Review: Yellowbeard

In 1993 Monty Python had gone from cult phenomenon to mainstream. Where the group had problems finding investors for their low budget "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" in 1976 they had no problem getting Universal Studios to pay for their big budget "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life". Solo Projects like "Time Bandits" became easier to finance and distribute because studios realized they could be promoted as Python movies. Following on the heels of "....Meaning of Life" was Graham Chapman's pirate epic "Yellowbeard". Benefiting from Monty Python's popularity Chapman was able to get a Hollywood movie budget and an outstanding cast. Chapman plays the lead character Yellowbeard, a ruthless pirate captain who in the late 1600s had been responsible for the death of hundreds of men and the theft of a fortune in treasure.

Eventually brought to justice on tax evasion charges he is sentenced to 20 years in prison where he plans to reclaim his treasure once the 20 years are up. Also after the treasure is the head of Her Majesty's secret police Commander Clement ( Eric Idle ) and Yellowbeard's former second in command Mr. Moon ( Peter Boyle ) who holds a grudge against the captain after he chopped his hand off twenty years earlier for touching the treasure. Yellowbeard escapes from prison only to discover that his wife Betty ( Madeline Kahn ) has destroyed his treasure map, but not after tattooing a replica onto the head of their newborn son. Now a grown man Yellowbeard's son Dan ( Martin Hewitt ) has no idea that there is a tattoo of a treasure map under his hair or that his father is a notorious pirate. Raised as the son of Lord Lambourn ( Peter Cook ) after Betty had tricked him into believing that it was him who got her pregnant, Dan has become a book reading intellectual. When Yellowbeard finds out he has a son and that son has his map tattooed to his head he decides to chop it off. Fortunately Dan convinces Yellowbeard that it would be safer if the map is kept hidden on his head and together they travel to the Central American island where it has been buried.

Yellowbeard is a pleasant comedy with a decent adventure element and many laugh out loud jokes. That is not to say it does not have it's share of crude humor. Commander Clement stepping out of his carriage and onto a pile of dung is far less funny than described here. The same scene has a gardener urinating into the bushes although Beryl Reid's performance as Lady Lambourn's outrage at seeing the hired help peeing on her imported bushes gives the gag the hilarity it otherwise does not deserve. Other scatological humor includes a young girl who offers Dan a lump of sh*t for 7£. When he turns her down she hurls the lump into his face. There is also a fair share of rape jokes as Yellowbeard drags off and rapes any woman who comes near him. It seems as Chapman felt compelled to add this crude humor to his script to appeal to the immature. The gags could have been edited out of the movie without harming the comedy that does work. On the positive side the all star cast provides many great performances. Peter Cook as Lord Lambourn plays an excellent dimwit making the most of a part that was given way too few jokes than his character deserves. He is complemented by his companion the slightly absent minded Dr. Gilpen played by Michael Holden. Another excellent teaming is Eric Idle's Commander Clement and his second in command played by Nigel Planner.

While they are both given what is essentially straight roles they make the most of it especially with their one sight gag involving an unfortunate pigeon. Cheech & Chong were already a well established comedy team who had starred in many earlier films. Here their teaming does not work primarily because for the first time they had abandoned their stoner characters. Instead Tommy Chong plays El Nebuloso, a high ranking bishop with a nasty lisp who eventually becomes a cult leader. Cheech Marin plays his second in command El Segundo who spends much of his screen time pounding his head on the floor as penance to perceived insults to El Nebuloso. Neither character is stoned during the movie and spends much of their screen time separated. Cheech and Chong would follow this movie with "The Corsican Brothers", another film where their characters were not stoners.

Peter Boyle and Marty Feldman barely spend enough screen time together to judge their characters teamwork. Feldman plays Mr. Moon's henchman Gilbert who spends most of his time spying on other characters. Feldman had died prior to completing the movie and therefore many scenes he was to have had with Boyle were never shot. Cleese plays the character Blind Pew, an informant for the government who's superior hearing and smelling allows him to sense things the other seeing characters can't. For instance by listening he can not only tell that Dan is approaching the pub but that he is reading a book. Cleeses character is killed off midway through the movie which is a shame. Cleese could have played a second character as he had played multiple characters in the Python films. The only character in this movie to play multiple characters is Kenneth Mars playing both Verdugo the inventor of a torture device for El Nebuloso who ends up being tortured himself, and to less effect the sadistic naval officer Mr Crisp. James Mason in his final movie plays Captain Huges in a pleasant comedic turn. Perhaps the only complaint I have for this movie is it's lackluster fight scenes.

Pirate movies have always been known for their swordplay. It is a shame that such little detail was paid to fight choreography. Fighting in this movie is minimal. One fight scene we never see is that of Blind Pew against an entire room full of men. Pew had tricked them into closing the door, shuttering the windows then putting out all the candles to turn the room dark. ( The director has seemed to have forgotten about the fireplace. Oh well. ) Instead of seeing the fight we hear it from outside and see the aftermath with Pew walking out of a room full of bodies. While "Yellowbeard" is by no means a comedy classic it is a worthy footnote to the Monty Python franchise. As long as you do not expect too much then you will be entertained.