History Film / TheIsland1980

* AnAxeToGrind: The pirate who sneaks aboard the fishing boat at the start of the film butchers everybody on board with a double-bitted axe. Several of the pirates use boarding axes when storming the schooner. And Nau garbs a fire axe during his final fight with Maynard.

''The Island'' is a 1980 American slasher film directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Creator/MichaelCaine and Creator/DavidWarner. The film was based on a novel of the same name by Creator/PeterBenchley who also wrote the screenplay.

* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunfight: Here it is a case of "never bring your fists to a swordfight". A BadassBystander on the schooner the pirates board is a martial artist, and wipes the deck with several of the pirates, who have presumably never encountered this style of fighting before. The other pirates watch on in amusement at their shipmates' discomfit with amusement until one of them decides that this is wasting time, draws his cutlass, and promptly guts the unfortunate martial artist.

* TheLudovicoTechnique: John David Nau performs a low-tech version of this when he brainwashes Justin into believing he is one of the pirates. He straps Justin to a chair and props his eyelids open with sticks and reads him the history of the pirate colony and the lineage of the Nau family for several days until Justin believes that he is a pirate called Tu-Barb and Nau's son.

* SoundtrackDissonance: During the sequence when the pirates board the schooner, music styled after the scores for classic swashbuckling pirate films is played to underscore the contrast of the romanticized image of pirates from those films with the savage murderers shown here.

* SoundtrackDissonance: During the sequences when the pirates board their chosen targets, music styled after the scores for classic swashbuckling pirate films is played to underscore the contrast of the romanticized image of pirates from those films with the savage murderers shown here.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_island_8.jpg]]

* DefiniteArticleTitle

* RuthlessModernPirates: Although they wear [[APirate400YearsTooLate the trappings of their pirate ancestors]], the pirates are survive by preying on pleasure craft plying the Caribbean, and they never leave any survivors.

* DadTheVeteran: While at the gun range, Maynard mentions to proprietor that he was in Korea and that you never forget those skills. Presumably this explains how he knows how to operate a Browning .50 caliber machine gun later in the film. Doubles as ActorSharedBackground[[invoked]] as Maynard actor Creator/MichaelCaine is an actual Korean War veteran

* DadTheVeteran: While at the gun range, Maynard mentions to proprietor that he was in Korea and that you never forget those skills. Presumably this explains how he knows how to operate a Browning .50 caliber machine gun later in the film.

* PirateKing: John David Nau is undisputed ruler of pirate settlement on the uncharted island in the Caribbean: the descendant of the buccaneer who first founded it.
* ThePlace

* FlareGun: After killing most of the pirates with a [[MoreDakka machine gun]], Maynard goes to claim his son back from their captain. Short confrontation ensues, which ends with the captain getting shot in the chest with a flare gun.
* TheGunfighterWannabe: Justin obsessed with firearms and even emotionally blackmails his father into buying him one, despite the obvious discomfort that Maynard (who is a [[DadTheVeteran veteran]] of UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar) has with the idea of his son owning a gun. When forcibly recruited into the pirates, he sees this as opportunity to live out his gunslinger fantasies. He is actually an excellent shoot, but starts to crack under pressure after he kills his first man.

* InexperiencedKiller: Michael is TheGunfighterWannabe, and thinks becoming a pirate will allow him to live out all of his fantasies. However, he has never given any thought to what the emotional toll of killing another human might be. After making his first kill, he is shocked and sickened, loses his nerve, and starts to crack up.

* TheLudovicoTechnique: John David Nau performs a low-tech version of this when he brainwashes Justin into believing he is one of the pirates. He straps Justin to a chair and props his eyelids open with stick and reads him the history of the pirate colony and the lineage of the Nau family for several days until Justin believes that he is a pirate called Tu-Barb and Nau's son.

* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunfight: Here it is a case of "never bring your fists to a swordfight". A BadassBystander on the schooner the pirates boards is a martial artist, and wipes the deck with several of the pirates, who have presumably never encountered this style of fighting before. The other pirates watch on in amusement at their shipmates' discomfit with amusement until one of them decides that this is wasting time, draws his cutlass, and promptly guts the unfortunate martial artist.

* RaisedByRival: after [[MadeASlave making Maynard a slave]], PirateKing John David Nau takes Maynard's son Justin from him and starts raising him to become a pirate and his heir.
* RapePillageAndBurn: The standard tactic for the pirates is to sneak up on an isolated pleasure craft and stealthy board it; murder everyone on board; loot anything of value; and then burn or blow up the boat to hide all evidence of the crime. Their actions towards the woman on board the schooner indicate that they may indulge in rape as well, if the time allows. (This particular woman is shot while trying to escape before any rape can occur.)

* InexperiencedKiller: Michael is TheGunfighterWannabe, and thinks becoming a pirate will allow him to live out all of his fantasies. However, he has never given any thought to what the emotional toll of killing another human might be. After making his first kill, he is shocked and sickened, losses his nerve, and starts to crack up.

* TheGunfighterWannabe: Justin obsessed with firearms and even emotionally blackmails his father into buying him one, despite the obvious discomfort that Maynard (who is a [[DadTheVeteran veteran]] of UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar) has with the idea of his son owning a gun. When forcibly recruited into the pirates, he sees this as opportunity to live out his gunslinger fantasies. He is actually an excellent, but starts to crack under pressure after he kills his first man.

* TheTheTitle

* SoundtrackDissonance: During the sequences when the pirates board their chosen targets, music styled after the scores for classic swashbuckling pirate films is played to underscore the romanticized image of pirates from those films with the savage murderers shown here.

* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: Maynard kills a pirate when they capture his boat. Because the pirate was married to Beth, a KangarooCourt convened by John David Nau sentences him to be Beth's slave and to impregnate.

* DeusAxmachina: During the final fight against Maynard, Nau finds himself weaponless in the engine room of the cutter. He snatches a fire axe off the wall and uses it to attack.