RICARDO MONTALBAN’S SWASHBUCKLER FILMS

Nobody doesn’t like Ricardo Montalban. From Mr. Rourke to his memorable villain roles, his suave charm and magnetic charisma kept him a star for decades. Here’s a look at his swashbuckler movies.

RAGE OF THE BUCCANEERS (1961) – Montalban stars as 1600s buccaneer Captain Gordon aka the Black Pirate (no relation to the Douglas Fairbanks silent film). He’s a former slave turned pirate and his favorite targets for plunder are slave ships.

Gordon liberates all the slaves on such vessels and loots all valuables. His suffering when he was a slave drives him still and he has a “secret identity” of sorts as a wealthy landowner in San Salvador. Through that identity he covertly keeps abreast of ships with valuable cargos as well as the actions of slave merchants trying to avoid his pirate attacks. 

Ricardo has two ladies vying for his love – stowaway Luanal (Liana Orfei) and the governor’s daughter Manuela (Giulia Rubini). Vincent Price himself plays Romero, an evil politician and slave trader plotting to overthrow the governor and take his place. He also wants Manuela for himself. 

Romero’s most dangerous ally is Captain Tortuga (Jose Jaspe), a ruthless slaver who has clashed with Captain Gordon over the years. Montalban shines as the hero viewers can’t help but cheer for, especially when he thwarts the efforts of slavers to dump their chained human “cargo” overboard to drown rather than have our pirate captain liberate them.

This movie should have been remade in recent decades. I know studios consider pirate movies to be risky ventures but this one seems like it couldn’t miss. 88 minutes.

MARK OF THE RENEGADE (1951) – The year is 1825. Mexico has won its independence from Spain and claims California as its territory. However, the villainous Don Pedro Garcia (THE Gilbert Roland) plots to take over California and declare himself emperor. 

As a cat’s paw Garcia plans to use Marcos Zappa (Ricardo Montalban), newly arrived to Los Angeles. Marcos fought his way off of a pirate ship but still wears an “R” for renegade brand on his head, which he covers with a bandana.

The swashbuckling master swordsman Marcos is forced to strike at Garcia’s political opponents (often corrupt themselves) under threat of having his renegade status exposed, sending him to prison.

This film is based on the novel Don Renegade by Johnston McCulley, creator of Zorro, and Montalban is basically “Zorro without a mask” in the story.

While reluctantly using his he-man virtues on behalf of Don Pedro, Marcos is fought over by good girl Manuella, played by the one and only Cyd Charisse, and bad girl Anita Gonzalez, played by Andrea King.

SPOILER: Marcos turns out to be an undercover operative for the President of the Mexican Republic and he’s been working to expose Don Pedro and his fellow conspirators the whole time. He prevails and marries Manuella. 81 minutes.

THE SARACEN BLADE (1954) – Low-born Pietro Donati (Ricardo Montalban) happened to be born the same day and hour as the young Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (Whitfield Connor). That fluke gets Pietro a stay of execution for participating in his father’s rebellion against the empire. The reason? The superstitious Frederick thinks killing someone born at the same time he was will cause him to die, too.

He keeps Montalban under his wing from then on as Pietro proves to be an incredible warrior and fights his way up to a knighthood. Ultimately, Frederick takes Donati with him when he goes on his 1220s Crusade to add King of Jerusalem to his titles.

While simultaneously fighting the Saracens in the field, our hero engages in covert clashes with his family’s longtime enemies the Siniscolas, who are also serving among Frederick’s Crusaders. It’s all complicated by his Romeo and Juliet love for Elaine de Siniscola, played by a blonde Carolyn Jones.

Amid battles with the Muslims and the House of Siniscola, Pietro becomes a POW but escapes and also romances Iolanthe Rogliano (Betta St. John), who ultimately wins his heart. Michael Ansara and Rick Jason play the main villains.   

Also starring are Pamela Duncan, Edgar Barrier and Nelson Leigh.

At just 77 minutes, The Saracen Blade needed a bit more running time to accommodate better pacing. As it is it feels too rushed but is still enjoyable enough for us swashbuckler fans.