9. "Cutthroat Island" (1995)
One of the few films big enough to scuttle a marriage and a studio (Guinness Book of Records: "biggest loss of money for a film company ever"), Renny Harlin's pirate romp dared to celebrate the exploits of a lady buccaneer, Morgan Adams -- played by then-wife Geena Davis. Finally, Grace O'Malley, Anne Bonney, Mary Read and all the other real-life female corsairs would get their cinematic due. Davis was more than game: A big, beautiful, athletic girl, she radiated exhilarating physicality as she worked many of her own stunts, doing a credible Errol Flynn in rousing swordfight extravaganzas. As Dawg Brown, Adams' nemesis, Frank Langella chewed scenery and brandished cutlass with his usual demented gusto: In the midst of bloody battle, having skewered some hapless soul, bald, bare-chested Dawg raises his arms to the sky and bellows gleefully, "I love this! I love it!" Yes, the movie's a mess and Matthew Modine's a pale consort for Geena's full-blooded pirate queen, but Davis' pull-out-all-the-stops enthusiasm for swashbuckling is still endearing.
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