The Seven Best Pirates in Cinematic History
In honor of the greatest day of the year, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, we thought we’d put together a list of the seven coolest/most influential pirates in cinematic history. It was a little harder than we thought, as Hollywood has actually put out fewer pirate themed titles than we had expected (crazy, right?), but here’s what we came up with:
7. Walter Mathau as Captain Red in Pirates
Walter Mathau as a drunken pirate is comedy gold. No, seriously, have a listen at the awesome accent on display here:
6. Erroll Flynn as Captain Blood in Captain Blood
This is actually the film that established Erroll Flynn as a major Hollywood star. He stars as Peter Blood, an Irish doctor who is sold into slavery. He breaks free and, naturally enough, steals a Spanish ship on route to becoming a pirate and sailing the seas of the Caribbean. This film is more than eighty years old, but it really helped to establish the entire pirate genre on film.
5. Tommy Lee Jones as Bully Hayes in Nate and Hayes
Apparently there’s a little bit of controversy over similarities between Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Nate and Hayes, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s just cool seeing Tommy Lee Jones as a pirate. The plot of this movie is incredibly weak, and serves mostly to carry along the early 80’s Indiana Jones style action, but the recent success of Pirates of the Carribean has renewed interest in the movie, and there’s now something of a cult following, which is probably deserving, because like I said earlier: Tommy Lee Jones. As a pirate. That’s always going to be worth seeing.
4. Keith Richards as Captain Teague in Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End
At World’s End might have been an endurance challenge, but Keith Richards’ cameo as Captain Teague was a huge bright spot in the film.
Brilliant casting here, as I’m not sure there’s anyone alive today who’s more of a real life pirate than Keith Richards.
3. Robert Newton as Long John Silver in various movies (and an Australian television series)
Little kids in the 50’s grew up on Newton’s Long John Silver, which explains why his hammy pirate portrayal is pretty much the epitome of how we think of pirates today. Yep, “Ar-ar, me hearties” and all of it’s derivatives can usually be traced back to Long John Silver. Just count how many pirate stereotypes you see in this weird fan tribute set to Rolling Stones music:
2. Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook in Hook
The whole Peter Pan story always struck me as a little odd, what with a grown pirate spending all of his time fighting little boys and alligators, but with that said Dustin Hoffman did a pretty outstanding job as Captain Hook, arguably the most famous fictional pirate of all time.
1. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series
An obvious pick for number one to be sure, but Johnny Depp took a movie role that could have been a complete disaster (a movie based on a theme park ride, wtf right?) and made it pretty damn enjoyable. Captain Jack Sparrow is now firmly entrenched in the pirate pantheon, right up there with Long John Silver. You know how I know? Because his performance inspired countless bizarre fan videos on YouTube like this one:
If that’s not forever, then I don’t know what is.
Enjoy Talk Like a Pirate Day everyone, it only comes once a year!
it had to be jack at number 1 but i think robert newton must be number 2 the pirates of the caribbean at worlds end best film of the year
Aaaaargh! I could have been pillaging and talking like a pirate today! Aaarghh! Thanks for salvaging the rest of the day!
* said in the worst pirate accent ever
PS: that Walter Matthau looks interesting.. didn’t see that. Will have to find it.
Geoffrey Rush as Barbosa… much better pirate than Depp.
i couldnt have agreed more! U guys overlooked GEOFFREY RUSH as CAPTAIN BARBOSA. He nailed that part!