Yellowbeard
Yellowbeard is a 1983 comedy film, that was co-written and acted by Monty Python member Graham Chapman and David Sherlock, and directed by Mel Damski. The film co-starred Peter Boyle, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Cheech & Chong, Madeline Kahn, Peter Cook and Marty Feldman in his last film appearance.
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Plot
The pirate Yellowbeard (Chapman), having been incarcerated for tax evasion despite his years of terrorising the high seas ("Often forcing his victims to eat their own lips..."), manages to survive the whole of his jail sentence but has not disclosed the whereabouts of his vast treasure. The Royal Navy then hatches a plot to increase his sentence by a good 140 years, in the hope that he'll escape in a rage to set out for his treasure. This he does, recruiting a motley crew of companions along the way. Things go slightly wrong when his former shipmate-turned-traitor Mr. Moon (Boyle) press gangs his companions and gets them on a ship of their own in the hope of finding the treasure for themselves. With the navy hot on their trail, they eventually find the island and the battle for the treasure commences.
Trivia
- Marty Feldman died while filming in 1982.
- Famed cartoonist Sergio Aragones was filming a role at the same studio during Yellowbeard's production and encountered Feldman, scaring him. Feldman died the next day. Aragones has told this stories at conventions and in his issue of Solo (comics), with the punchline "I killed Marty Feldman".
- One of the few films Graham Chapman did after the Monty Python group broke up.
- John Cleese only played a part out of loyalty to Graham Chapman. He has said that he found the script to be one of the worst he's ever read.
- David Bowie had a cameo as The Shark.
- Both ships were portrayed by MGM's Bounty II, built for the 1962 remake of Mutiny On The Bounty.
External links
Categories
Pirate films | 1983 films | Comedy films | Orion Pictures films