PIRATE MOVIES

[Vic Sage]

Edgy asked me for a list of top pirate movies. the orginal list is lost to the ezboard cyberdisaster, so here's a new one:

Since the advent of talking pictures, there was a "golden age" for pirate movies -- 1934-1952, which included the following:

Treasure Island (34) - Noah Beery's Long John Silver is an iconic performance that set the prototype for the peg-legged, parrot-perching, "aye matey" scalawag anti-hero.
Captain Blood (35) - Errol Flynn became an international star in this his first starring role. Maureen O'hara was his red-headed lady fair in a role she recreated many times over the years (Curtiz)
The Buccaneer (38) - Frederic March as John LeFitte in CB DeMille's epic adventure.
Jamaica Inn (39) - Charles Laughton is the only reason to watch this, one of Hitchcock's weakest films, made just before he came to the US. O'hara is in it too. But bad Hitchcock is still worth watching.
Sea Hawk (40) - Flynn is back with his "Robin Hood" director, Michael Curtiz, in one of the best of all time (great Korngold score)
Black Swan (42) - Tyrone Power shows he's no slouch at romancing O'hara, too in one of the best swashbucklers.
Princess and the Pirate (44) - Bob Hope spoofs the genre in hilarious fashion.
The Spanish Main (45) - Maureen O'Hara's glorious red tresses get RKO's 1st technicolor treatment. Unfortunately, Paul Henried is no Errol Flynn. Still, a decent swashbuckler of the period.
Captain Kidd (45) - Charles Laughton's performance is the only reason to watch this dated film
Crimson Pirate (52) - Burt Lancaster's exuberance, and the over-the-top tongue-in-cheekedness, plus the gorgeous technicolor make this silly movie still worth watching.
Against All Flags (52) - Flynn and O'hara have one last fling on the high seas, with O'Hara tougher than ever.

plus, lets mention Robert Newton and his "Long John Silver" trilogy: Treasure Island (50), Long John Silver (51) and Blackbeard (52) (where he played Blackbeard in the same way he played LJS). He was no Noah Beery, but he was okay.

In the 53 years since Against All Flags, there have only been a handful of decent-to-good pirate movies made:

High Wind in Jamaica (65) - this was a decent UK film, with pirate stalwart Anthony Quinn
Swashbuckler (76) - Robert Shaw tried to single-handedly resurrect the genre. he failed, but not for lack of trying.
Nate & Hayes (83) - ditto for Tommy Lee Jones. Both of these are underrated and overlooked. [on edit: edgy and most critics say i'm wrong on this one]
Pirates Of The Carribean (03) - this Disney project allows Johnny Depp to give a tour-de-force performance in a overrated but entertaining pirate epic.

You could add Treasure Planet, if one were including animation. And, if one were being particularly generous and whimsical, you could mention the mediocre Muppet Treasure Island. The most recent version of Peter Pan also warrants a mention on the plus side, with Hook added to the negative side, though i don't really consider PETER PAN a "pirate" story per se.

However, aside from these, during the last 25 years Hollywood has produced such catastrophes as Cutthroat Island, Pirates, Yellowbeard, The Island, The Pirate Movie and others that allude me at this moment.

The Pirate movie has gone the way of the Western, as a dated genre that only ocasionally pops up every now and again. Nobody really knows how to make them anymore, they're expensive, and they're not surefire hits. Perhaps the success of PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN will revive the genre, but DANCES WITH WOLVES did not pave the way for a western revival, so i'm not holding my breath.

[Edgy MD]

Dances with Wolves (and Unforgiven) certainly paved the way for a revival of westerns. It's just that most stunk. I think if you checked, though, you'll find that western production went way up in the nineties.

[Willets Point]

The funny thing about pirate movies is that regardless of content they are always Rated Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

[Centerfield]

Wait, you didn't like The Quick and the Dead?

[Edgy MD]

Never saw it.

But the green light for that, or for Bad Girls, or for Geronimo: An American Legend did not come in a void.

[Willets Point]

Funniest movie marquis I ever saw read:

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD
LITTLE WOMEN


(Funny when read all as one sentence).

[MFS62]

Wasn't there a movie called "The Buccaneer" with Yul Brynner?
What did you think about that one?

Later

[Guest Matt Murdock, Esq.]

To clarify my point, it wasn't that we didn't get more westerns after DANCES WITH WOLVES... but the only other GOOD westerns were by Clint. And the forseeable catastrophes that were the rest of them have re-sunk the genre beneath the waves. Once upon a time, westerns were as common as romantic comedies, thrillers, horror films, sf action, etc. Now, you can only make a western if a big star puts a gun to the studio's head... or if its a small, arty film or tv series (like DEADWOOD).

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN was 2 years ago. I'm still waiting for the tidal wave of pirate movies to follow in its wake.

as for the Yul Brynner BUCCANEER, it was a remake of the Fredric March film, and not nearly as good... etcetera etcetera etcetera.

[seawolf17]

I love when people post using their other names. It totally confuses the hell out of the new people.

[Willets Point]

Matt Murdock, Esq. wrote: To clarify my point,

What point, you didn't post nothing else in this thread stranger.

[Guest cooby]

These detective types always have to live in mystery

[Theoldmole]

The Buccaneer was about Jean Lafitte. It was no Crimson Pirate or Sea Hawk, but it had Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston (as Andrew Jackson), and it's watchable.

[Theoldmole]

It's stretching a point, but you might consider The World In His Arms. Not exactly pirates, but it does involve a robbery at sea.

[Vic Sage]

"seafaring adventure films" is a much broader category.

"Pirate movies" deal with specific archtypal pirate characters and plot elements... buried treasure, sword fights, jolly roger, the tough pirate-girl or tavern wench, the governor's daughter held for ransom, the British agent in disguise, the wronged hero who turns to piracy, the corrupt british governor, Tortuga and Port Royal, pieces of eight, walking the plank, sea chases and battles, pirates who turn patriotic privateers, cannons decimating a seaport, lashing, hanging from the yard-arm...

My name was Captain Kidd, when I sail'd, when I sail'd, And so wickedly I did, God's laws I did forbid, When I sail'd, when I sail'd. I roam'd from sound to sound, And many a ship I found, And then I sunk or burn'd, When I sail'd. I murder'd William Moore, And laid him in his gore, Not many leagues from shore, When I sail'd. Farewell to young and old, All jolly seamen bold, You're welcome to my gold, For I must die, I must die. Farewell to Lunnon town, The pretty girls all round, No pardon can be found, and I must die, I must die, Farewell, for I must die. Then to eternity, in hideous misery, I must lie, I must lie.

[Edgy MD]

I think it comes down to the plank.

You can go to town go without a hook, an eyepatch, a skull and crossbones, or even a map with an X, but if there's no plankwalking scene, it isn't a pirate movie.

[seawolf17]

Is "Goonies" a pirate movie? It has eyepatches, booty, skulls, and a plank scene. What a classic.

[Willets Point]

Seawolf 17 sounds like it could be the title of a pirate movie, or a WWI u-boat movie.

[MFS62]

And "Up Periscope" with Kelsey Grammar has a plank walking scene, but I don't think you would call it a pirate movie.

Later

[Vic Sage]

Is "Goonies" a pirate movie? It has eyepatches, booty, skulls, and a plank scene. What a classic.

A plank scene may be a "necessary condition" not a "sufficient condition".
While GOONIES does have the pirate trappings, it lacks one key ingredient... PIRATES!

Also, Pirate movies are set sometime during the 17th to 19th century. If there set in the current day, they may be ABOUT some modern-day pirates ("The Island"), or analagous to a pirate movie, or metaphorical, or a spoof of pirate stereotypes, or whatever... but it ain't a "pirate movie".

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

We will have to resurrect this thread on September 19th.

[seawolf17]

What about Chester Copperpot? He was a pirate. (Long dead in the movie, but still a pirate.)

[dgwphotography]

Star Trek: Generations has a plank scene, too. It's definitely not a pirate movie ;-)

[Guest cooby]

I was thinking of that Russell Crowe flick from a few years back, were there any pirates in that?

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Master and Commander.

I didn't see the film, but when I was in San Diego last year I toured the boat where the movie was shot.

[Guest cooby]

That's the one. It was really pretty good

[Willets Point]

No pirates in Master and Commander, the bad guys are French warship, and you know they're French because they speak with an out-RAGE-ous accent.

[Guest cooby]

So you really can't tell what they are saying when they say "Arrrrhhh", huh?

[Willets Point]

Bumping this to prepare for Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sept. 19th).

[Vic Sage]

The Pirate movie has gone the way of the Western, as a dated genre that only ocasionally pops up every now and again. Nobody really knows how to make them anymore, they're expensive, and they're not surefire hits. Perhaps the success of PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN will revive the genre, but DANCES WITH WOLVES did not pave the way for a western revival, so i'm not holding my breath.

Indeed, since PIRATES 1 in 2003, the only other pirate movies made were PIRATES 2 (06) & 3 (07). Both grotesquely successful well beyond their qualities.

[Vic Sage]

http://gangstaname.com/pirate_name.php

pirate name generator

from Cap'n Herb Saggingsails