The Island (1980)

Director: Michael Ritchie

Starring: Michael Caine, David Warner, Angela Punch McGregor, Frank Middlemass, Don Henderson, Dudley Sutton

More info: IMDb

Tagline: For 300 years, a terrifying secret has been kept from the outside world.

Plot: John David Nau (Warner) leads a band of modern day pirates who raid yachts and sail boats of people on vacation out in the Caribbean. Blair Maynard (Caine) is a reporter who goes out there with his son to investigate the mystery of the disappearing boats. Nau inducts Maynard's son into the tribe and keeps Blair as a prisoner to impregnate the woman of the man he killed.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.


I only saw this once on HBO in the early 80s and I don't remember much except it wasn't terribly exciting. That was about thirty years ago and now I've seen a great widescreen print. THE ISLAND is a very good flick with some great action sequences and suspense. The ending is out-a-fucking-sight, it's written by Peter "JAWS" Benchley and it's got a great high seas adventure look and vibe.


There's plenty of gore (like you would expect in a FUCKING PIRATE MOVIE!!!) which is sadly lacking in just about every pirate movie ever made. Pirates were mean-ass sum bitches - ruthless. Hollywood has rarely shown them to be anything but kind of nasty buggers that take things and pester people. The pirates in the picture enjoy killing; they thrive on it. They really are bloodthirsty.


I'm not saying THE ISLAND is without flaws but if you're willing to suspend your disbelief for the overall modern day pirates living and dressing like 17th century pirates, then you can easily forgive some of the little things. I did.


If modern day pirates led by David Warner sounds even remotely fun to you, you need to see this. It's a great action flick that deserves your attention. Now where is a period pirate movie with the gory balls that this one has? Someone please tell me. And while I'm at it, how badass would it be to have Michael Caine as a ruthless pirate?