On top of the typical 'pirate' behavior, Polanski has even added commentary on the day. What Polanski did for vampires with the Fearless Vampire Killers, he does the same for the pirate genre with this movie. If Errol Flynn was the prototype, then Walter Matthau is the grittier, colorized version. Even Captain Jack Sparrow is a bit on the tame side (Thank You Disney).

Roman Polanski does an excellent job in de-glamorizing the pirate lifestyle. If not for Keith Richards, I think Captain Red could have been more than an appropriate inspiration for Mr. It was also beneficial that Matthau was a tall 6 foot 3 inches tall, giving Captain Red a larger than life persona. Where as Captain Jack Sparrow is a bit on the weaselly side, Captain Red is more like a scraggly wolf. This is made all the more apparent by the juxtapose to his highly idealistic first mate. Red is haughty, greedy, ambitious, inspirational, conniving, and single-minded when it comes to gold. His Captain Red is an amalgamate of various pirates but yet stands on its own because of Matthau. Walter Matthau is clearly the standout character in this movie. It has all the right elements - action, adventure, ship battles, wooden appendages, sword fighting, humor, barrels of rum, gold, prison, cross dressing, cockney accents, love, large feathery hats, giant wigs and even the attractive Charlotte Lewis (remember Eddie's love interest from the Golden Child). After encountering a Spanish galleon (the Neptune) and performing a self-rescue, the story shifts into main gear : the Aztec Throne of Zapotec Anahuak. On the heels of their last adventure (see Boca del Toro), the movie starts out in the middle of the ocean with our two protagonists on a raft floating around, mad with hunger.

The movie revolves mainly around the exploits of the stool-legged Captain Bartholomew Red (Mathau) and his French first mate (who at times resembles dinner), the Frog. In all honesty, it was the VHS cover that first attracted me to this movie : Walter Matthau dressed up as a disheveled looking Captain Morgan, cutlass drawn and pointed as us. Thank the contents of Davey Jones' locker for Roman Polanski. He was always chivalrous, clean and relatively good looking. He was always a good guy, who got caught up in the circumstances and was still trying to be a good guy. For some reason I never fully identified with the Errol Flynn pirate. I wanted to do everything pirate related. When I was a kid growing up I got into this PC game called Sid Meier's Pirates. Reviewed by CelluloidRehab 9 / 10 Oh Captain Morgan, where have thou gone ?

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