Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!
Posted on September 19, 2008 at 8:28 am
Arrrrrrrrrrr! Avast me hearties, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day! If you have not read the classic Dave Barry tribute to this most wonderfully silly of holidays, you are in for a treat.
And what better way to celebrate than with some great pirate movies!
1. The Pirates of Penzance
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Shipwrecked
4. Peter Pan
5. Captain Blood
Argh! Thar be no finer piratical battle that that waged in “Swiss Family Robinson”. Me whiskers is still singed from them bloody coconut grenades!
And one O the oddest films for swashin’ a buckle is “Swashbuckler”, with that scurvy captain who cheated Jaws, Roert Shaw; a man with the voice of Davy Jones wee lad – James Earl Jones; and Franhkensteen’s own monster his own self, Peter Boyle.
But for the strangest star by which to lay a course and steer a career, look no further than Cutthroat Island, made and performed by the fine archer and lusty wench (and former president?!) Geena Davis.
So when is that scalawag and sly seadawg Mel Brooks going to harpoon this fine genre with one O his hearty lampoons? Soon?
You may be the only person on earth to have a kind word for “Cutthroat Island,” one of the biggest money-losers of all time! But “Swiss Family Robinson” is one of my all-time favorites. I love the animal race just before the pirates arrive. And “Swashbuckler” never got the attention it deserved. Maybe I’ll put it on next year’s TLaPD list!
I also liked (in my wee youth as a lass) a Disney movie called Black Beard’s Ghost. I used to have a crush on Dean Jones.
I loved Treasure Island – almost all of the versions except maybe the Muppet version.
I definately like the Pirates of the Caribbean. Gotta love Johnny and Orlando. They had such a chemistry that made the movie worth watching – over and over and over again.
There is a spoof – and a rock and roll version of the Pirates of Penzance with Kristy Nichol and Christopher Atkin that was pretty cute and corny.
I can’t think of any other pirate movie, at least that hasn’t been mentioned.
A great list, Jill! The Kristy McNichol pirate film was a notorious flop and with “Cutthroat Island” pretty much killed off the genre until Disney’s unexpected smash, thanks to some great action and Johnny and Orlando (not to mention Kiera at age 17 shouting, “You want pain? Try wearing a corset!” Peter Ustinov was a great pirate in “Blackbeard’s Ghost” but for many people the ultimate pirate is Robert Newton, who played Long John Silver in three movies and had the best “Arrrrr” in the business.