Yellowbeard – 1983 | 97 mins | Adventure, Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Yellowbeard was the realisation of Graham Chapman’s long-standing desire to film a comic pirate romp in the style of Robert Newton’s celebrated Long John Silver. The inspiration behind the film was The Who drummer Keith Moon, who suggested they produce a swashbuckling adventure comedy yarn. Chapman envisaged Moon himself as the wide-eyed Captain Yellowbeard but these plans were curtailed by his early death in 1978 – the Moon connection made it to the film via Peter Boyle’s character name.

Legendary Python saviours HandMade declined to back the project so Orion financed the production on condition a couple of other Monty Python stars were written into the film. Consequently, a reluctant John Cleese appears as an unforgettable blind beggar and a more enthusiastic Eric Idle revels in his role of pontificating naval clap-trap.

The completed film is a badly-written, rambling mess of a treasure quest despite an array of stellar British comedy actors, a distinguished cast of thespians, a reasonably sized budget and even cinematic heritage in the shape of the ship from Mutiny on the Bounty. There is a general feel of desperation to the humour, bad taste for bad taste’s sake and reams of unconvincing gung-ho action.

Source© Robert Ross: Monty Python Encyclopedia.