Good start, but then it gets ruined

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Fabulous short-lived series from, it now seems, another era of television. Robert Shaw was ideal, perfect as Dan Tempest, the pirate-turned-gentleman, always with a cool turn of phrase and sly cunning. Everything was just-right in these exciting half-hour episodes, with the absence of blood & gore... but, remember, this was the 1950s! Long, long before cellphones, the Internet and music videos even. 10/10 for sure. NB: Yes, there was that memorable theme song, and it is well worth noting that The Buccaneers came from the same studio that gave us The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1960, with Richard Greene. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>See you later: I'm off a-roving !

Let's go a-roving, / a-roving across the ocean. / O, let's go a-roving, / And join the buccaneers!The theme-tune was jaunty. They all were, for these classic children's TV shows. (Did adults ever watch them? By contrast, children and adults happily watched the American series such as "Tales of Texas Rangers" a Western that alternated modern and old stories, "Whirlybird" about a charter helicopter service, "Seahunt" about frogmen, and "Cannonball" about long-haul big-rig trucking.) The pattern for these British historical TV series had been set by "Robin Hood", starring Richard Green. "Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen. Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men. Feared by the bad, loved by the good, Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood". There were verses, about vowing to serve his king, and still having plenty of time to sing ... Chorus, repeats. Memorable."The Buccaneers" was great fun, as long as you ignored the serious side of piracy, law, fighting, ... But serious violence was not the issue. Zorro carved his "Zee", and occasionally pinked an opponent in a furious fencing duel. The good cowboy shot the gun out of the hand of the bad cowboy. The buccaneer with the heart of gold punched his opponents, knocked them out with a belaying pin, or tossed them overboard.Plots were mainly about uncovering dastardly plots, righting wrongs, defending the vulnerable, and generally proving that a former pirate was really on the side of the angels.

great show i have got it on DVD i was not born when it came out in 56 and 57 but it is full of true pirates like black beard and Anne bonny and calico jack it is full of well know Brits stars that i have grown up with roger del gardo the master in Dr who Joan Sims in the carry on films and Derek nimo from all gas and gaiter's and some well known films and Paul eddington from the good life and yes minister and bill Owen from the carry on films and the last of the summer wine and Jane asher she stared in the film Mandy and Alfred Burk as well sid jamesi can see why it done well in the 50s and not long after the buccaneers came out thay made the t.v series of long john silver with the Brit star Robert newton the buccaneers covered all things pirate great to see on DVD

"The Buccaneers" was made by the same British production company that did "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (Richard Greene). Robert Shaw was over the top as ex-pirate Dan Tempest. Their action scenes were equal to Greene's Robin Hood. They also had an interesting theme song.Some reviewers have said they would like to see "The Buccaneers" on DVD. Three volumes (12 episodes) are available from: oldies.com ($5.95 each). The last volume was just released in May 2007. Hopefully, that means 36 of the 37 episodes will be collected in nine volumes.The Lt. Beamish character (Peter Hammond) seems to be there for some comedy relief. The pilot episode of the series did not have Robert Shaw as the star. He appears in the second episode.The DVDs are good quality (picture as well as sound).