Diagonaldi Very well executed

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

AaronCapenBanner Alexander Mackendrick directed this pirate film, based on a novel by Richard Hughes, that deals with the children of an English couple living in Jamaica, who fear that their children are growing up wild, and losing touch with their culture, so send them back to England on a ship that is ironically boarded by pirates(led by Anthony Quinn & James Coburn) with whom the children stow away with. Though annoyed by their passengers, an unusual bond is formed, which is later tested when the pirates are captured by authorities, and put on trial for their lives. Nicely produced, with good actors, but story feels contrived and predictable, with the two pirates gathering no sympathy for their eventual plight(making them "heroic" figures is most dubious!)

MARIO GAUCI I had watched this eons ago on Italian TV but had long forgotten it - the film does come across as somewhat unmemorable at the end of the day, but this offbeat pirate-adventure-with-child-interest has a beguiling charm all its own. That said, the film's very low-key nature might not win it much approval among action-film fans...Curiously enough, half the film is actually spoken in Spanish (without the benefit of English subtitles!) - and, while it tends to wander because of this, also gives the proceedings a welcome air of full-blooded vividness! Anthony Quinn is his usual larger-than-life self, but his befuddled interaction with the kids endears him to viewers even more here. James Coburn is very amusing as Quinn's second-in-command, who can't speak a word of Spanish and is often at a loss as to what is going on around him (though I would have liked some form of an explanation as to his incongruous presence there). Dennis Price has a notable cameo towards the very end as a solicitor leeringly prying into the children's 'experience' with the pirates, while "guest star" Gert Frobe only appears in one crucial scene as a wounded Dutch captain (but who eventually has a huge bearing on the plot resolution); the film also features Nigel Davenport as the children's father and Lila Kedrova as a 'tavern-keeper'.The opening hurricane sequence - which gives the film (and the novel it is based on) its title - is extremely well done, though the climactic courtroom sequence and its outcome (the willful execution of the pirates) is rather too rushed to be as effective as it needs to be. The antics of the children, of English and Spanish origins, are fun to watch - but Deborah Baxter leaves the best impression, as she is the one to bond most with Quinn. Larry Adler's lovely score subtly accentuates Douglas Slocombe's colorful widescreen imagery.Alexander Mackendrick was an American-born/Scotland-bred director who made his name at Britain's famed Ealing Studios and went on to have a very brief but often brilliant career; this was actually his penultimate work. Incidentally, the two films of his I've yet to watch - MANDY (1952) and SAMMY GOING SOUTH (1963) - also feature children as their protagonists.

j1reidy I was pleased to find this movie on your website and see the comments. This is a film which I loved as a child and have tried to find to purchase. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available anywhere, nor have I seen it on TV. As a child I lived in a small town where the theatre played a lot of movies over and over, esp westerns, and I could even watch a movie 2 or 3 times in one sitting if I wanted. This I would do on a Sat or Sun afternoon. I watched this film 3 or 4 times and thought James Coburn and Anthony Quinn were excellent. Didn't remember the other actors and actresses except that I really liked the girl who ended up in the courtroom. I loved the theme song but don't know if it's any more available than the movie. It says something like: When man is young and certain of what he wants to be.....Then fate brings a love to him that hangs him high from the gallow's tree, my friend, high from the gallow's tree. Does anyone know who sang this ballad? I can't remember the rest of the words. Anyway, I agree with everyone else: It's a shame High Wind is not available to us on video or somewhere. It was a great film!

moggy-4 I first saw this film as a child, and was surprised that I remembered so much of it over 30 years later. It is an unusual story of children who end up on a pirate ship by a quirk, and their relationship with the pirates, who regard them as unlucky. Which turns out to be true, in an unforeseen way. Anthony Quinn, as pirate captain, is superb, as are all the cast, especially the actress playing Emily, the oldest child.Forget any preconceived ideas you might have about the plot. This is a haunting, unforgettable story.