures go on . But even greater dangers lie ahead when Hawkins finds out that his trusted colleague Long John is actually a nasty pirate with mutiny on his mind . As young Jim Hawkins is torn between his loyalty to his benefactors and his affection for lovable rogue Long John Silver in their struggle to recover a buried pirate treasure . Along with Hawkins and Long John Silver also appears some classic but modified personages , such as : Squire (Christopher Benjamin) , Captain Smollet (Malcolm Stoddard) , Doctor Livesey ( David Robb) , Billy Bones (Patrick Bergin) , Ben Gun (Sparrow).

So-so and regularly paced story with plenty of thrills , adventures , intrigue , fights and noisy action . The whole piece of adventure teems with emotion , humor , exotic atmosphere and being pretty amusing, but extremely mediocre . Resulting to be an unappropriately adventurous rendition of Robert Stevenson's often-filmed and spine-tingling tale . In the picture there is humor , rip-roaring adventures , swashbuckling , but resulting to be extremely average . Jack Palance's last feature picture , playing in his usual style , I miss Robert Newton's vintage acting , his featured performance as Long John Silver is so iconic that it is thought by many to be the origin of today's stereotypical laced pirate patois, including Sparrow's Jonny Depp . Evocative cinematography shot on various locations in Castletown, Isle of Man , Colby Glen, Isle of Man , Port Erin , The Sound ,Isle of Man , Ireland . Functional as well as moving musical score composed by means of synthesizer . This very free adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson adventure classic was regularly directed by Peter Rowe . Rating : 4.5/10 .

Other renditions -being multitudinous remakes- , as there are many films made of it and based on this classic novel, turning out to be the following ones : Classy version (1934) by Victor Fleming with Jackie Cooper , Wallace Beery and Lewis Stone. Walt Disney take on (1950) with Robert Newton, Bobby Driscoll, directed by Byron Haskin , being a respectable full-blooded second-best the classic Fleming version ; it was followed by a sequel titled ¨Long John Silver¨ also directed by Byron Haskin with Robert Newton , Lloyd Berrell , Grant Taylor , Rod Taylor ; in addition , ¨Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on January 29, 1951 with Bobby Driscoll reprising his film role . Furthermore , European retelling (1974) by John Hough with Orson Welles , Angel Del Pozo , Lionel Stander and Kim Burfield. This ¨Treasure Island¨ (1999) with Jack Palance , Patrick Bergin and Kevin Zegers. TV recounting by Fraser C Heston with Charlton Heston , Christian Bale and Richard Johnson . ¨Muppet's Treasure island¨ (1996) and recent rendition (2012) by Steve Barron , starred by Eddie Izzard , Rupert Penry-Jones , Daniel Mays , Donald Sutherland and Elijah Wood . Besides , "Treasure Island in Outer Space", TV miniseries (1987) set in space directed by Antonio Margheriti with Anthony Quinn as Long John Silver , David Warbeck as Doctor Livesy and Philippe Leroy as Squire . And Disney top-notch cartoon-Sci-Fi version Treasure planet (2002) splendidly directed by John Musker and Ron Clemens .

Jack Palance is magnificent as Long John Silver in this sparkling new adaptation of an old classic. Packed with a stellar cast of great British character actors and three Hollywood stars, it must rank among the top 5 versions ever made of Robert Louis Stevenson's legendary novel. Shame there's only one sexy female, but at least she was well cast - Sarah Holland played the saucy strumpet with a charm, power and sincerity that made me wish we'd seen more of her. It's true that the Isle of Man location left a lot to be desired, but it was fresh, different and added a surprise zing to the action. All in all, a cracking film worthy of more than a passing nod.

This two-hour commercial from the Isle of Man Tourist Bureau bears only a superficial resemblance to the Stevenson novel. At the end, all the wrong people are dead and you half expect the strumpet from the first half of the show to make one final appearance. The Isle of Man provides all the locations, even masquerading (poorly) as the tropics. Nevertheless a few good performances emerge from this hacked-up classic. Kevin Zegers gives us at least as good a Hawkins as Bobby Driscoll. The venerable Walter Sparrow shines as Ben Gunn. And Jack Palance rasps out an engaging Silver but it's disappointing to see his name spelt wrong in the credits. Palance fans might like to see him tackle one of literature's most famous old coots, but Stevenson fans should leave this one alone.