The Long Ships

I'd be willing to bet Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier would have each donated their fee for this movie to have it burned in a Viking funeral or tied to an IED in a field full of camels. It's just one embarrassing and improbable scene after another. To wit: Why would Poitier sacrifice one of his personal guards just to illustrate to Widmark how nasty execution can be? And then change his mind about executing Widmark anyway !! What a tool. That's not leadership, that's a fool. Then they go on a fishing expedition for the golden bell. Widmark and a Viking buddy chip away at the rock-encrusted bell with styrofoam ''rocks.'' Then they somehow manage to get it rigged up for lowering into the way-too-small Viking ship but all the enslaved Vikings are bolted to the ramp, right in the way of the bell. It would have killed them in the best of circumstances but, of course, the bell teeters, tumbles down about 1000 feet of mountainside, and drags all the Vikings with it. Most of them would have died smashed on the rocks, but as the bell makes it final tumble into the water we see a couple of Vikings plop into the water, too. Drowned? No way. The entire crew survives to row the golden bell - which for its size must way about 15 tonnes - back to Qatar in a flat-bottomed Viking boat. I've seen a lot of sword-and-sandal epics in my time, including the cr#ppy modern ones featuring Colin Whatshisname and Brad Pitt, but this one ranks right down there among the worst, even including the junk pumped out of Europe mid-century. Easily the worst Widmark or Poitier movie I've ever seen.

Considering Kirk Douglas, only five years before, has made of his 'The Vikings' the definitive viking epic, not so bad we could be entertained with a lighthearted version of the norwegian warriors. Sort of a 'comic relief' after the bloody, harsh, moody Douglas unsurpassed masterpiece. Not to be taken seriously, this one. Directed by Jack Cardiff ('The Vikings' cinematographer), it offers fun, adventure, and a semi-Monty Python approach at times. The plot is the silliest ever, acting is hammy to the best, but what the hell? The Othelo-tailored moor, cortesy of Sidney Poitier, is straight. The nice Russ Tamblyn makes his best. Rossana Schiaffino is traffic-stopper, jawbreaker, but this is a Richard Widmark's movie from the beginning to the end, because he is the only one who clearly got the point across: he is taken nothing, absolutely nothing, too seriously! He is clearly blinking an eye to all off us viewers all the time, saying: "Relax, folks, it's only a movie! Let's have fun!" Somewhere in this very picture a given viking sighs: 'there's no real vikings anymore, like in the old times!" Man, they stayed all in the Kirk Douglas' movie, you bet! In this one, just tongue-in-cheek slapstick. Where's my popcorn pack?

Big budget spectacle produced by Irwin Allen may possibly be his best film. The casting is great, although Richard Widmark appears to be out of place. It's a rare treat to see this many fantasy genre cast-members in the same film...Russ Tamblyn (George Pal films), Lionel Jeffries ("First Men In the Moon"), Clifford Evans (Hammer films) and Edward Judd. Great art direction, sets and costumes give this film some nice atmosphere.

The first sequence including the monks features an unusually inventive use of color;wonderfully using shadows and light it promised great things. But what follows does not rise to the occasion,by a long shot.Intended to match the critical and commercial success of Richard Fleischer's "the Vikings" (1958),it signally fails in its purpose.The story must have been found in pulp fiction .Besides,the treatment fluctuates between pure adventures yarn and parody.Richard Widmark,realizing how silly the part he played was ,gives a tongue in chick rendition whereas Poitier seriously performs his baddie .What a gap! It's true that the Vikings did plunder the monasteries and they sometimes enslaved the monks whom they did not kill.They traded with the Muslims too.And the golden bell could have provided a good start.But you 'd rather pick up Richard Fleischer's movie instead.

I recently watched this film again, for the first time in years. OK, so maybe it's not as historically accurate as it could be. But the acting (in the main) is still good, the music is superb, and I defy anyone *not* to be scared when Poitier says "You will ride the Mare of Steel", surely one of the most gruesome punishments in the history of the cinema!

...story, lines, events, adventure, fights, heroism , love story. but not bad. in few aspects - surprising. because it has the right cast, the right director and...the right music. because it has the same flavor from the "historical" films of same period. but seductive nuances. because Sydney Poitiers is real convincing as the cruel, powerfull Aly Mansuh and Richard Widmark orRuss Tamblyn use the inspired recipe defining each of them roles. so, a film who not gives much surprises but it is more than decent. and, for today, when the Viking fashion is alive, "The Long Ships" has the chance to be real cool.

After Kirk Douglas' THE VIKINGS, this was a close second in fun, Saturday matinée-style spectacle. Richard Widmark inhabits the role of the Viking, Rolfe, with a breezy, unstilted style that suits his character's sense of derring-do perfectly. In contrast, Sidney Poitier plays it straight, and his majestic voice and bearing make him a commanding yet sympathetic villain. The plot is lightweight, it's true, but there's much fun to be had for those of us fond of old-fashioned adventure in distant eras and exotic climes. Sit back, drink in the magnificent cinematography and Dusan Radic's powerful, melodic score and enjoy the heck out of this epic clash of Vikings and Moors. And be warned: the Mare of Steel is not for the faint-hearted!