1/1/2025

Director Luigi Capuano has tried for two bites of the cherry with this pirate cum western combo. Guy Madison is the colonial Spanish governor who is at loggerheads with pirate "Valverde" (Rik Battaglia) and simultaneously mercilessly persecuting the local population under their princess (Ingeborg Schöner) for their gold. He takes a bit of a shine to this feisty lady, as does his nemesis and so there are multiple battle lines drawn between these two men as the swash and buckle turns more to tomahawks and teepees. It's quite good fun stolen by a Battaglia who is clearly enjoying his chance to be Errol Flynn. The other two at the top of the bill look ill-at-ease and deliver quite woodenly as the story meanders rather weakly along taking a rather predictable route to it's rousing denouement. There must have been a decent enough budget for the production isn't bad and there are plenty of action scenes and pyrotechnics that reminded me a little of that other stilted adventure film "Seven Seas to Calais" (1962). Peplum goes pirate in Peru not Penzance and if you like the genre you'll probably quiet enjoy this. I did.