Line #3 Film/CutthroatIsland


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cutthroat_island_ver3_133.jpg]]
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3	''Cutthroat Island'' is a 1995 {{swashbuckler}} movie starring Creator/GeenaDavis and directed by her then-husband Creator/RennyHarlin, with a screenplay by Robert King and Marc Norman, and story by Michael Frost Beckner, James Gorman, Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon.
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5	In 1668 during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy, Morgan Adams (Davis), the daughter of the fearsome pirate "Black" Harry Adams, and her educated slave, William Shaw (Creator/MatthewModine), are on a quest to recover the three portions of a treasure map hidden by Black Adams. Said treasure is hidden on the mysterious Cutthroat Island. Unfortunately, the third portion is held by Morgan's villainous uncle, Douglas "Dawg" Brown (Creator/FrankLangella), who killed his own brother to get the treasure. The crew of Morgan's ship, the ''Morning Star'', is skeptical of her leadership abilities, so she must complete her quest before they mutiny against her. This is made more difficult by the efforts of the Royal Navy from Jamaica under the command of the self-serving Governor Ainslee (Creator/PatrickMalahide) to end her piratical career.
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7	The film also stars Creator/MauryChaykin as John Reed, Stan Shaw as Mr. Glasspoole and Creator/HarrisYulin as "Black" Harry Adams.
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9	!!This film provides examples of:
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11	* ActionDressRip: Morgan pulls the skirt off her dress whilst being pursued by guards in Port Royal.
12	* AndStarring: The opening cast roll ends with "And Harris Yulin as Black Harry."
13	* AntagonisticGovernor: Governor Ainslee. He is a SmugSnake, and is a major player in the story in order to gain wealth and glory.
14	* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Bowen is younger, smaller, and slightly weaker than his fellow pirates, but makes up for it in bravery and loyalty.
15	* BaldHeadOfToughness: Mr. Blair, a bald officer on Morgan's ship, is good at keeping a cool head while in danger and is a deadly force in a fight, even defeating one of the CoDragons after the man breaks his arm.
16	* BeardOfEvil: Dawg sports a white beard and mustache who also serves as the film's BigBad.
17	* BigBad: Douglas "Dawg" Brown, Morgan Adams's uncle, is responsible for all of the danger in the film's plot.
18	* ChainPain: Snelgrave has a chain in the place of his hand. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard It proves to be his undoing]], as he misses one of the heroes with it, and is taken to the depths with the anchor that it got tangled with.
19	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Morgan and Shaw don't trust each other at all, and they have good reason for it.
20	* CoDragons: Mr. Snelgrave and First Mate Bishop are this to Dawg and act as his main henchmen, whether it be in carrying out his orders to kill someone, acting as reconnaissance (shown in both Spittlefield and later on the title island), or acting as the main officers on Dawg's ship, ''The Reaper'', including overseeing battle preparation.
21	* CriminalCravesLegitimacy: Mad Dawg is mostly just a BadBoss and thug for the first part, trailing after Morgan to capture the treasure. It's only later revealed that his plan is to some of the treasure to bribe governor Ainslee into a royal pardon for his crimes and then become governor of Jamaica when he leaves.
22	--> '''Ainslee:''' Now, sir, I shall go presently and write for your royal pardon. Privateer for the Crown .Sounds so much better than "pirate" don't you think?
23	--> '''Henchman:''' Why do you let that preening swab live?
24	--> '''Dawg:''' I study him. When I become governor of Jamaica, I will need a certain style.
25	--> '''Dawg:''' (In faux refined accent). [[ButtMonkey Trotter. Trotter.]]
26	* DismantledMacGuffin: The TreasureMap to the titular island are located in the scalps of Morgan's father Harry and her uncles Richard and Mordechai. Dawg obtains the first piece after killing Richard, while Morgan gets the remaining two pieces from Harry and Mordechai.
27	* DopeSlap: Repeatedly to resident ButtMonkey William Shaw.
28	* DressingAsTheEnemy: Just before the [[spoiler:final battle with Dawg]], some of the ''Morning Star'' crew disguise themselves as Royal Navy officers.
29	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:AntagonisticGovernor Ainslee and Reed TheStoolPigeon]] both die rather abruptly during a barrage of cannon fire at the start of the climax.
30	* {{Flynning}}: Shaw does this at first, since he'd never previously learned how to do any serious fighting.
31	* EvilUncle: Dawg, a particular mean and vicious uncle to Morgan.
32	* HandsomeLech: Shaw plays his charm to his advantage to steal from rich women at the ball. He tries his wiles on Morgan, but she's a little too smart to swoon.
33	* HeelFaceTurn: Trotter, near the end. "There's no future in the army for me." It's a bit of a weird one, as he's leaving the British military to become a pirate, so ''technically'' it's a FaceHeelTurn (from a law-abiding point of view).
34	* HighDiveEscape: Morgan and Shaw dive off a cliff to escape from Dawg's men.
35	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: It's kind of satisfying to see that chain-wielding bastard dragged down by the anchor.
36	* HumanNotepad: One-third of a treasure map is tattooed on the scalp of Morgan's father. After he gets killed at the beginning of the movie, she cuts it off of him and takes it with her, as he'd instructed while dying.
37	%%* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace
38	* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: After Harry is fatally wounded, he tells Morgan that the ''Morning Star'' and his crew now belong to her.
39	* IronicEcho:
40	** "Hey, I said I would take care of you, didn't I?"
41	** Blair unsuccessfully appeals to a mutineer to give him and the others a compass as they are being set adrift in a storm and later [[spoiler:mockingly offers that same man a compass while throwing him overboard]].
42	* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Morgan does this to a bounty hunter who is after her at the start of the movie. After bedding him, she steals the balls from his pistols.
43	* LandInTheSaddle: Creator/GeenaDavis ('''not''' her stunt double) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA5ysXn-Ygo&t=1m41s races through a building on the 2nd story and somersaults out a window, landing in the passenger seat of a speeding horse drawn carriage]].
44	* LargeHam:
45	** Watch Frank Langella have a whale of a time as he chews the scenery with aplomb.
46	** Patrick Malahide as the governor also counts, especially in scenes where he has to berate Trotter.
47	* LastRequest: In his dying wishes, Harry asks Morgan to shave his head, which includes the piece of the treasure map that he hid from Dawg.
48	* LuredIntoATrap: [[spoiler: Reed leads Shaw to the British soldiers, telling him he's hid Morgan somewhere safe and will take him to her.]]
49	* MadeASlave: "Doctor" Shaw is sold into slavery when he gets caught pickpocketing from ladies at the Governor's ball.
50	* MadeOfExplodium:
51	** Dawg's ship explodes spectacularly in the finale. Justified by all the black powder stored in it.
52	** When Morgan drops the chandelier on the table at Mordachai place, a barrel (probably black powder) instantly catches fire and the ''whole frickin' place'' blows up. Then, about ten seconds later, Mr. Blair and a few RedShirt show up to blow up the whole place a second time ''with 17th-century grenade launchers''! Things keep blowing up for a minute, including some coffins and a well. With, you know, water in it.
53	* TheMedic: Shaw becomes the ''Morning Star'''s medic after Morgan buys him at Port Royal.
54	* MookLieutenant: Lieutenant Trotter leads forces of the law in Jamaica.
55	* TheMutiny: When Morgan pushes through the storm despite her ship starting to break up, the majority of the ''Morning Star'' crew revolts and sets her adrift.
56	* NoisyNature: A particularly jarring example. Among the ambient jungle noises on the small Caribbean island is a distinctly elephantine trumpeting. In the Caribbean.
57	* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Gravity seems to like Morgan enough to not kill her on multiple occasions.
58	* PirateGirl: Morgan
59	* PosthumousCharacter: Richard Adams was murdered by his brother Dawg a few days before the film but is mentioned a few times.
60	* PowderTrail: In the bar, Shaw pulls the tip off a pirate's powder horn. He unbeknownst walks around the bar until he's close enough to the powder kegs, then Shaw lights it up.
61	* PreMortemOneLiner:
62	** After one of his crewmates says there isn't enough food on board the ''Reaper'', Dawg responds "We have less mouths." and shoots said crewmate dead with his flintlock pistol.
63	** At the end of the film, Morgan says "Bad Dawg!" right before [[spoiler:she sends Dawg out of the ''Reaper'' to his death]].
64	* RankUp: After Harry's death, Morgan is promoted to Captain of the ''Morning Star''.
65	* RedRightHand:
66	** Dawg, the film's main villain, has a scar around his neck.
67	** Snelgrave, one of Dawg's men, wields a chain on his amputated left arm as well as a glass eye.
68	* RunningGag: Everyone who sees the map, which was tattooed on Morgan's dad scalp, asks if its pig leather.
69	* SeadogPegLeg: Harry has a wooden peg attached to his amputated right leg.
70	* SeeYouInHell: At the beginning of the film, Dawg's crew asks Harry where his piece of the treasure map is located. Harry invokes the trope verbatim shortly before he drops the anchor attached to him.
71	* SerratedBladeOfPain: The main villain wields a highly intimidating serrated cutlass.
72	* ShedTheFamilyName: Dawg was once a member of the Adams family, but he changed his surname to "Brown" due to him being the family's resident BlackSheep.
73	* SiblingMurder: Dawg murders his own siblings, including Harry, since their scalps contain the DismantledMacGuffin to Cutthroat Island.
74	* SlapSlapKiss: Morgan and Shaw only get along when they are about to jump each other. Give it five minutes, and they'll betray each other again.
75	%%* SmugSnake: Governor Ainslee
76	* SoftWater: Apparently falling off a cliff into the ocean just leaves you wet and not dead.
77	* SpoilerTitle: The track titles for the soundtrack album pretty much tell you the story of the movie.
78	* TheStoolPigeon: [[spoiler: Reed]] betrays Morgan and her crew when the Governor gives him the choice to give her up, or be hanged as a pirate himself.
79	* StuffBlowingUp: Explosions are abound. Every round seems to hit a barrel of black powder.
80	* ThemeMusicPowerUp: The entire soundtrack by Music/JohnDebney, but most especially the track Main Tile / Morgan's Ride.
81	* UnderwaterKiss: Morgan gives William a kiss whilst he's pinned behind some crates in the flooded hold to pass him air.
82	* TheUnfavorite: Morgan's grandfather left a piece of his map to Cutthroat Island to 3 of his 4 sons: Morgan's father, Mordachai, and Richard. He left Dawg out. Given what a sociopathic Jerkass he is it's not all that surprising.
83	* VillainBall: Governor Ainslee could load his own personal ship (A man-o'-war which out-guns both pirate ships and whose crew's loyalty is not in question) with his share of the gold and get out of there. Or he could hang out with an insane pirate, half of whose crew is loyal to their former captain. [[NeverFoundTheBody Who is still missing.]]
84	* WaifFu: Morgan. Who at one stage picks up a guy one handed and throws him.
85	* WeWillMeetAgain: After Morgan has [[spoiler:Scully and the mutineers forced off of the ''Morning Star'']], Scully vows that she will pay for what she's done.
86	* WhatTheHellHero: During the escape from Port Royal, the British Navy sees the pirates running away and, in a moment of stunning indiscretion, opens fire ''on the port'', blowing up civilian buildings with reckless abandon (and [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy not landing a single shot]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking either]].
87	* YouAreInCommandNow: With Harry dead, Morgan becomes the captain of the ''Morning Star'' and its crew.

Context Film / CutthroatIsland