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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 25891
Released: November 8, 2005 |
| Our Price: $3.59 |
| Used Price: $3.59 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A Caribbean island in the mid-1800's. Nature has made it a paradise; man has made it a hell. Slaves on vast Portuguese sugar plantations are ready to turn their misery into rebellion - and the British are ready to provide the spark. They send agent William Walker (Marlon Brando) on a devious three-part mission: trick the slaves into revolt, grab the sugar trade for England...then return the slaves to servitude. Gillo Pontecorvo, the acclaimed director of The Battle of Algiers, explores colonialism and insurrection in the searing epic Burn!. Both visually and narratively stunning, Burn! glows with the fires of Pontecorvo's unique filmmaking genius. Genius is also evident in Brando's complex, intelligent portrayal of a man who is both gentleman and scoundrel, revolutionary and colonialist. And Ennio Morricone's (The Untouchables, The Mission) haunting music memorably underscores the almost overwhelmingly powerful story.
Burn! Reviews:
Gripping Film 
2009-11-23 - I remember when I watched this for the first time in the mid 1990s. What a film. It always stuck with me and each time I see it I gain more appreciation for Pontecorvo. It is easily a masterpiece and a tragically overlooked one at that. I actually had a copy of it on VHS but gave it away to a buddy so other people could see this amazing movie. I told him to give it away and so on...
One of the many things I remember that absolutely blew me away is the opening credits scene - it just might be the coolest three minutes in film history; the still shots, the clips of imperialism and brutal hegemony, coupled with the haunting and magnificent music and blood dripping down the screen, it captures the horrors of colonialism unlike anything else. It is both chilling and exhilarating and a testament to what a true filmmaking genius can accomplish.
When interviewed during his later years Brando would often mention 'Burn!' as being one of the best films he was ever apart of. After one views it there will be no doubt as to why he would always make it a point to pay homage to this gem. Pontecorvo's early 1960s 'The Battle of Algiers' is also fantastic and should probably be viewed right after seeing this one.
DVD Burn
2009-08-02 - Marlon Brando called this his "best work" when interviewed a
year before he died. excellent acting . very enjoyable. first
saw the movie in Monterrey, Mexico with spanish subtitles.
great movie.
Brando's worst? Also nothing to do with William Walker... 
2009-06-23 - William Walker was an American mercenary who tried to take over Nicaragua in the 1850s to enlarge the slave-holding lands of the US. He got snuffed by one of Cornelius Vanderbilt's agents (which would have made a far better movie). The William Walker in this crappy film is a Brit with a tinny accent & Brando's worst poses & gestures.
This is the worst of the 1960s for sure!!
Not uncut. 
2009-04-01 - It seems that this version has been edited somewhat with parts having been cut from it.....not the type any collector would prefer.
"If a man gives you freedom, it is not freedom. Freedom is something you take for yourself." 
2009-02-11 - Marlon Brando's involvement in the making of "Burn" came about directly as the result of his politician idealism and his desire to make films with a comment on the human situation... In 1968 he was deeply concerned in supporting civil rights causes, particularly those to have reference to black and Indian conditions, and, according to his friends, he was greatly disturbed and depressed by the assassination of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King...
"Burn" begins in 1845 as Sir William Walker (Brando) arrives on the island of Queimada, truly as far as can be judged as a harmless traveler but actually an agent of the British government ordered to incite a revolution that will shatter the Portuguese control on the island and permit the British to put their hand on the valuable sugar-cane total product... Queimada has a population of two hundred thousand, of whom only five thousand are Europeans...The main town is a well-protected port with a fort and a garrison, a governor's palace, a cathedral, a bank, a hotel and a brothel...
The English gentleman recognizes he must play the part of a political Pygmalion... He looks around for a suitable subject to train as a revolutionary and he selects José Dolores (Evaristo Marquez), a large, handsome black dock-worker with an air of confidence... Walker also recruits Teddy Sanchez (Renato Salvatori), an almost-white clerk with political ambitions... Walker persuades José Dolores to steal the bank of the island, and once he does, Walker reveals his name to the government, thereby turning Dolores into a hunted bandit... The ingenious Walker then teaches Dolores and his followers in the use of firearms and gradually absorbs in them ideas and feelings to overthrow the Portuguese government...
The film is quite obviously political in tone, and is a passionate piece of propaganda in the anti-colonial struggle... Brando's interpretation of Sir William Walker is apt to call up memories of his Fletcher Christian... This is another Englishman, whose gentle speech and soft manners disguise with courage and determination...Walker is not a villain but a cold, inflexible pragmatist with a hard work to accomplish...
