Treasure Island (1990)

Load of rubbish!!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Here is a story I want to tell. Yesterday, a friend of mine vouched that nobody could write a better piracy story than Stevenson's "Treasure Island" - tale of buccaneers and buried gold originally published in 1883. Nope, I replied, I have something at hand that is equally intriguing as plot but remained obscure since publishing date in 1972. You can Google it as "Veseliiat rodzhŭr" but full text is not available online. Plus, it is not written by neither Rafael Sabatini nor Emilio Salgari, etc. that are pioneer storytellers of pirate stories. Author is Georgi Dobrentov and here is resume of plot which I will divide in several subplots for more appropriate understanding.Subplot, part I - It's year 1683, sometime after Restoration, Charles II is reigning. Sir John Richmond, a hereditary aristocrat, is getting married to Lady Jane Crossword. They are going on wedding trip to Le Havre, France. Their small brigantine is shipwrecked near the coast of Spain where they are attacked by Barbary Coast Pirates. The barbarian leader is called Ali ben Jusef ibn Saada or "GreenEye Beast", but this Muslim proves gentleman and didn't kill the crew while only Lady Jane elopes with him under name "Fatima".Subplot, part II - Sir John manages to sail back to Portsmouth, South England, on his dilapidated ship but is furious on his wife's adultery. Since he is very rich, he seek vengeance by means of becoming pirate himself. He gets charter by Charles II which gives him right to liberate criminals from Newgate Prison. He engages 300 person by ransom and boards them on three-masted heavy frigate, a vessel specially built for him. His new crew is detached of scoundrels but that's the only way retribution can come. Names here are Don Pedro Quickdeath, Linden Hallelujah, Richard Artichoke and Black Mike. The first three are faithful to their Master, but commander Black Mike is traitor who works for notorious Caribbean Pirate Dick Dack (aleas Richard Misfit).Subplot, part III - Under Jolly Roger flag, Sir John Bloodthirsty hunts for his adulterous wife. Meanwhile, Muslim pirate Ibn Saada is ambushed first by Dick Dack and then overwhelmed by Sir John and his crew. Before dying Ibn Saada tells him that Lady Jane "Fatima" had further eloped with a Dutchman. When the latter is caught, she is already with a French, then with a Swedish and finally with a Spanish noble that makes the protagonist crisscross the Seven Seas. At last, the Sea Hike has trailed to a desert island in the Caribbean where Pirate Dick Dack has lounged his settlement. The guy alludes to revenge against Sir John and his progenitors because the latter's grandfather had blinded his one eye while Richard Misfit had been working as alchemist at Court. So far, everyone gets ashore where looking for treasures the island explodes into the air and that's it.Epilogue - Some of the Pirates survive the Alchemist plot and live till old age (Pedro Quickdeath, Linden Hallelujah, Richard Artichoke). Lady Jane is seen last with her lover Black Mike and then with a common sailor. Sir John changes his secular name to Saint Augustine and lives till 80 years of age. Now, if you liked my story I will be perfectly glad. And don't forget "Treasure Island" (1990) with Charlton Heston. Watch it!

Stevenson's novel is one of the greatest books for boys ever written, and I still have the edition my mother gave me thirty-two years ago and which I have read innumerable times since. Although I also did read and enjoyed Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Coral Island and other boys's adventure classics, none of them enchanted me as much as Treasure Island did. This must be the children's novel with the greatest number of film and TV adaptations in history. I have seen the 1934 version, which is very faithful to the book but it also is a typical product of its time in the cherubic cuteness of the kid and the gentleness of Silver. That is OK for an audience of little children, but the first time I saw it I was 16 and I found it a bit too corny, and the final scene between the kid and Beery is a tearjerker that has nothing at all to do with the novel. In the book Jim tells us that Silver simply sneaked off the ship unnoticed and was never again heard of. Then the 1950 Disney version is also too cute –it wouldn't be Disney's otherwise! - although it has a bit more action than its predecessor and the pirates are a lot rougher. The one thing for which this one is best remembered is the great Bobby Newton. He was the best John Silver of them all: a rascal with a twinkling eye who can be charming, amusing, a father-like figure, a solicitous crewman… and then the next minute he'll be a natural leader of cutthroats, a cold-blood murderer and a ruthless pirate son-of-a-bitch. But at the end you still root for him because Newton was able to give his character something that makes him an aristocrat among common criminals. As to the modest and mediocre 1972 version, apart from the presence of Orson Welles it doesn't have anything else to offer. And finally I want to mention a curious Soviet version from 1971 and which I saw in YouTube the other day, called "Ostrov Sokrovishch", and which although it is less than 90 minutes long it manages to be reasonably faithful to the novel. Now, coming back to this version discussed here... although in the book Jim never tells his age, we can estimate that he is between 12 and 15 years old. A very young boy would have never been left alone for hours in charge of the inn in those rough days of the highwayman, and an older and bigger teenager would have surely stood up too Blackdog and Blind Pew with less fear and he even might have landed them a good wallop or two. So, in this aspect Christian Bale makes the perfect Jim. And he is well accompanied by a remarkable pair of British baddie heavies: the hell-raiser Ollie Reed as Billy Bones -a role he was born to play- and the always excellent Christopher Lee as the infamous and disgusting Blind Pew. As to the rest of the cast, they are all good too, and the guy playing Israel Hands is a real bastard indeed. As for Charlton Heston (one of my favourite actors), unfortunately he is totally miscast here. I'm sorry, Chuck, but you were far too old for the role. Twenty years earlier it might have been fine, but not when you are sixty-seven. But then Chuck was the director's dad and obviously he came aboard cheap. Another aspect of this film that I find remarkable, for it was quite risqué at the time, is the frequent use of the words "bastard", "son of a bitch" and so. Of course, if the film were made today this wouldn't be "acceptable" in a story for children and teenagers, and the Censors Office would surely see to that. But that is how seamen in the 18th century –or any other time in history, for that matter- spoke like. And this is a story in which a teenage boy finds himself mixed up with the bloodiest pirates in England, he sees men getting shot, chopped up and blown up to pieces, and then he kills a man in self-defence and nearly gets lynched, gang-raped and hanged by the rogue's mates. All of this is in the book, it wasn't just made up for this film. A superb adaptation, almost 100% faithful to the original, with a good script, a polished cast, a fantastic art direction and a nice fiddle score to get us into the mood for the adventure. Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum!

If you hated watching Robert Newton and his ARRRRR, Matey! approach to the role of Long John Silver, and you hated watching a brat (Bobby D) play Jim Hawkins, and you like to watch a movie about boats and ships featuring actors who actually know something about sailing, this one's for you. It's the best version of Treasure Island ever filmed. Not only are you treated to a charismatic, cunning and completely amoral Long John, and a young man coming of age playing Jim, you get to hear an incredible soundtrack by the Chieftans! Wish I had a copy of the score...The Chieftans build the perfect OST for this movie. You may not like Charlton's politics, but who cares-- it's just a movie. I'm pretty sure the director is Heston's son, and he does a good job. From the opening moments when Captain Billy Bones comes in to the harbor close hauled, you know you're seeing real sailors. No other film version even comes remotely close to this one. Check it out. A bit hard to find, but out there.

More superlatives from me are not necessary. I will only say that I agree with the other commenters who consider this the best version of Treasure Island made so far. What would make a difference is for it to be released on DVD. If you would like to see this version of Treasure Island released on DVD, as I do, then please go to this link:http://tcmdb.com/title/title.jsp?scarlettTitleId=14882 and vote for it (on the right hand side of the screen).If the link does not work or you don't care to use it, then do a Google search for Turner Classic Movies, then search on the site for Treasure Island (1990). Maybe if enough people vote for it, it will actually be released on DVD. It can't hurt.