The Long Ships

Starring:Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, Russ Tamblyn, Rosanna Schiaffino, Oskar Homolka, Edward Judd, Lionel Jeffries, Beba Loncar, Clifford Evans, Henry Oscar, Gordon Jackson, Paul Stassino, Colin Blakely, Jeanne Moody, David Lodge, Charles R. Radilac, Zorica Gajdas, Milan Bosiljcic, Cliff Lyons, Ljubo Skiljevic
Director: Jack Cardiff
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Looking for a rousing Viking adventure that's cheesy and entertaining? The Long Ships is just the movie for you. As England's greatest color cinematographer, Jack Cardiff had filmed 1958's The Vikings, so he was well-prepared to direct this exciting, occasionally grisly mini-epic (a British/Yugoslavian coproduction, filmed in Yugoslavia), which received mixed-to-favorable reviews when released in 1964. Back then, it was a perfect matinee marvel if you were young and impressionable, and it's still worth its weight in hot buttered popcorn. While that most contemporary of actors, Richard Widmark, is clearly out of place as a maverick Norse warrior, he's sufficiently valiant as he guides his Viking brother (Russ Tamblyn, still hot from West Side Story) and a long-ship full of warriors in search of a huge, solid-gold bell coveted by Mansuh (Sidney Poitier), a Moorish prince obsessed with retrieving the legendary bell at any cost. Treacherous maelstroms, lovely damsels, corny battles, and casual humor make The Long Ships a lot of fun--like a Ray Harryhausen adventure without the animated creatures. (Oh, and Mr. Poitier? James Brown called... he wants his hair back.) --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Exciting Story.......2007-05-23

This movie was made in 60s and it was a good story on how people lost their soul and body in pursuit of golden bell.

However, as I got more marking on my face and less hair on my head, I review it with a deeper insight. It was a struggle between black and white, pagen and Christian, vallin and hero with the latter won. It was inferior to be born in the wrong race, religion and cult(ture).

The movie was well made with the golden bell and the voyages. It was good entertainment but beware of the hidden message of WASP

See, I told you the Vikings had a Sinbad the Sailor type adventurer........2007-04-30

The Long Ships...who could have seen this movie as a kid and not remember it fondly? Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier and Russ Tamblyn (west side story). Reading my review and other reviews I have written on movies you might feel are better than this one you must understand...The Long Ships is an adventure story. Not a story of good or bad, right or wrong, or somebody ripped off somebody else's wife. No, no deep thinking or indepth character sketches here. Just pure adventure...not even a monster to kill--oh well.

PROS:
1. Stars Richard Widmark--that's a star.
2. Also stars Sidney Poitier (pronounced Port tee aa)--that's another star.
3. And a ton of cuties both Viking and Moorish.
4. The models are fine. Large size viking ships with bellowing sails that are required to look real--small scale ship sails do not move with air currents, they're too stiff. Tiny models of men onboard these ships adds to believabilitly.
5. A few comic moments proving there is nothing to be taken seriously about this movies historic value--but who cares?
six. The music is right on target--there should have been more of it and not as subdued.
7. Great idea. It could have been done better with a little more indept writing but they weren't going for that. They wanted an adventure, nothing else.
8. Richard Widmark in this role would have made a perfect Sinbad the Sailor...you guess the vikings had their own Sinbad?
9. A caste of hundreds maybe in the low thousands--an epic movie.
10. The movie has a certain taste of men and our outlook--at least the way we used to think when I was younger. Go to the scene where Widmarks dad is showing off the King's funeral ship. It starts off powerful, the music and all, and then becomes a little subdued, nevertheless--you can tell it was us men who made that movie.
11. Their stern faced king made for a fine looking viking king, even though he was a gutter rat--he still looked the part. Listen to him talk about the good o'l days when real vikings walked the earth--not like what there is today (during the party scene).
12. I remember hearing a million years ago, when I was in high school, the vikings used storm trooper tactics. Normally they sailed all over Europe and the middle east, it is said their ships were so light they would pick them up and carry them overland for a distance and put them in water over there and sail on to their destination--this is the way they ranged so far inland. Go to the funeral ship 'scene', how many men would it have taken to carry that thing? I also heard some of their war ships were so small they carried only half a dozen crew. (I bet these are the ones they carried inland most of the time--imagine a bath tub with a dragon head and some guy holding up a bed sheet for a sail.). Nevertheless, the sight of their dragon head--for a ship's head--historically struck deep fear in the hearts of all who saw them. Surely, some of these were adventurers...just ask Eric the Red.

Would the vikings even try to hunt down buried treasure...there is no doubt they would...this is the story of one fictional viking going on an adventure.

CONS:

A little better writing, some more of the viking music at the proper moments.

So what about the Moors? Well, there isn't much this reviewer knows to write about the moors at that time in their history. However, remember the scene where Sidney's wife is speared by a viking...how he reacted to it...and the vikings response to his actions? Well, that's about it.
As far as I know they weren't in to adventuring.

As I said, this is an adventure movie, in color, bigger than life. This movie requires one big salad bowl of popcorn and something to wash it down with. No deep thinking required here. Plus remember, Richard Widmark AND Sidney Poitier star in it, it is a classic epic, and should be required viewing for all Americans. Bye.

flashback memories.......2007-03-09

growing up w/ kirk douglas in "The Vikings", this was a Saturday afternoon
memory rekindeled...Thanks!!

Fantastic Saga of Vikings, Moors, and a Great Golden Bell.......2007-02-03

I saw this film at least 22 times as a kid in the mid-sixties. It is a truly fascinating adventure story, based on a famous book by Frans G. Bengtsson. An adventurous Viking is marooned by a storm somewhere in Byzantium. By chance, a group of monks take him into their care at a time when they are in the process of making a Bell of pure gold. A bell as large as a house and made by the donations of pagan relics and the captured gold of Islam from the time of the Crusades. The existence of "The Mother of Voices" seems like a myth but like all myths, it also has a basis in fact. The bell and the storyline revolves around the obsession of two men. El Mansur, played by Sidney Poitier, who means to return it to Islam, and the Viking plunderer, Richard Widmark, who intends to find it for the sake of his own fame and to redeem his poor village and family. What follows is a great and glamorous adventure story, well plotted and interesting. Especially for young minds geared to the idea of the quest. There are some problems with casting and it is not to be taken too seriously as there are intentional humorous scenes in the production. But considering that it was made in 1964, we have a great adventure story with a very memorable and appropriate musical score that will leave you with the knowledge that you were entertained!

Not all that good........2007-01-08

This one would have been impossible to watch were it not for its pretty good costume and set design. It looked as though at the beginning that this was going to be a decent medieval tale of adventure, but horribly cheesy dialogue and subpar acting soon put an end to that. Sadly not even the presence of Poitier can save this movie. There's only so much a great actor can do with such a bad script, surrounded by bad actors, and forced to sport such a lame hair-doo.

Average customer rating:

Exciting Story
See, I told you the Vikings had a Sinbad the Sailor type adventurer.
flashback memories
Fantastic Saga of Vikings, Moors, and a Great Golden Bell
Not all that good.

The Long Ships [Region 2]
Starring: Richard Widmark , Sidney Poitier , Russ Tamblyn , Rosanna Schiaffino , and Oskar Homolka
Director: Jack Cardiff
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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