In 1805, the United States battles the pirates of Tripoli as the Marines fight to raise the American flagIn 1805, the United States battles the pirates of Tripoli as the Marines fight to raise the American flagIn 1805, the United States battles the pirates of Tripoli as the Marines fight to raise the American flag
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAt the time this film was made, Maureen O'Hara was married to its director, Will Price.
- GoofsThe Battle of Derna took place in 1805, as stated in the opening of the film. The flag that O'Bannion raises over the city of Derna shows only 15 stars. Kentucky was the 15th state to be admitted in 1792. Tennessee was admitted in 1796 and Ohio in 1803, making a total of 17 states by 1805, meaning the flag should properly have shown 17 stars.
In fact the 15-star flag was the official one from from 4 July, 1795 to 4 July, 1818 even though five more states would join the Union during that time.
- Quotes
Countess D'Arneau: Oh, I might have known.
Lt. O'Bannion: You're lucky, those sentries have orders to shoot to kill.
Countess D'Arneau: Why didn't you tell me that instead of scaring me to death?
Lt. O'Bannion: Nobody can tell you anything. We better get back before they take a shot at both of us.
[He tries to help her up]
Countess D'Arneau: I am able to get up myself!
[she fell]
Countess D'Arneau: Oh, now look what you did!
Featured review
A little plodding, but enjoyable nevertheless
In 1805 a force of U.S. Marines is sent to North Africa to put a stop to a collection of seagoing bandits known as the Barbary Pirates, who were preying on American and other nations' merchant vessels. John Payne is the officer in charge of the expeditionary force, Maureen O'Hara a French countess and Howard Da Silva a Greek mercenary hired to help the Marines find and destroy the pirates. This is an enjoyable little actioner, a little ragged around the edges, but its vigorous action scenes and good performances more than make up for it. Payne has always been an underrated actor, and it took several dark, gritty little thrillers with director Phil Karlson in the mid-'50s to show people what he was capable of. O'Hara, aka the Queen of Technicolor, was married to director Will Price at the time, which explains why he got to direct this. He only directed two other films, neither of them particularly good--in fact, one of them, "Rock, Rock, Rock" from 1957, was downright awful--and his direction here is workmanlike (action scenes are almost always shot by second-unit directors). It's still an enjoyable little actioner, though; the Technicolor photography is good, and unlike many films of its type it doesn't come to a dead stop between action scenes (well, for the most part). If it ever comes out on video or DVD, check it out. You could do a lot worse.
helpful•144
- frankfob
- Jan 24, 2003
- How long is Tripoli?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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