The island (1980)

Neville · January 07, 2010, 11:32:25 AM

Plot: Divorced journalist Blair Maynard drags his 10 year old son to the Bahamas in order to investigate on some missing ships. Once he is there, though, his assignment is the least of his problems, as he and his son are kidnapped by the descendants of XVII century pirates. Maynard needs to escape and warn the outside world, but also needs to rescue his son before he becomes a full pirate.

Comments: WTF?! Really, WTF?! There are films that only can be explained because all the people involved were on drugs, and this is one of them. Peter Benchley's novel wasn't much good to start with, but at least it was serious enough to be genuinely horrifying in its best moments. Yet, when Benchely himslef wrote the script he somehow missed that disheveled people speaking in XVII century jargon looked ridiculous. But wait, that's the least of the film's problems. Michael Caine doesn't seem to know what the Hell he's doing, and he's the lead actor.

And director Michael Ritchie doesn't know either, in one scene he treats the matter as dead serious, but on the next one he's doing satire, if not farse (during the course of one of their actions, the pirates meet a victim with kung-fu notions, and the resulting scene wouldn't be out of place on a Monty Python skit). One moment has nasty violence, and the next one features Caine covered in fruit pulp as the punchline. Want more? Cinematography so bad it wastes the Florida scenery and makes nocturnal scenes incomprehensible, and a score by Ennio Morricone so out of place it has me wondering if they even told him the plot beforehand.

Do I have anything good to say about the movie? Well, I for one wasn't bored, although other people at the IMDB were. And in the film's defense, when it finally tries to build a climax by adding some big scale action, the results are so downright hilarious (that Michael Caine knows how to use a stationary machine gun better than John Rambo) that they made me happy I checked this one out.

The Burgomaster · January 07, 2010, 05:41:59 PM

I saw this at the cinema 3 times during its theatrical release . . . silly, but hugely entertaining. I also read the book (which was a lot different). It's been on my "wish they'd release it on DVD" list for years.

Jim H · January 07, 2010, 06:08:29 PM

I did like the ending of this one. I friggin' hated all the pirates, and the thought that Michael Caine with a gun by himself is better than the entire crew of a Navy ship is hilarious and awesome.

Neville · January 07, 2010, 06:26:46 PM

The ending is lots of fun, I agree. Together with that little kung fu moment I mentioned it makes the movie much more rewarding. But the rest of it is so plagued of bad choices... one issue I didn't mention is that during a couple of pirate masacres (including the scene when they slaughter an entire Coastguard crew) Morricone and Ritchie use rousing swashbuckling music, as if we were supposed to root for the pirates.

As I said, WTF?!

Jim H · January 07, 2010, 07:34:21 PM

Quote from: Neville on January 07, 2010, 06:26:46 PM
The ending is lots of fun, I agree. Together with that little kung fu moment I mentioned it makes the movie much more rewarding. But the rest of it is so plagued of bad choices... one issue I didn't mention is that during a couple of pirate masacres (including the scene when they slaughter an entire Coastguard crew) Morricone and Ritchie use rousing swashbuckling music, as if we were supposed to root for the pirates.

As I said, WTF?!

Yeah, I noticed that. They get the heroic theme, which is pretty funny. It reminds me of a few Hong Kong films I've seen that "borrow" their scores from other films, and sometimes they don't fit at all.

On a final note though, while I enjoyed the ending and a few other bits, I actually did find most of the movie pretty damn boring.

Skull · January 08, 2010, 01:05:23 PM

hehe... I rented this flick years ago thinking that the idea seemed good. But I recall myself thinking "gees" this is one boring Michael Caine movie. And it seemed to become a little cartoony a times with Pirates looking like Mad Max warriors (and predating Waterworld)

Although, last year there was an actual pirate incident that ended with sniper fire. It just shows how unrealistic The Island (1980) compaired to "real" modern pirates. :)

Trevor · January 08, 2010, 01:22:54 PM

Leonard Maltin said of this film: "You know you're in trouble when David Warner plays the most normal guy on the island."

Flick James · January 08, 2010, 04:06:03 PM

Wow. I haven't thought about The Island in years. Personallly I find Benchley are pretty mediocre writer. Speilberg's decision to adapt Jaws was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.

Neville · January 08, 2010, 04:18:41 PM

I agree. I have read over the years three of his books, "Jaws", "The deep" and "The island". They all have interesting ideas, but he doesn't impress as an storyteller.

BoyScoutKevin · January 13, 2010, 05:55:00 PM

Quote from: jlb67 on January 08, 2010, 04:06:03 PM
Wow. I haven't thought about The Island in years. Personallly I find Benchley are pretty mediocre writer. Speilberg's decision to adapt Jaws was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.

Agree. The book "The Island" is bad enough, but even watching it on TV, "The Island" is one of the few movies I find completely unwatchable, turning it off, before it was over.

The island (1980)

Skull