heystevesteinberg

I just finished watching the whole 1-season, 39 epps on Amazon, having not watched The Buccaneers since it came to America when I was about ten. Unlike the other UK import to impact American TV culture, Robin Hood, this series did not live on in my memory, save for the catchy sea-chantey song played over closing credits. Somehow, the words to the song had stuck in my head. The plots are simple, the production is pretty lean and at times the actors chew the scenery, but overall, I found myself compelled to watch all the episodes. About ten years later when I saw Robert Show as the villain in 'From Russia With Love' I did not make the connection, nor in 'Jaws.' His Captain Dan Tempest was vibrant, physically imposing and humorous, but at times, he really goes over the top, even for a 50s show. One thing that surprised me was how the Brits referred to the acting governor as Lieutenant, the way we pronounce it here, vs. 'Leftenant,' how they say it there. For the US market only? Anyway, a pleasant enough guilty pleasure to watch.

What makes this movie historically significant can be found in the release date. While it says '1970' I think it was a bit later than that because this movie was shot in a rough/hard-core layered fashion. There's quite a bit of fellatio that is not hidden by hair, hands or camera angle. Neola Graef, she of the shimmery blond hair and zahftig figure, who only appeared in soft core scenes in her career, is in some hardcore scenes in this raincoater. In one extended scene, where another actress is totally sucking a dude off,Neola does a reverse cowgirl, back to camera, on his face. Now what he was doing with his lips and tongue is anyone's guess, but that's about as hardcore as she ever got. There is also a scene in which she is giving a guy head, with her hair hiding all the action, but when she finally pulls away, you see the man has a raging hard-on that twangs to one side, so perhaps she was really throwing the good stuff. By today's standards, a silly, tame and boring movie, but by the standards of the day, daring in the X-treme.

While anyone can enjoy this nostalgic look at what it means to be a Jewish comic, the question Zweig keeps returning to is how to get a fix for his Jew Jones. As another babyboomer NYC Jew who grew up watching Jack Carter, Red Buttons, Myron Cohen, London Lee, Jack E. Leonard, Alan King, Joey Bishop, Norm Crosby, Professor Irwin Corey, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Howie Morris, Alan Sherman, Jerry Lewis, The Three Stooges, George Burns, Corbett Monica, Sandy Baron, Stanley Myron Handleman, Buddy Hackett, Shecky Greene, Danny Kaye, Pinky Lee, Eddie Cantor, Groucho Marx...in other words, the funnymen of the late 40s and 50s, it seemed the whole comedy world was Jewish. There's nothing particularly ethnic about any of the above performers, many of whom were cited in the documentary, but that sense of Jewishness in comedy is an historic relic. While the documentary contains many funny lines and examples of Jewish jokes, there's a sadness as an undercurrent that only fellow 60+ Jews can truly understand...the loss of a culture. I'm glad I watched the film, but it left me melancholy.