The Buccaneer (1958)

The Buccaneer (Dir: Anthony Quinn, 1958).

Historical accuracy goes out the window in this less than epic war movie, masquerading as a pirate adventure. 

Famed privateer Jean Lafitte (Yul Brynner) is offloading his ill gotten gains to the good people of Louisiana, much to the chagrin of Governor William Claiborne (E G Marshall), while also romancing the governor's daughter Annette (Inger Stevens). The governor conspires with General Andrew Jackson (Charlton Heston) to put an end to Lafitte's pirating ways but eventually seek his assistance at the Battle of New Orleans. 

The Buccaneer had an interesting journey to the screen which is worth recounting here. A fictionalised account of the real life events of the War of 1812 between the US and the British, it was originally filmed by Paramount Pictures in 1938 by Cecil B DeMille. Having scored a massive hit in 1956 with the remake of his 1923 epic The Ten Commandments, DeMille was set to repeat the trick as director of this. A series of heart attacks forced him to pull out with directing duties passing to his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn. This resulted in the unusual screen credit of "Supervised by Cecil B DeMille". DeMille appears on screen in an introductory prologue but appears in ill health. Sadly this was to be the legendary director's final film.

Though its title and accompanying ad campaign would lead you to believe otherwise, The Buccaneer is light on pirate action. Very little swash is actually buckled and aside from an early bit of shipboard action, most of the movie takes place on dry land. Were the movie marketed as a civil war picture this would be less of an issue. Disregarding the misleading title, The Buccaneer is still an underwhelming effort. One major hurdle it fails to overcome is a lack of location footage. The movie is doggedly studio bound, something particularly evident in the swamp settings and final battle sequence. No amount of fake trees or fog can disguise the fact that we are watching actors on a soundstage. Ultimately, this artificiality robs the movie of any scope. 

Quinn’s perfunctory but staid direction doesn’t help. Little attempt is made to fill the VistaVision screen with anything but foreground action, resulting in a spectacle movie in which spectacle is glaringly absent. Granted, the scenes of sailing ships have the requisite grandeur. However I suspect these were achieved using stock footage, especially as a change in film stock is evident. 

In its favour, the movie does have a decent cast. Once you get used to seeing Yul Brynner with hair(!), he certainly cuts a dash as Lafitte. Less well served is Charlton Heston as General Andrew Jackson. Bedecked in a grey wig he seems a little youthful and, oddly for Heston, lacking in authority to really convince as the future president. Further down the cast, look out for a pre-Bonanza Lorne Greene, character star Jack Kruschen and a brief appearance by the great Woody Strode. 

I suspected The Buccaneer seemed a bit of a dinosaur back in ‘58; an example of the dying Hollywood studio system era and a misjudged attempt to win audiences distracted by TV and Rock ‘n’ Roll. Although I enjoyed The Buccaneer, I can’t pretend that it was not a little disappointing. If wonky re-writes of US history are your thing this should be right up your alley. Worth watching for some gorgeous Technicolor photography and a spirited performance from Yul Brynner, but not much else.