Un Pirata de Doce Años (1972)

Pirate yarn. Mexico. Starring Hugo Stiglitz, René Cardona III & Christa Linder. Directed by René Cardona Jr.

Oscar Video (Greece). Spanish language with greek subtitles. Fullscreen.

Very obscure pirate flick by René Carona Jr, one of my favorite directors when it comes to stiff genre cinema. A crew of goodhearted English pirates get their ship sunken by the evil spaniards. Their bad luck continues when they are washed ashore on an island used as a Spanish military training camp. Most of the crew are quickly killed off by the spaniards until only the pirates with clear character features remain: The heroic pirate leader (Cardona-favorite Hugo Stiglitz), the kid hero (René Cardona III - aaargh, it never ends!), the Indian (good at scouting and a good listener), the one-eyed brute (good at kicking Spanish asses) and a longhaired, bearded pirate who looks like a overweight middleage hippie (he - uhm- likes to spit a lot). When the pirates realise the spaniards are holding an English noble lady and her kids and chambermaid hostage they decide to go an a rescue mission and try to escape through the jungle. With the Spanish breathing down their neck they encounter cannibals, quicksand and dangerous animals on their way to freedom. I enjoyed this flick quite a lot. Even though I don't understand Spanish, the plot is easy enough to follow and the film never gets too talky for its own good. The film offers lots of dated swashbuckling fun to be had and there's never long between the swordsplay, crocodile attacks or cannibal ambushs. Fans of bad models will enjoy the sinking of the model ship, Antonio Margheriti would be proud. Add some crisp photography and good locations and you have 90 entertaining minutes. 4/5