MovieChat Forums > Swashbuckler (1976) Discussion > Is this the film...

Is this the film...

posted 16 years ago by tohu
4 replies | jump to latest

sorry it's a long time since I saw this film, but I do remember seeing it as a kid and enjoying it very much. BUT....

Is this the film which includes a scene where the bad guy is being massaged, and one of his acolytes (a soldier) comes in, and the bad guy basically makes him strip off, I mean kind of humiliates him? Have I remembered it right? And if so, what is going on in this scene? I was very young when I saw it and I remember being fascinated and enthralled by it. What is the bad guy doing this for? Is he secretly gay? or is it just showing his power? I felt then as if I was missing something, and I still do, when I think of it. if anyone can explain it to me that'd be nice.

Anyway - I do remember loving the film, and thinking Robert Shaw was superb in it (as usual). I guess its a sign of a good film when you remember things so vividly after a long time. :)

_____________

"Maybe I should go alone"
- Quint, Jaws.

[–] gnome-5 15 years ago

Lord Durant is a bit of a sadist, and he forces Major Folly to take off his shirt so a boy with knives on his fingers can torture him a bit, scratching his chest. It's a weirdly suggestive scene that doesn't show too much, so I can see how it might have confused a young viewer.

[–] BoyScoutKevin 11 years ago

Is he (the bad guy) secretly gay? That is what I got out of the film. That from the scene where the bad guy and the lute player, the boy with the tiger claws, are sharing the bathtub together.

[–] CatTales 11 years ago

is this the film with the back-hair removal scene? Some guy in command is laying on his stomach, waiting for wax on his back to cool. He's chatting with his subordinate who's standing at attention, and at the end of the scene the cooled wax is ripped off like a bandage, removing his back hair.

[–] jeanmac1959-1 11 years ago

You're all right, Peter Boyle plays Lord Durant as a man who has complete and utter control of those around him. Anyone who disagrees either ends up dead or in prison. As to his sexual preferences, it seemed as though he was so jaded from how he lived that everyday sexual expression was boring to him, much like the Roman Emperor's of old. Also, there was a -very- young Anjelica Huston playing "The Woman Of Dark Visage", I swear that's how she was billed. Likely as not, the film was meant to appeal to both adults and teens.