Comments on: Walking the Plank When You Have No Other Choice

By: Joe Valdez

Joe Valdez — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:11:39 +0000

Jim: Cutthroat Island is definitely one of those cases where the story behind the movie is much more interesting than anything that made it on screen. I am here to endure some degree of pain so you don't have to. Thanks for commenting! Adam: Your visitation and approbation of this series means a lot. That said, I think this movie could have been a hit with Geena Davis & Matthew Modine if the material had been good, if you're heard word of mouth way in advance of its release about what an exciting movie this was. As it turned out, Cutthroat Island did not deliver the goods and couldn't have drawn a crowd no matter who was in it. Just my opinion there. I do not work for Carolco. Daniel: And you know, the explosions weren't even that good! The fire in this movie was far from Backdraft quality. I think boys maybe 8-12 might be entertained by this, but why bother when you can just put Captain Blood in the DVD player. Thanks for commenting! Alan: When will these screen actresses learn that marrying a director never ends well. Instead, they should follow Cate Blanchett's lead and marry a writer, preferably writers who write about movies on This Distracted Globe. I am thinking of Rosario Dawson while I issue this piece of advice in particular. Ray: I believe you have a valid case. Geena was at her best when playing the best friend: Fletch, The Fly, Accidental Tourist. She was truly the Judy Greer of the late '80s and I would have liked to see her do a lot more work in that pool. Cindy: Honestly, I'm not at all familiar with John Debney's work, but was aware that is score for this movie had won him quite a few fans. Debney and the monkey may have been the only participants in Cutthroat Island whose career was in better shape afterwards. Thanks for dropping by and sharing your Debney ardor with the class!

By: Cindylover1969

Cindylover1969 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:42:13 +0000

“the high throttled musical score by John Debney probably has more fans than this wreck of a movie does.”

We can safely strike “probably” – not only has Debney’s music (which got a soundtrack CD at the time) subsequently been issued as a two-disc album with the complete score plus an alternate version of “Carriage Chase” and demos, but he’s one of the few participants whose career was in better shape AFTER the movie than before it…

By: Flickhead

Flickhead — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:41:12 +0000

Poor Geena… it was all downhill after Angie.

By: Burbanked

Burbanked — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:20:24 +0000

@Adam R: I’ll agree with you about Modine, but I think this failure owes more to the material than Davis’ lack of star power. By ’95 she was known primarily for THE FLY, BEETLE JUICE, THELMA & LOUISE and A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN – the majority of which could arguably be classified as her “vehicles”. She was certainly a big enough star, but I remember seeing these posters and trailers and thinking “Davis? Cool. Modine? WTF?” (a phrase I made up in 1995, BTW) (that one, too)

I think the true lesson of this film is clear: don’t get married to Renny Harlin.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:19:36 +0000

Lol, what a nightmare! Who knew such a bad production would lead to such a fascinating review. Great work!

Never a good sign when the best part of a movie is the explosions.

By: Adam R

Adam R — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:31:22 +0000

“screenwriter Robert King had to be brought in to reconfigure Cutthroat Island in one month as a vehicle for Geena Davis.”

That sentence is the failure of “Cutthroat Island” in a nutshell — who wants to see a Geena Davis vehicle, or for that matter Matthew Modine? If there was any kind of star power, there was a chance moviegoers would care, but having Davis and Modine on the poster ended any chance for box office success.

Great post Joe, this is an awesome series.

By: Moviezzz

Moviezzz — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:36:54 +0000

I had completely forgotten everything that went on behind this movie. And, I still have never seen it.

Great story!