One of the worst action movies that I saw in my teenage years - and yes, I WAS a fan of good adventure! But this "Sandokan - Tigrul Malayeziei" (how it was named in Romania) had no head nor tail, no suspense build-up, no sense of narration, consisting merely into a chaotic choice and piling up of scenes from the much longer TV series. I especially remember two of the most awkward blunders: the famous "tiger roar" of Sandokan when attacking (out of synch and ludicrously childish, as for those kind of parody characters who try to imitate the M.G.M. lion, by saying "Mewww!"), followed by a inadvertently hilarious jump from one ship to another (bouncing like a rubber ball!) and his ridiculous tactic of slaying the tiger by... leaping BENEATH it, to rip its belly open! Further, not one really worthy scene of fight, action, suspense or story-telling. Only ONE real quality: the skillful and expressive opening credits, and the famous "SANDOKAN!" song, that already had became a popular hit, following the TV series. - Oh, and, yeah... My girlfriend of those days was in love with Sandokan... AND with Il Corsaro Nero... AND with Mannix, Kojak, Demis Roussos, Julio Iglesias and Alexandru Repan... Not too much room remaining for poor me - eh? ;)
The Tiger Is Still Alive: Sandokan to the Rescue
(1977 TV Movie)
A messy summary of the TV series
28 December 2007