The Buccaneer (1958 film)
| The Buccaneer | |
|---|---|
Original Spanish film poster | |
| Directed by | Anthony Quinn |
| Written by | Jesse Lasky Jr. Bernice Mosk |
| Produced by | Cecil B. DeMille Henry Wilcoxon |
| Starring | Yul Brynner Charles Boyer Charlton Heston |
| Cinematography | Loyal Griggs |
| Edited by | Archie Marshek |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 119 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000,000 |
| Box office | $3.2 million (est. US/ Canada rentals) |
The Buccaneer is a 1958 pirate-war film made by Paramount Pictures starring Yul Brynner as Jean Lafitte, Charles Boyer and Claire Bloom. Charlton Heston played a supporting role as Andrew Jackson, the second time that Heston played Jackson, having portrayed him earlier in the 1953 film The President's Lady. The film was shot in Technicolor and VistaVision, the story takes place during the War of 1812, telling a heavily fictionalized version of how the privateer Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose between fighting for America or for the side most likely to win, the United Kingdom.
The movie's supporting cast featured Inger Stevens, Henry Hull, E. G. Marshall, Lorne Greene, Ted de Corsia, Ed Hinton, Douglass Dumbrille and Majel Barrett. (Ty Hardin was uncredited). Anthony Quinn directed the film.
At the 31st Academy Awards for films from 1958, it was nominated for Academy Award for Best Costume Design (Color) for Ralph Jester, Edith Head and John Jensen, with the award going to Cecil Beaton for Gigi, just one of the latter's nine Academy Awards it received that year.
Possibly as a film tie-in, Johnny Horton had a big success at the time with his version of the song "The Battle of New Orleans".