CURACAO (DEADLY CURRENTS)
US, 1993, 90 minutes, Colour.
George C. Scott, William Petersen, Julie Carmen, Alexei Sayle, Trish Van Devere.
Directed by Carl Schultz.
Curacao is an average thriller set in the rather exotic island of Curacao in the Antilles. It is a haven for all kind of outcasts.
George C. Scott portrays a Dutch-born Australian who was captain of a ship, guilty of scuttling it for insurance and who has retreated to the island. William Petersen is a former CIA operative who killed a traitor operative but was exiled by the CIA. Julie Carmen is a past lover who is also a CIA agent.
The film is complicated in its presentation of the sinking of the ship, Scott and Petersen in Curacao, a South African agent played by Alexei Sayle trying to recruit Petersen, the Chinese who engineered the insurance fraud also trying to get the document saved by the captain.
With these kinds of interactions, the film builds up to a dramatic climax – as well as something of a dramatic anticlimax.
The film was directed by Australian Carl Schultz who in the 1970s and 80s directed a number of significant films including Blue Fin, Goodbye Paradise, Careful, He Might Hear You and Travelling North. He went to the United States where his career was less distinguished. However, he made over twenty episodes of the Young Indiana Jones series.
1.The popularity of this kind of thriller? Ingredients? Conventions? Conventional?
2.The Curacao setting, the island, the island lifestyle? Musical score?
3.The opening, the storm, the captain, his log, the documents? Joshua watching him? Setting the explosion? The large explosion, the men diving overboard, thirty-six dying? Joshua not dying?
4.Cornelius in Curacao, running the bar, his relationship with Jan, passing him off as his son? His friendship with Stephen? In the bar, the talk, his life? World-weary? His going to the bank, the terrorist hold-up, his confrontation of the young soldier, getting the gun, shooting him, saving everyone? His heroism publicised in the papers? People converging on Curacao: Joshua, the South Africans, the Chinese? The death of Jan? Cornelius getting Stephen’s help? His disappearance? His finally reappearing at the end, having set everything up, Stephen doing his dirty work for him? Remaining on the island? A George C. Scott character – declaiming his lines as if he were reciting Shakespeare?
5.Stephen, former CIA, his relationship with Diana and her wanting him to go to Philadelphia? His friendship with Cornelius? At the bar? His back-story about the traitor agent, killing him, being exiled by the CIA? His being approached by Seemuller? Julia and her arrival, telling him that the CIA wanted him to accept? His not wanting the money? Listening to Cornelius’s story, the disappearance of Jan – and their finding him killed in the boat? The death of Joshua? His taking the job, the meetings with Seemuller? Setting up the Chinese after their accosting him? His bringing back Cornelius’s boat, getting the documents? The set-up for Seemuller to destroy the Hong Kong agents and vice-versa? Julia coming to his rescue and saving him? His not staying with her? Their talking frankly about their past? His meeting with Cornelius – and going off, with some integrity?
6.Julia, the Cuban background, relationship with Stephen, working with him? Coming to Curacao, giving the agency information, their relationship, no future, her being a career woman? Saving his life?
7.The background of the South Africans, the apartheid system, the officers and their setting up insurance scams? Seemuller and his sinister aspects, meetings, his death? Henry Rawlings and the recruiting? The black stalker?
8.Diana, the rich woman from Philadelphia, the affair with Stephen, wanting him to go back to Philadelphia?
9.The hold-up, the terrorists, the heroism in the bank, the publicity, the celebration for Cornelius? The role of the police, the later investigations?
10.Popular ingredients – how well handled?
