 Parzival  | 02 Mar 2026 8:13 a.m. PST |
Alas, the father of them all, Douglas Fairbank's The Black Pirate (1926) did not make the final round. It set the standard, and many films have duplicated scenes and stunts from it (including The Goonies. If you haven't seen it, you are missing out on one of the seminal and greatest works of cinema. |
| Raynman | 02 Mar 2026 8:15 a.m. PST |
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| robert piepenbrink | 02 Mar 2026 10:02 a.m. PST |
All my real piratical loyalty is to Sabatini, and so here to Captain Blood. My favorite pirate book remains The Black Swan, but the movie didn't use much of it. |
| Grattan54 | 02 Mar 2026 11:36 a.m. PST |
Captain Blood won best picture so that is good enough for me. |
 miniMo | 02 Mar 2026 2:14 p.m. PST |
Fairbanks is definitely unsurpassed.
The bestest part of Captain Blood is Basil Rathbone's outrageous French accent! |
 John the OFM | 02 Mar 2026 5:09 p.m. PST |
Basil Rathbone owns any movie he is in. |
| robert piepenbrink | 02 Mar 2026 6:25 p.m. PST |
Alas, poor Rathbone! Often held to be the best actor/swordfighter of his generation, and almost always required to lose. |
| John the OFM | 02 Mar 2026 10:46 p.m. PST |
I guess if you play the Bad Guy, it was required that you lose. 🤷 |
 piper909 | 02 Mar 2026 11:49 p.m. PST |
Treasure Island 1990 will always be my fave. Then Anne of the Indies. And Peter Pan 2003. |
 ochoin | 03 Mar 2026 2:21 a.m. PST |
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| John the OFM | 03 Mar 2026 3:14 a.m. PST |
Fraser Clarke Heston directed the 1990 version.
He asked his dad, a guy named Charlton, if he wanted to play Long John Silver. Poor guy needed work, I guess. |
| robert piepenbrink | 03 Mar 2026 4:23 a.m. PST |
Loved the story Heston told about True Lies. He's in for maybe five minutes as Arnold Schwarzenegger's boss. And he asked the producer--the work is fine, but it's only an afternon's work, and you know what my minimum fee is. Why?" The producer said "we need someone who can credibly intimidate Arnold, and it's a very short list." Yeah, Rathbone had to die at the end. But they could have just shot him instead of making him lose a swordfight. |
| piper909 | 04 Mar 2026 9:54 p.m. PST |
Yes, Fraser Heston directed the 1990 version of Treasure Island, and I think he did a fantastic job. And kept the script right on par. And brought in the Chieftains for some music and nabbed Ollie Reed for Billy Bones (memorable!). I also feel Chuck gave a fine interpretation of Long John. Ye've got me affydavy on that, by thunder! "Them's that dies will be the lucky ones." |
