Yellowbeard (Graham Chapman), a pirate's pirate, is allowed to escape from prison to lead the authorities to his treasure. He finds that his wife (Madeline Kahn) neglected to tell him that he now has a son (Martin Hewitt), 20, and shame of shame, an intellectual. Hilarity ensues when the British Navy, Yellowbeard, his son, and members of Yellowbeard's old crew all go after the treasure.
Trivia: Blind Pew (John Cleese) is named after a pirate in the classic adventure story Treasure Island. Yellowbeard is obviously based on the infamous, murderous real-life pirate Edward "Blackbeard" Teach. Blackbeard wove hemp into his hair, and lit it to frighten his prey, as Yellowbeard does in the film. Also, Teach was known for murdering the target ships' crew in horrific ways if the ship resisted in any way. The joke about Yellowbeard committing horrific acts of violence and thievery but being imprisoned for tax evasion is an obvious reference to Al Capone. John Cleese has stated that he accepted a role in this film only as a favor to Graham Chapman, and that he thought the script was the worst that he had ever read. Marty Feldman died during filming on December 2, 1982 of a massive heart attack.
You could definitly see some of the humor in this that is a staple of Monty Python. It is a minor Monty Python reunion with three of the six members (Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and John Cleese. Coincidentaly, it is also the second half-python movie I have included in the Alphabet Project, the other was Jaberwocky) It also includes some very talented comedic actors from this side of the pond with Madeline Kahn, Mart Feldman, Cheech Marin, and Tommy Chong. Peter Boyle played the bad guy. Pretty funny pirate movie.
Up Last: "Z" This Week's Clue: He saw the future and it didn't work. Last Week's Guesses:
Yo Ho Ho - This is a sensitive film about human solidarity filled with humor and poetry.
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1 comment:
Zardoz! (ok, I cheated a little...I had some inside information)
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