Looking for a rousing Viking adventure that's cheesy and entertaining? The Long Ships is just the movie for you. As England's greatest color cinematographer; Jack Cardiff had filmed 1958's The Vikings; so he was well-prepared to direct this exciting; occasionally grisly mini-epic (a British/Yugoslavian coproduction; filmed in Yugoslavia); which received mixed-to-favorable reviews when released in 1964. Back then; it was a perfect matinee marvel if you were young and impressionable; and it's still worth its weight in hot buttered popcorn. While that most contemporary of actors; Richard Widmark; is clearly out of place as a maverick Norse warrior; he's sufficiently valiant as he guides his Viking brother (Russ Tamblyn; still hot from West Side Story) and a long-ship full of warriors in search of a huge; solid-gold bell coveted by Mansuh (Sidney Poitier); a Moorish prince obsessed with retrieving the legendary bell at any cost. Treacherous maelstroms; lovely damsels; corny battles; and casual humor make The Long Ships a lot of fun--like a Ray Harryhausen adventure without the animated creatures. (Oh; and Mr. Poitier? James Brown called... he wants his hair back.) --Jeff Shannon