Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

heystevesteinberg I just finished watching the whole 1-season, 39 epps on Amazon, having not watched The Buccaneers since it came to America when I was about ten. Unlike the other UK import to impact American TV culture, Robin Hood, this series did not live on in my memory, save for the catchy sea-chantey song played over closing credits. Somehow, the words to the song had stuck in my head. The plots are simple, the production is pretty lean and at times the actors chew the scenery, but overall, I found myself compelled to watch all the episodes. About ten years later when I saw Robert Show as the villain in 'From Russia With Love' I did not make the connection, nor in 'Jaws.' His Captain Dan Tempest was vibrant, physically imposing and humorous, but at times, he really goes over the top, even for a 50s show. One thing that surprised me was how the Brits referred to the acting governor as Lieutenant, the way we pronounce it here, vs. 'Leftenant,' how they say it there. For the US market only? Anyway, a pleasant enough guilty pleasure to watch.

vawlkee_2000 For a low budget series this one comes off quite well. The only obvious flaws are the small cast and limited sets. Substituting Cornwall for the Caribbean is an odd choice indeed, but again,they seem to carry it off! Shaw is excellent as "Dan Tempest" the nice-guy pirate. "Dan Tempest" sounds like a Gerry Anderson character from one of his puppet series. There was "Troy Tempest" in Stingray. Compare this series to 1954's "Long John Silver" shot in Australia. The one redeeming factor in that series was Robert Newton reprising his Disney role. All in all an enjoyable series. You could spot Shaw as an up and comer. He reminds me of Richard Greene's Robin Hood from the same era. Low key but he got the job done.

Daniel Bruckner "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).

bkoganbing Watching Robert Shaw as the gangster/mark Lonergan in The Sting, made me think of the first time I saw Mr. Shaw in this short lived series The Buccaneers. It was one of those British based series that made its way in syndication across the Atlantic, like Robin Hood, Sir Lancelot, Sir Francis Drake.I've got a feeling that this one may have been a replacement for Robert Newton's Long John Silver. Mr. Newton was the grandest pirate of all, he made Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow look like Mr. Chips. But he was dying of alcoholism and maybe the BBC needed a new pirate show.Only 39 episodes were made of The Buccaneer. Robert Shaw went on to bigger and better things. He died tragically just as he was really reaching the heights as a player with great performances in Jaws and in The Sting. What a great loss he was.Shaw's Dan Tempest was not in the Robert Newton, but rather in the Errol Flynn tradition. He would have made a grand swashbuckling hero if his career hadn't taken other directions.Like Flynn's Captain Blood, Dan Tempest was a former pirate newly pardoned and working for law and order and his majesty the king, doing a few odd jobs policing the seas. His three top crewman, Gaff, Taffy, and a Spanish renegade named Armando were as salty a bunch as ever shivered any timbers.He also had a British naval officer, Lieutenant Beamish played by Peter Hammond who worked with Tempest, sort of in tandem. Beamish was squeamish about working with a pirate, but after a while he sort of just went with the flow.With all the great film parts that Robert Shaw played, it's Dan Tempest that I remember him best for. I do so wish I could see some Buccaneer episodes.