Gotta say I loved this depsite the mostly mixed to negative reviews I've read.

With Exploited closing up shop, I've been picking up films that I was on the fence about, and Michael Ritchie's THE ISLAND (1980), a Universal film released in an anamorphic R2 PAL 2.35:1 transfer is one blind purchase I'm glad I made.

A gorgeous looking film - shot on location by cinematographer Henri Decaë in NYC, Antigua and the Bahamas - based on Peter Benchley's novel, with an Ennio Morricone score, THE ISLAND is the story of a journalist, based in NYC, Blair Maynard (Michael Caine), who goes down to the Bermuda Triangle to investigate the disappearance of numerous ships and their crews off the coast of Navidad Island over the last two years.

Some of the plot is improbable, Maynard, who is divorced, has his nearly teenage son, Justin (Jeffrrey Frank), show up to spend the weekend right as he's leaving for the airport to investigate the story, so he's forced to take him on the trip, and of course, his son plays a big role in the film once they get to the Carribean.

Their aircraft - a cargo plane with just them, a pig and the pilot on board - crash lands on the nearly deserted Island's airstrip, and they are befriended by an eccentric (aren't they all? ;) ) Brit, Windsor (Frank Middlemass), and ex-pat who has set himself up a comfortable little cabana in a seemingly Edenic paradise.

Windsor lends Maynard his boat so that he and his son can go to do some father & son fishing/bonding, and of course, they are immediately captured by Pirates, who the film reveals have been the cause of the missing ships and crews.

Once captured, and this is where the film really gets interesting, they are taken to an uncharted island - one of 1,200 in the Carribean, we're informed later in the film - where we meet the rest of the buccaneers, led by Nau, the always wonderful David Warner. If you like books like Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker, Jack Womack's Random Acts of Senseless Violence or Anthony Burgess' Clockwork Orange you'll love the Pirates' patois, a mixture of Pidgin English, with French and Spanish nouns thrown in for good measure, and bereft of any conventional grammatical rules. They dress as if characters from THE ROAD WARRIOR had mated with New Romantic bands (think Bow Wow Wow, Spandau Ballet, Adam & The Ants and Duran Duran) and their behavior, an absence of proper decorum and good manners when it suits their purposes, would fit in well with the ethos of Alex's Clockworkian droogies.

The pirates problem, which, immediately apparent, is inbreeding. They've been isolated on their uncharted island for over three hundred years, causing them to be infirm and prone to idiocy and illness, so they now need some fresh blood, Caine and his son, to strengthen, refresh and rejuvenate their stock. The scene in which the most attractive piratess unzips Michael Caine's trousers, and then liberally applies lard down his chest, and - out of camera sight, of course - moves her hands down to his nether regions is priceless, as are her arm movements and the faces Michael Caine makes. It's reminiscent of the scene in THE SINGING DETECTIVE, in which Katie Holmes applies lotion to Robert Downey's nether regions. :D I bet Tom Cruise would love to have that scene excised from film history.

Anyways, will Maynard and his son be able to make it off THE ISLAND and do they really want to?

If you want to know the answer to this and other subplots, you'll have to check out this bizarre film yourself.

I recommend that you do.

Thanks for letting us know there was a decent disc release for this, Michael - I just saw the uncut version for the first time on UK TV (P&S, of course) and really enjoyed the hell out of it too. Very game cast, all getting into the piratical swing of things (although I'm sure every man jack of them hesitated before adding it to the curriculum vitae afterwards). "A bunch o' fackin' arseholes playin' at Long John bloody Silver?!?" Love it. :P

Strange to see Frank Middlemass in this sort of role, as he was probably better-known for his portrayal of the lovably eccentric headmaster in the lengthy BBC TV serial TO SERVE THEM ALL MY DAYS which was screened the same year (1980).


PS. For anyone interested, the region 2 release hails from Germany (and can be ordered from Amazon.de under the title FREIBEUTER DES TODES).

Glad to see some love for this baby! :D

Middlemass seemed to be having as much fun as the rest of 'em. I bet there was some hijinx and revelrie during downtime that seeped into their characters' performances during the shoot.

BTW, Exploited also has the disc available. :)

I love THE ISLAND as well, faults and all. First caught it on the big screen when I was 16 during it's initial theatrical run back in '80. I actually enjoyed it enough to see it again the next night, a very rare occurrence for me.

Michael Ritchie’s film is the best kind of terrible movie. It isn’t dull, and it doesn’t play it safe. Peter Benchley adapted his own novel, but Ritchie is unable to work magic on the author’s material the way Steven Spielberg transformed Benchley’s terrible JAWS novel into a horror classic. It’s hard to believe we’re supposed to take THE ISLAND seriously, but scenes like Caine’s tangle with a phony jellyfish or a mulleted kung fu fighter wearing nut-squeezingly tiny shorts are clearly meant to be suspenseful.

Caine is a real pro, and never lets his (presumed) disdain for the material get in the way of an entertaining performance. The pirates’ inexperience with holding prisoners is made clear in the number of times Maynard escapes their clutches, and the reporter’s surprising ability to swim miles in choppy Caribbean waters makes me think he should have chased an Olympic medal instead of a journalism career.

Many critics were undoubtedly appalled at the level of gore and violence in THE ISLAND, particularly the fake-looking makeup effects in the opening scene and the wild finale involving Caine getting medieval with a machine gun. The violence definitely fits Ritchie’s over-the-top tone, and even though I think the intelligent director was miscast here overall, I think it makes sense to go nuts with the squibs in a film where a reporter and his son battle anachronistic pirates on a desert island.

Adding to the hilarity is Caine’s brief but definitely out-of-place anti-drug message during a pirate raid on a sailboat.

More in THE ISLAND at this link.