The King's Pirate (1967)

good back-story, and good acting

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Comic remake of Against All Flags; all very pleasant and colourfully photographed, but hampered by Doug McClure's hopeless performance. At the start of the film we see big Doug getting flogged aboard ship, but his facial expression suggests it's all just a big joke. He certainly doesn't appear to be in much pain. However, the film comes into its element when it gets down to the swashbuckling side of things. The action and pacing in these sequences is much more competent, and comes close in some scenes to rivalling the blood and thunder heroics of earlier pirate flicks. Jill St. John (best known for Diamonds Are Forever and Sitting Target) is spirited in this, really turning on the sexy charm, as well as the action, as the heroine. However, every now and again the film tries to play it for laughs, but its slapstick style is pitifully weak. A mixed bag, but you could much worse.

A charming remake of "Against All Flags". Doug McClure takes on Errol Flynn's role but this director, as well as the cast have a delightful sense of humor & everyone appears to be having a good time. It's the same movie (almost word for word) but at the same time it's totally different. I hate to admit it but this movie is better than the original. Watching them both in the same day is quite an experience. Two great casts, one fine story yet two different genres.

This tongue-in-cheek re-make of "Against All Flags" was, alas, one of the last examples of the B-movie "pirate" genre to come out of Hollywood. Fans of the genre will probably not be disappointed. While the movie is thin, nothing more than a throw-away, it's colorful, has a certain zest, and the cast members seem to be enjoying themselves. Doug McClure takes over the role originally played by Errol Flynn and it's both amusing and instructive to contrast their two styles. Both the Flynn version and the McClure version, for example, begin with the leading man, stripped to the waist, receiving an on-board flogging of 20 lashes. Flynn plays it "straight," sweating and suffering in a realistic manner. McClure, on the other hand, indulges in some comic eye-rolling as if to convey the message: "Oooh! That one really hurt!" There's also an intriguing difference in how the two actors are positioned for their floggings. Flynn, about 42 or 43 years old when he filmed this scene, (and not in prime shape), largely keeps his back to the camera. McClure, some ten years younger, faces the camera, thus giving him a chance to show off his still-youthful physique. (And no, despite his boyish, clean-cut image, McClure has not shaved off his chest-hair!) The chest seems to win over the back because in the book, "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies," the flogging in "The King's Pirate" ranks 19th whereas the flogging in "Against All Flags" ranks 27th. And while we're at it, Guy Stockwell -- who plays the villain in "The King's Pirate" -- went under the whip in 1966's re-re-make of "Beau Geste." His flogging ranks 85th in "Lash!"