The Island

Based on Peter Benchley’s novel and adapted for the screen by him, “The Island” unfortunately does not match up to Benchley’s box office hit “Jaws”. The story is set in the Caribbean, in the Bermuda Triangle, an area where pleasure crafts and fishing boats have a habit of mysteriously disappearing, along with their passengers and crew. Blair Maynard (Michael Caine) is a journalist who sets out, along with his son, Justin (Jeffrey Frank), to try and discover the reason for the disappearances. It is during a fishing trip in the accursed area that Maynard and his son are captured by pirates, who are supposedly descendants from seventeenth century pirates and who still live by the same code, that is, robbing and murdering all those who sail close to their island shores. Maynard is kept alive to serve the needs of “regenerating” the blood-line of the pirates, and Nau, King of the pirates (David Warner), takes to converting Justin to their heathen ways. But escape for Maynard becomes paramount and the action and thrills begin to build as the film heads towards its tumultuous climax. Cast also includes Angela Punch McGregor, Frank Middlemass, Don Henderson, Dudley Sutton, Colin Jeavons. Music composed and conducted by Ennio Morricone.