Cutthroat Island (1995)
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A pirate captain must navigate treacherous seas and mutinous crews to recover a legendary stash of gold.
The story
In 1668 Jamaica, Morgan Adams hunts down her uncle, Douglas "Dawg" Brown, who kidnapped her father, Black Harry. Harry possesses one of three map pieces to a massive gold stash. After Harry is fatally wounded and reveals the map piece is on his scalp, Morgan takes command of his ship, the Morning Star. She recruits a con man named William Shaw to help translate the map. As they navigate the seas, they are pursued by the corrupt Governor Ainslee and the infamous chronicler John Reed, who seek the treasure for themselves.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1668 Jamaica, Morgan Adams seeks her uncle Douglas "Dawg" Brown, who stole a map piece to a gold stash after murdering their brother. After her father Harry is killed, Morgan takes command of the Morning Star and recruits William Shaw to translate the map. They face threats from Governor Ainslee and the chronicler John Reed. During a raid on Spittlefield Harbor, Morgan is shot, and Shaw secretly keeps a map piece. After a romance blossoms between Morgan and Shaw, they navigate a storm and a mutiny led by boatswain Scully, which leaves Morgan marooned on Cutthroat Island. On the island, Shaw steals the final piece from Dawg, but they are forced to jump off a cliff to escape Dawg's theft. They later find Reed, who leads them into a trap set by Dawg, Ainslee, and Scully. Morgan eventually retakes the Morning Star, engages in a sea battle with the Reaper, and kills Dawg with a cannon. She saves Shaw, and they escape with the treasure, which Morgan had previously marked for retrieval.
- First release year
- 1995
- Runtime (minutes)
- 124
- Production countries
- United States; France
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Renny Harlin
- Writers
- Robert King · screenplay; Marc Norman · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Geena Davis · Morgan Adams; Matthew Modine · William Shaw; Frank Langella · Douglas "Dawg" Brown
- Genres
- adventure; swashbuckler; action; comedy; romance
- Themes
- Greed; Betrayal; Gender Roles
- Tone and mood
- Adventurous; Action-packed; Melodramatic
- Setting
- 1668 Jamaica and the Caribbean
- Premise and plot tags
- Pirate Adventure; Treasure Hunt; Action-Adventure
- Reception
- The film was a major box-office failure and received generally negative critical reviews, though its orchestral score was noted for its quality.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 40% · review count: 42; Metacritic · score: 37 · scale: 100 · review count: 20
- Awards and nominations
- Golden Raspberry Award · Worst Director · 16th · Nominated
- Production trivia
- It was listed in the Guinness World Records as the biggest box-office bomb of all time in 2012.; The studio cancelled its only other film in development, Crusade, to fund the project.; The film was shot on location in Malta and Thailand.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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