When I started watching "Captain Lightfoot", I was taken aback when I saw that Rock Hudson was playing an Irish highway man! But, after getting over the shock, I realized that Hudson wasn't 100% terrible...at least when he remembered to use his Irish accent! But, as I just noted...he often sounded like Rock Hudson and only sometimes remembered the accent. I really don't blame him so much....it was the director's job to notice these sorts of things. Amazingly, it was directed by the very well respected Douglas Sirk....who made some of Douglas' best films. It also was a big budget production...filmed on location in Ireland and in color.
When the story begins, Michael Martin (Hudson) is a cheap and rather dim highwayman along with his friend. But they aren't very good at it and soon end up in really serious trouble with the law when one of their victims pulls Michael's mask off. So, he needed to go into hiding and is rescued by a traveling priest....or at least someone PRETENDING to be a priest. The man turns out to be the infamous Captain Thunderbolt (Jeff Morrow)...a combination Irish patriot, gambler and highwayman. But unlike Michael, he has class and common sense and soon Thunderbolt dubs Michael 'Captain Lightfoot' and makes him his second in command.
A bit later, Thunderbolt is shot and injured during one of his incursions. While in hiding and recovering, he asks Lightfoot to take command of his gambling house AND his household...including his headstrong daughter, Aga (Barbara Rush). You just KNOW that this means sooner or later, the pair will become lovers (I am referring to Aga and Lightfoot, not Thunderbolt and Lightfoot). What's next for these folks? See the film.
Despite being about highwaymen and crime, this film turned out to be a costume drama. Much of the time, folks are wearing colorful fancy outfits, dancing and living in luxury...not the sort of thing you might expect in a film about Irish patriots/bandits. Again, you could see that Universal really pulled out the stops with this one...with a large budget and lots of gloss.
So is it any good? Yes...very good...but not great. The acting is generally good (apart from a few missing accents...not just from Hudson), the locations lovely and the story engaging.
