Some things I liked some I did not.

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Better Late Then Never

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

About a month ago, Robert Newton was Long John Silver to me. I thought you just can't beat his portrayal, no way, no how. That was until I saw Charlton Heston in the 1990 version. He nailed it. It's one of those performances of a literary character that is so good it's as if the character walked off the page. I'm, talking about Jeremy Brett-Sherlock Holmes, Hugh Laurie-Bertie Wooster, David Suchet-Hercule Poirot perfection here.Christopher Lee was perfect as Blind Pew, and used a surprising voice. I say surprising, because we all know what his voice sounds like. Deep, booming, and sophisticated. Well, as Blind Pew, his voice is high-pitched, and for lack of a better term "wretched-sounding", which for this character, is a good thing.The rest of the actors were all perfect as well, including Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins and Oliver Reed as Billy Bones. But it is Charlton Heston who steals the show. His Long John Silver is gritty and frightening, yet somehow we can't help but feel a little pity for him. Every second he is on screen, you feel like you are watching a real pirate. As much as I like Robert Newton, Jack Sparrow, etc, Heston's Long John Silver is the real deal.The cinematography is excellent. It's colorful, and the exotic locations are captured very well. There's no shaky-cam, no unneeded camera movements, no fancy stuff, just good old-fashioned cinematography.The music is performed by a band known as "The Chieftans". Although it is only a band, not a large orchestra, their Scottish-flavored music fitted the atmosphere well, and occasionally was quite rousing in a swashbuckling sort of way.The plot, atmosphere, and characters are very faithful to the book, the effect could be described as "deja-vu".Overall, this is a movie that doesn't try to be groundbreaking or push limits. It doesn't try to be modern, hip, or cool. It just tells a good story, and tells it well.10/10

In the same way as Kevin Costner played Robin Hood in the movie with the money, while Patrick Bergin did a far better job in the other Robin movie of the same year (1991), and in the same way that Carrol Read's Oliver! (1968) was a film of Lionel Bart's musical (1960), itself a treatment of David Lean's film Oliver Twist (1948), this Treasure Island fails to match up to the BBC version of 1977, which seems to have inspired it.Imagine the scene; the Hestons viewing the 1977 tape, not a star to be seen, and Charlton lamenting his never yet having played the Sea Cook; surely Junior could write the script - and direct it, no point in letting someone else stick their oar in - and with Charlton's name involved, surely they could get some real stars, and make a much better movie; after all, they'd have more money.And there's the first rub, Oliver Reed never quite gets beyond Oliver Reed (and who decided Billy Bones was a Scot?), Christopher Lee is a shade gratuitous as Pew (did we have to be shown the true horror behind the mask?), and Julian Glover (Livesey), so accomplished as a villain, is a little too much like a villain with nothing bad to do today, than a truly good man. There's lots of star quality, but not much depth.As to the script, it's not bad, though the BBC influence is definitely there, the trouble is that while the BBC adaptor, John Lucarotti had a fine grasp of RLS's pirate idiom, Fraser Heston hasn't.It's forgivable for an American writing UK English to make the mistake, but 'Bugger', Bloody Hell' and 'Bastard' were not common C18 nautical curses, and 'Blighter' is definitely Victorian; Heston's pirates slip into 1940s far too often, and it jars. (And Trelawney habitually drinking tea; where did that come from? Is it just to underline that this story happens in England not America?) Having said all that, Christian Bale is extremely good as Jim, and Heston's Silver is all it should be (the pity is that we just don't see enough of him), Michael Halsey is splendidly nasty as Israel, Stephen Mackintosh does a highly effective cameo as Dick, and John Benfield is a really scary and violent Black Dog.It's not a bad film by any means, just not nearly as good as it should have been.

In my opinion, this movie is the best film rendition of Treasure Island to date. I must however preface that comment with the fact that I was eight years old when it came out and still watch it today from time to time. I fell in love with this film at a young age, without the wisdom to realize that this movie stands the test of time as a rich and well crafted rendition.The story is of course of the famous the R.L Stevenson book and uses a somewhat older Jim Hawkins played by a young Christain Bale. Charlton Heston seems born for the role of Captain Hook and a host of other famous actors play great characters as well. Everything is tied in together with excellent scenery and a wonderful soundtrack by the Chieftans in the flavor of Irish folk music.I watched the movie again at the age of 18, having been exposed to a wide array of films and upon seeing this again, I couldn't believe how much I still loved the film. When remakes are done of films, it's sometimes the first rendition one sees that sticks as the 'prototypical' version to which all others are compared. This film is such for me, that I cannot see another version of the story and find anything of value in it. Call it stubborness or simply childhood attachment, but one must see this movie to understand. Don't listen to the rants and raves of a grown up eight year old, rent it yourself and make your own decision.

If you hated watching Robert Newton and his ARRRRR, Matey! approach to the role of Long John Silver, and you hated watching a brat (Bobby D) play Jim Hawkins, and you like to watch a movie about boats and ships featuring actors who actually know something about sailing, this one's for you. It's the best version of Treasure Island ever filmed. Not only are you treated to a charismatic, cunning and completely amoral Long John, and a young man coming of age playing Jim, you get to hear an incredible soundtrack by the Chieftans! Wish I had a copy of the score...The Chieftans build the perfect OST for this movie. You may not like Charlton's politics, but who cares-- it's just a movie. I'm pretty sure the director is Heston's son, and he does a good job. From the opening moments when Captain Billy Bones comes in to the harbor close hauled, you know you're seeing real sailors. No other film version even comes remotely close to this one. Check it out. A bit hard to find, but out there.