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A different way of telling a story

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Before you write it off as just another el cheapo Italian made "peplum epic", take the time to watch it.Reeves is in fine form in title role and he does manage to create a believable character. The film is also fairly factual in how he began his career and the raid on Spanish controlled Panama at the end of the film actually happened in 1671. Film features fine color photography, good atmosphere, and realistic looking 17th. century costumes. There is a very exciting and well staged sword duel on the beach, beautiful women {including the voluptious Chelo Alonso} a great musical score and, for once the ships are authentic looking life size replicas and not the usual bathtub toy boats that too pirate movies feature. There's also a funny sequence where Morgan's men-dressed as woman capture a Spanish treasure galleon. I remember watching it on the Channel 9 "Million Dollar Movie" {in the New York area} in the early 60s when it would be shown at 7.30 and 11.30 every weekday night for a week. I must have watched it 5 times! It was a fun movie then. I recently got to see it on VHS and it is still how I remembered it. Of course it does not have a "Pirates of the Caribbean" budget, but it is not as overblown as those films. No supernatural events or fantasy elements, just a well made and exciting pirate film that delivers on all levels. Steve Reeves best role-even when compared to "Hercules". His films are long overdue for a comeback. I hope it happens soon! This guy really deserves it.

During my school years this was the movie I viewed more times(4 1/2) at the theaters than any other.Although a steve reeves fan I was all set to make fun of this movie with my brother before viewing it,maybe I was too use to seeing him run around in sandals(Steve Reeves not my brother)and thought his playing the part of a pirate was kind of hokey.Fifteen minutes into the movie I accepted his playing a mortal and really started to enjoy this movie,actually the movie got real interesting earlier than that with the first appearance of Valerie Lagrange.Wow!The rest could have the blondes, this dark haired beauty was my type.First there was Annette,Gina ,Sophia and now Valerie,finally there would be Lucianna(that's my wife and leading lady).The romantic pairing of Reeves and Lagrange is fairytale like and probably had much to do with my repeat viewings that were an escape from the blah events of reality.Still though this is top adventure/action entertainment with a nice musical score.Like many Italian movies a few laughs are mixed in with all the action.The biggest one probably being when one pirate changes his mind about baring from the waist up before dueling reeves,seem as though his built wouldn't compare well with the champion body builder.There are nice scenes of impressive ships at sea to go along with the battles,pillaging and plundering.An epic without the long duration that causes squirming in the seats.In this film is also another big star of european adventure films-Chelo Alonso,she no doubt is appealing to many of the viewers also.The way I see it,if a person doesn't like this movie it's because they don't like pirate movies period.

I can't claim I wasn't entertained. MORGAN THE PIRATE is great fun, just not the way that I expected. I was looking for thrills, and got laughs instead.I was psyched up to enjoy this movie right through the opening credits. I was saturated with those glorious Technicolor shots full of blue water and white sails, and I loved Franco Mannino's score. Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there. Andre de Toth's direction is ludicrous from beginning to end. Shall we start with the hamfistedness? A Panamanian is buying a cow, inspects her teeth, and the seller declares it to be in prime condition. Pan to a slave girl, whose teeth are also being inspected. Okay, we get the idea, but just in case we miss the parallel, the slave's seller says the SAME WORDS, TO THE LETTER, as the cow's owner does!That was my first hint that the movie was going to be bad, but not until the `action' scenes start did I realize just how funny it was going to be. Steve Reeves, enslaved aboard a Spanish vessel, leads a mutiny below decks. Instead of shooting the slaves from the hatchway, the Spanish marines obligingly climb right down the ladder and fall directly into the slaves' hands without even putting up a fight! Having thus gained some idea of the quality of his opposition, Steve Reeves just blows off the rest of the action sequence; it's obvious he isn't even trying. He swordfights like a septuagenarian English country gentleman pointing out landmarks with a cane. When he has to knock a man overboard, he just half-heartedly waves the stock of his musket at the victim, who promptly goes flying.Then there's the dialogue. Of course there is nothing easier than to poke fun at badly dubbed Italian movies. But in this case, to blame the translators and dubbers would be unfair, since the original Italian dialogue obviously never made sense to begin with. For example: Dona Inez, seeing a dying sailor, slaps Captain Morgan and says, `You're nothing but a murderer!' His answer: `And you are beautiful!' Wow, what a splendid rebuttal! (It sounds even lamer if you remember THE SEA HAWK, where Errol Flynn answers a similar accusation from a beautiful prisoner by gently pointing out that his actions are no different from those of Spanish military `heroes').The best laugh of all is when Morgan gives the order to abandon ship, which his sailors proceed to do not by taking to the dories, but by just diving overboard en masse! But the amazingly incompetent editing is humorous too; sometimes it looks like an early attempt to pioneer MTV-style jump cutting. At another point, a major patch of the movie simply goes missing in action. At one point, Morgan and his pirates have been abandoned, without ships (Morgan having burned them), on the beaches of Jamaica: they then proceed to march overland to Panama! The entire portion of the movie that explains how they got off the island of Jamaica to the Central American isthmus is just GONE!I won't bother criticizing the movie for lack of historical accuracy. It's perfectly excusable to sacrifice historical accuracy in the name of a good story, like in BRAVEHEART or in almost any Shakespeare play. What I find more annoying is when the good stories in history are not exploited to their full potential. This movie, for instance is the second I know of (THE BLACK SWAN is the other) that wastes the dramatic possibilities of Henry Morgan. The historical Captain Morgan had all the qualities of a classic Hollywood villain: diabolic charisma, a penchant for treachery, absolute ruthlessness, a cunning genius for strategy, insatiable greed and lechery. He even had sinister, bushy eyebrows and a Basil Rathbone mustache! And film-makers can't think of anything better to do with him than make him a hero?One parting shot: if I'd been in Morgan's shoes, I'd have told Dona Inez to go fly a kite. Consuela for me!Rating: *½ out of ****.Recommendation: If you want to see a good movie, skip it. If you want to laugh at a bad one, then by all means, see it.

It is a shame that "Morgan the Pirate" is not shown or recognized more by action fans. It is very hard to find this film on any tv station - including cable or video stores. Steve Reeves gives his very best acting job in this venerable pirate tale.....also, an oddity is that Steve has to pursue the lovely Dona Inez, the daughter of the governor of Panama, throughout the film.....she makes Reeves work very hard to make a conquest of her. In other Reeves tales the women begin swooning over him very early. Morgan the Pirate has great action scenes, with good closeups of some beautifully reconstructed pirate ships. The costumes are quite historical, with Reeves decked out in a slew of pirate regalia as the film progresses. The music sets off this swashbuckler to a great extent. Best music score around for this pirate tale. Reeves survives a mini mutiny among his own pirate group, spearheaded by a jealous cohort captain who Steve outduels in an excellent action sequence early in the film as Reeves establishes his authority as the overall leader of the pirates. Some lovely women to look at in this film, and Reeves does not appear overly muscular for the role.Plenty of pirate fighting and a good romantic ending for Captain Morgan.