Yellowbeard - The Holy Mother Of All Pirate Movies

[jaguarr]

What? You've never even heard of Yellowbeard, let alone seen it? This film is a cult classic, starring Monty Python's Graham Chapman in the title role. He will easily become your favorite on-screen pirate of all time when you see this film (sorry Jonny Depp). The support cast includes many of the other Pythons including John Cleese and Eric Idle. It also includes a HUGE roster of Comedy's Who's Who including Madelain Kahn, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Peter Cook, Cheech AND Chong! It also has James Mason in a supporting role and an uncredited appearance by David Bowie. It was originally released in 1983 with a very quiet marketing campaign and soon went out of print. Copies of it were going for a pretty penny on eBay for quite awhile. It recently resurfaced on the pay movie channels (Showtime, HBO, etc.) where I managed to record it to my DVR and convert it to DVD. And, not too long ago it finally was released in remastered format on DVD. I have seen it for rent at my local video store, and it's available on Amazon, now, as well.. I can't recommend this film enough. If you love Monty Python, you will definitely appreciate this film. See it and you'll find yourself quoting Chapman's Yellowbeard character quite a lot.


See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowbeard for more info.

Rent it! Buy it! Get it! It's worth it!

jag

 

[Catman]

You were watching this on Showtime, huh?

 

[jaguarr]

You were watching this on Showtime, huh?

I actually saw it in the theaters back in '83 and my folks always had it on VHS as soon as it came out. I did catch it on Showtime or HBO about a year ago or so and pulled it off my DVR and burned it to DVD for my dad (it's his favorite film of all time). This is before they did the reissue, but the signal quality that was broadcast was so much better than the VHS version. Have you seen it?

jag

 

[Catman]

Have you seen it?

I saw parts of it on Showtime the other day.

 

[jaguarr]

I saw parts of it on Showtime the other day.

Watch the whole thing if you get a chance. It's a classic.

jag

 

[Catman]

Watch the whole thing if you get a chance. It's a classic.

jag

I will. I only saw parts cause the movie was already half-way, so I just wanted to see a little of it to see if it interested me.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I'm just waiting for Hollywood to unleash a wave of pirate movies, only to find them all flop. People don't care about pirates, they just like Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow.

 

[jaguarr]

I'm just waiting for Hollywood to unleash a wave of pirate movies, only to find them all flop. People don't care about pirates, they just like Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow.

Everything comes and goes in waves. Kind of like Western themed films seem to ebb and flow. Pirate films haven't had a huge run on them for awhile. I'm frankly astonished that there hasn't been a glut of them after the success of the POTC series, really. Perhaps enough people are smart enough to know that they'd just come off as trying to copy POTC at this point in time. I think the idea of pirates does intrigue enough people, though. There's and endless stream of specials on the History and Biography channels about them, specifically Blackbeard, Captain Cook and Captain Kidd. I think a well done, serious pirate period piece might do pretty well, actually, and that's not something we've really seen in a long time. At any rate, I'll continue to enjoy Yellowbeard and the POTC series in the meantime, because they're damn entertaining. Although I like the character a lot and Depp's portrayal of him, Jack Sparrow just can't hold a candle to Yellowbeard.

jag

 

[Catman]

People don't care about pirates, they just like Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow.

I like pirates But, its true that Johnny Depp as Sparrow is the highlight of that trilogy.

Everything comes and goes in waves. Kind of like Western themed films seem to ebb and flow.

Westerns were the most popular movies in America from the beginning of cinema till about the `60s. Then, in the `70s, Clint Eastwood, made a couple of popular westerns but by the `80s the genre went on life-support.

Pirate films haven't had a huge run on them for awhile. I'm frankly astonished that there hasn't been a glut of them after the success of the POTC series, really. Perhaps enough people are smart enough to know that they'd just come off as trying to copy POTC at this point in time.

Its that Pirate films aren't easy to make. Watch the POTC 2 DVD. They had a couple of hurricanes during production. Secondly, studios prefer to gamble with the success of Spider-Man. They see that comic book adaptations already come with a fan base.

Its like when Star Wars was released in 1977. In `78 we got Superman and in `79 we got Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

I think the idea of pirates does intrigue enough people, though. There's and endless stream of specials on the History and Biography channels about them, specifically Blackbeard, Captain Cook and Captain Kidd. I think a well done, serious pirate period piece might do pretty well, actually, and that's not something we've really seen in a long time. At any rate, I'll continue to enjoy Yellowbeard and the POTC series in the meantime, because they're damn entertaining. Although I like the character a lot and Depp's portrayal of him, Jack Sparrow just can't hold a candle to Yellowbeard.

jag

Agreed.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Everything comes and goes in waves. Kind of like Western themed films seem to ebb and flow. Pirate films haven't had a huge run on them for awhile. I'm frankly astonished that there hasn't been a glut of them after the success of the POTC series, really. Perhaps enough people are smart enough to know that they'd just come off as trying to copy POTC at this point in time. I think the idea of pirates does intrigue enough people, though. There's and endless stream of specials on the History and Biography channels about them, specifically Blackbeard, Captain Cook and Captain Kidd. I think a well done, serious pirate period piece might do pretty well, actually, and that's not something we've really seen in a long time. At any rate, I'll continue to enjoy Yellowbeard and the POTC series in the meantime, because they're damn entertaining. Although I like the character a lot and Depp's portrayal of him, Jack Sparrow just can't hold a candle to Yellowbeard.

jag

Sure, different genres go in and out of fashion, but right now, no-one cares about pirates. Or westerns.

 

[jaguarr]

Sure, different genres go in and out of fashion, but right now, no-one cares about pirates.

Except for POTC. And all the shows and documentaries about pirates all over cable television.

Or westerns.

Except for Seraphim Falls. And The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. And 3:10 To Yuma. And the Deadwood television series. And all the documentaries about the old west that are also all over cable television.



jag, who cares about pirates even though Kevin doesn't...

 

[Addendum]

Yellowbeard is pretty funny. I haven't seen it in a while. I'll keep an eye out for it on DVD.

I don't even bother with PotC. It's the last thing I saw with my family a few christmases ago. Since then I've cut off all contact with them.

 

[SolidSnakeMGS]

Don't forget about The Proposition, which is a terrific film.

 

[Mr. Socko]

What a crazy name.

 

[jaguarr]

Don't forget about The Proposition, which is a terrific film.

Haven't seen it. I'll have to try and catch it. Thanks!

jag

 

[Catman]

You know what just made me laugh about that poster? That I just realized that Cheech & Chong are in the movie. lol. What's an early `80s comedy without Cheech & Chong? lol.

 

[jaguarr]

You know what just made me laugh about that poster? That I just realized that Cheech & Chong are in the movie. lol. What's an early `80s comedy without Cheech & Chong? lol.

You didn't really read the first post, did you?

jag

 

[jaguarr]

Has anyone even bothered to look for this film? I'm giving you cinematic GOLD here, people!

jag

 

[Airwings]

Has anyone even bothered to look for this film? I'm giving you cinematic GOLD here, people!

jag

I bought a copy last year.
Quite entertaining film, but not a particular good one.
I wanted it only because of its ties to Monty Python