The Scarlett Buccaneer Strikes Again
For a 1976 film to call itself "the biggest, grandest pirate movie ever" is immediately destined for failure, unless, of course,
the filmmakers envisioned failure as the best possible outcome. While even bombs make some money, Swashbuckler hardly sparked at the box office.... or, you could say, was an after-dinner mint of the voracious appetite Jaws had on audiences in the mid-seventies (perhaps our scarlet-dressed hero would have done better to save Amity Island than heading off tyranny in Jamaica?). But really, with $5 used DVDs easily found the world (wide web) over, this one's worth its weight in popcorn. It's exciting, funny
and delivers the plank... and James Earl Jones as co-buccaneer? Thumbs up! One of the film's best features is British composer John Addison's feisty original score. The Swashbuckler soundtrack CD (Intrada) is the first
showing of the score on CD. The presentation is identical in program to the original MCA LP, including the unused love theme that effortlessly yearns for the golden age of Hollywood film music. The rest of the lively score is ripe with the sound of English cinema, easily reminiscing the work of William Alwyn, Clifton Parker, some Ron Goodwin and even his own Academy-nominated score for Tom Jones. Not bad for for the bloke most known for his "Murder, She Wrote" theme!
PK (3/21/2008)see all reviews, or add a review
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