Blackie the Pirate

No pun intended - Terence Hill and Bud Spencer ... two people that shaped my childhood. Even though they had done movies together way before I was born. But I liked watching their movies - dubbed in German, but they had a great industry back then. Probably still have - for the bigger productions.

This one I probably never saw before. This is not like any other movie they did that I really liked. Their relationship is different in this one, the focus is on other characters .. and you have boats and pirates and sword fighting and other stuff like that. While I reckon it is nice to try something different, maybe this is why it just doesn't feel like ... home (well you know what I mean) ... anyway, nice movie overall but nothing special ... if you are a fan of those two actors you won't mind flaws or other things anyway ...

When I first watched this one in 1987, I of course expected a comedy with both Hill and Spencer as the main characters, getting up to their usual hyjinx. I was to be bitterly disappointed. Instead I got a serious drama/action movie, which was more of a Terence Hill on his own type of movie. Bud had a much smaller role and for large parts was absent. This is probably why many lists do not include Blackie on them when it comes to listing Spencer/Hill movies.

Viewing this for a second time 30 years later, my expectations were nowhere near as high and I actually found out it wasn't as bad as I remembered. It was well filmed and although a little formulaic, had some entertaining stuff.

Hill plays a gentlemanly honourable pirate, while Bud plays a rival one. It seemed Bud's voiceover was his usual, but for Terence it was someone new.

To me,this is the paragon for the swashbucklers.This is how to do a swashbuckler."Blackie the Pirate" sets a standard for the genre.It gives a concrete idea on how such a movie ought to be.Very picturesque,and visually pleasing,"Blackie ..." has everything that I request from a movie of this kind:humor,fun,a handsome lead (T. Hill),good cast (George Martin,Bud Spencer) ,fluency,attractive music,sexy women (Silvia Monti,Mónica Randall,Diana Lorys),a film made by men who think and have a powerful sense of epic.These Italians used to had an incredible sens of fun. Horrors,westerns,Peplums,crime movies,SF,swashbucklers,WW 2 movies,comedy,sex drama,etc.,they hit the nail on the head.The French failed lamentably to take over all these "commercial" genres,but the Italians hit it.(It is true that I know a few outstanding French genre movies;but,with the Italians,outstanding is the rule.)And they were able to bring in Gemma,Nero,Hill,etc..To me,the Italian cinema is a source of inexhaustible pleasure.The Italians are for the fun what the French are for the novels,or the Germans for the music.They have the skill for doing EVERYTHING right.So,this Italian swashbuckler,"Blackie ...",IS a swashbuckler.

The two Italian actors have a lot of fun in this movie.(But "Blackie ..." is not a buddy film,as Spencer got only a bit part,though an excellent one.)The cast is very good.The girls were some 25-30 years when they appeared in Corsaro Nero.

A movie made out of love for fun.(A bluff like the Granger "Scaramouche" can not bear comparison with "Blackie ...".That "Scaramouche" can not pretend to be "a different kind" of movie;it is only a banal and stupid movie,lacking any charm.)

Gicca Palli did not make many movies.

This is the tale of a buccaneer who takes over a ship of corsairs and wreak havoc on the high seas. The pirate named Blackie(Terence Hill) join forces with Don Pedro(George Martin, also screenwriter). They square off against their nemesis, the viceroy(Edmund Purdom, Sinuhe, The prodigal) and other pirates captains(Allan Collins and Pascuale Basile, also master of arms). Blackie and Don Pedro are helped by a corpulent hunk named Moko(Fernando Bilbao) and a sympathetic pirate(habitual of Italian B series, Sal Borgese). They're going a buccaneer settlement where encounter a prisoners selling, there is slaved the viceroy's spouse(Silvia Monti). The wife is bought by Blackie, but she's freed by a ransom. Meanwhile, viceroy wishes a shipment of gold transport from Guayaquil until Spain .

This is an agreeable entertainment juvenile romp. The movie displays action, swordplay, slapdash, fist-play and humor with tongue in check. This release has some nice and even hilarious moments here and there , though isn't always interesting , sometimes is diverting and fresh and on a couple of sympathetic occasions is frankly delicious. Terence Hill (Mario Girotti, Massimo Girotti'son)is cool as the pirate hero who finds dangerous situations while trying rob the shipment. This isn't the usual Hill-Spencer(Carlo Pedersoli) buddy movie, but they're contenders instead of partners, for that reason they're best known for roles in Spaghetti, 'They call me Trinity¨and followings, where they're much better. The starring are accompanied by gorgeous girls, such as Silvia Monti, Diana Lorys and Monica Randall. This adventures movie of middling budget and confuse plot, is enriched by colorful cinematography but unfortunately the copy circulating is badly printed. The motion picture is regularly directed by Lorenzo Gicca Palli, alias Vincent Thomas. He's usually screenwriter of Italian Western and adventures genre(Zorro the invincible, Hercules the avenger,Fury of Khybers) and occasionally filmmaker(Last gunfight). This standard and average 7o's Italian swashbuckling film to be liked for Hill and Spencer fans.

There's the makings of something here: a pirate comedy or a swashbuckling drama, but, ultimately it's neither one or the other enough to make it a good movie, which is rather a shame. Had it actually been a "Trinity Boys Do Pirating" sort of movie, it would have worked. It such a case, it needn't have had a compelling plot: just let Terence Hill and Bud Spencer humorously beat up other pirates and corrupt sailors while having their own dumb misfortunes and bad luck. The movie already had the two comedians and plenty of other very capable actors and actresses, including the beautiful Silvia Monti, Monica Randall, and Diana Lorys.

Alas... Bud Spencer is barely even in this movie and Terence Hill ("Blackie the Pirate") is rarely funny cast as a more traditional leading man type. In fact, the sort of stuff you expect of a "Trinity" movie, Bud's impossible strength and toughness, Terence's agile and offbeat fighting style are farmed out more to the supporting actors, which is actually one of the better parts of the film: Blackie's crew al seem to have their own special talents: one, for example, has excellent aim with a canon or pistols, other is very strong, etc. A crew of pirates, each with their own specialties but only in certain situations starts to almost write itself.

Well... whatever. It's not that movie. Watch it if you'll watch anything By Hill or Spencer or watch it if you'll watch any kind of pirate movie, just don't watch it if you're expecting Terence and Bud to be doing a buddy-buddy pirate comedy.