Pirates (1986)
Movie · 1986 · Adventure, Comedy · 2h 4m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.0/10 (16.7K ratings)
Our Ship's Highly-Trained Staff Awaits You.
Overview
The adventures of pirate Captain Red and his first mate Frog.
Ratings
- Curator score: 1.0/10
- IMDb: 6.0/10
- Letterboxd: 2.89/5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 25%
- Metacritic: 32
- TMDB: 6.3/10
Director
Roman Polanski
Production
Cominco, Carthago Films, Accent Films, The Cannon Group
Cast
Walter Matthau, Cris Campion, Damien Thomas, Olu Jacobs, Charlotte Lewis, Roy Kinnear, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, David Kelly, Michael Elphick, Ferdy Mayne, Władysław Komar, Daniel Emilfork, Bill Stewart
Curator Review
Verdict
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.
Best for
- fans of offbeat cult adventure
- viewers who appreciate meticulous production design and practical staging
- people curious about genre satire with a dry, European sensibility
- audiences who enjoy pirate films that lean more ironic than rousing
Skip if
- you want energetic, crowd-pleasing swashbuckling
- you’re looking for a warm or broadly comic adventure
- you’re sensitive to the offscreen controversy surrounding the filmmaker
- you prefer tightly plotted, fast-moving action comedies
Overview
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.
Worth noting
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.
Bottom line
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.
Top Letterboxd reviews
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… more 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… more
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… more 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… more
Recommended similar titles
Captain Blood
One of the foundational swashbucklers: romantic, fast-moving, and full of the heroic momentum this film often withholds.
The Black Swan
A glossy pirate yarn that balances romance, action, and old-Hollywood charm.
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Not a pirate film, but it delivers the same swordplay pleasure, visual elegance, and adventure clarity at a much higher level.
The Three Musketeers
A witty, energetic ensemble adventure that scratches the same costume-swashbuckler itch with more momentum and comic snap.
The Four Musketeers
A companion piece with the same lively, slightly irreverent spirit and strong physical staging.
The Princess Bride
A beloved genre-sendup that keeps the adventure playful, romantic, and emotionally warm.
The Goonies
Treasure-hunt adventure with comic energy, ensemble chemistry, and a more accessible sense of fun.
Hook
A big, storybook adventure that trades cynicism for spectacle, nostalgia, and crowd-pleasing momentum.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
For viewers drawn to ornate, eccentric, expensive-looking fantasy that values invention over clean storytelling.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
A better-known example of deadpan, anti-heroic genre parody that keeps the jokes sharper and the rhythm tighter.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
If what you want is immersive maritime detail, lived-in production design, and serious seafaring craft, this is the gold standard.
Topics
swashbuckling, satire, period adventure, dark comedy, cult film, sea voyage, practical effects, costume design, European cinema