Curator Watchlist
A lavish, old-school pirate romp that’s more admired for its craftsmanship, atmosphere, and deadpan oddity than for consistent laughs or momentum. If you like expensive-looking period adventure with a satirical edge and don’t mind a chilly, uneven tone, it has cult appeal; if you want buoyant swashbuckling fun, it… Read more
Where to watch: Buy
Thu · 2h 4m
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Walter Matthau, Cris Campion, Damien Thomas
The adventures of pirate Captain Red and his first mate Frog.
Roman Polanski
Walter Matthau, Cris Campion, Damien Thomas
A lavish, old-school pirate romp that’s more admired for its craftsmanship, atmosphere, and deadpan oddity than for consistent laughs or momentum. If you like expensive-looking period adventure with a satirical edge and don’t mind a chilly, uneven tone, it has cult appeal; if you want buoyant swashbuckling fun, it can feel sluggish and strangely airless.
This is a pirate movie built like a museum piece: huge, tactile, and carefully assembled, with a real sense of mud, salt, and worn wood. The appeal is less in the jokes landing cleanly than in the sheer commitment to the world, the costumes, and the absurdity of treating piracy with such grim, almost clinical seriousness.
That same commitment is also the problem. The film often feels overstuffed and oddly drained of momentum, as if it’s circling its own joke without quite sharpening it. Some viewers will read that as deadpan wit; others will experience it as a long, expensive drift.
For cult-film completists and pirate obsessives, there’s enough eccentric craft here to justify the detour. For everyone else, it’s a handsome curiosity that never fully becomes the rousing adventure it seems to promise.
sirrah993 (1.5★) · 82 likes
Never have I felt so embarrassed for a film in all my life. The feeling I had watching Polanski's Pirates is the same feeling I had when I mistook a Muslim woman for Sarah Silverman, a Jewish comedian: utter humiliation. 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
Edgar Cochran ✝️🍋 (4★) · 55 likes
This highly entertaining and witty French-Tunisian adventure cult extravaganza is massively misunderstood. It might not appeal to the liking of some when you see the film plagued by royalty and pirate brutes and idiots with no side to root for, but that's the battle of the old seas for y'all. The auteur's take on adventurous comedy, whether if satirical or bizarre, has little, if almost zero support and we saw it shine twice: in 1967 and in 1972, both great
Sidibus (2★) · 44 likes
English Version below ... Pirates (1986)Piraten Der Frosch – Jean-Baptiste: Gold wäre euer Untergang, Kapitän. Es würde uns den Kopf kosten. Kapitän Thomas Bartholomew Red: Es ist einfacher, ohne Kopf zu leben als ohne Gold, du Dummkopf! Piraten ist ein französischer Abenteuerfilm in englischer Sprache von Roman Polański aus dem Jahr 1986 mit Walter Matthau und Cris Campion. Ein einsames Floss in der Mitte des Meeres: Dem Verhungern nahe ist Captain Red kurz davor, seinen Diener Jean-Baptiste zu verspeisen,… more
matt lynch (2★) · 33 likes
kind of like TWO MEN AND A WARDROBE, with Polanski schlepping this gorgeous but cumbersome object out of the sea, wryly oblivious to constant, surrounding human cruelty. only two hours long and with Walter Matthau sporting a pegleg and a nebulous accent. sounds good on paper, i hear you, but trust me. go watch Lester's MUSKETEERS movies instead.
DoomRanza ☠︎ ☕︎ (4★) · 29 likes
Yeah I’m giving a Roman Polanski movie a highly favorable rating and honestly I think I have something controversial to say, I fully support….PIRATES! I think pirates are fucking awesome, I love the cool clothes they flaunt, the cool ships, sword fights, cannons, talking parrots, and this movie has it all! Why is this not considered essential viewing for pirate fans? It damn should be! We all know and love the Pirates Of The Caribbean films (well only the first 3
A classic, high-spirited pirate adventure with athletic action and playful energy, ideal if you want the genre to feel buoyant rather than deadpan.
One of the foundational swashbucklers: romantic, fast-moving, and full of the heroic momentum this film often withholds.
A grand studio-era adventure with scale, polish, and rousing sea-faring spectacle.
A glossy pirate yarn that balances romance, action, and old-Hollywood charm.
Not a pirate film, but it delivers the same swordplay pleasure, visual elegance, and adventure clarity at a much higher level.
A witty, energetic ensemble adventure that scratches the same costume-swashbuckler itch with more momentum and comic snap.
A companion piece with the same lively, slightly irreverent spirit and strong physical staging.
A beloved genre-sendup that keeps the adventure playful, romantic, and emotionally warm.
A broad pirate comedy that leans into absurdity and chaos more openly than this film does.
Treasure-hunt adventure with comic energy, ensemble chemistry, and a more accessible sense of fun.
A big, storybook adventure that trades cynicism for spectacle, nostalgia, and crowd-pleasing momentum.
A later, lavish pirate adventure that shares the appetite for large-scale seafaring spectacle and practical action.
pirate adventure, genre satire, period comedy, swashbuckling, greed and betrayal, survival at sea, class conflict, absurdist humor
swashbuckling, satire, period adventure, dark comedy, cult film, sea voyage, practical effects, costume design, European cinema