Yellowbeard

Yellowbeard. 1983 Orion Pictures, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Graham Chapman, Peter Boyle, Cheech & Chong, Peter Cook, Marty Feldman, Martin Hewitt, Michael Hordern, Eric Idle, Madeline Kahn, James Mason, John Cleese, Kenneth Mars, Spike Milligan, Nigel Planer, David Bowie (uncredited)
Director: Mel Damski
Available at Amazon.

Looking at the cast, you'll see three Monty Python alumni, several of Mel Brooks' favorites, and Cheech & Chong, not to mention the great Spike Milligan (his last feature film). Let's see if such a loaded cast can make for a great comedy feature, even if this was not a success at the box office upon release.

Graham Chapman originally developed Yellowbeard with Keith Moon in mind as the lead role (he provided some money), but Moon's various health issues obviously kept him out of the film. John Cleese appeared in the movie as a favor to Chapman even though he thought the final script was the worst he had ever read. Eric Idle also thought the finished movie was pretty bad, but admitted that he enjoyed working on it. Marty Feldman died during production from a heart attack, so his character, Gilbert, was killed off.

Anyway, a pirate known as Yellowbeard (Chapman) was imprisoned for twenty years for tax evasion, despite his years on the high seas attacking other ships and "forcing his victims to eat their own lips". He has survived his sentence, but still refuses to disclose where he has hidden his vast treasure. The Royal Navy conspires to increase his sentence another 140 years, knowing that Yellowbeard will escape in a mad rage to set out for his fortune, which he certainly does. The pirate forms a new group of mateys, and hits the ro...er, sea. Yellowbeard also receives help from his wife Betty (Kahn) and his son (Hewitt), who is a gardener who prefers not to have anything do with the pirate lifestyle.

Also pursuing the treasure is Yellowbeard's former first mate Moon (Boyle), and his henchman, Gilbert (Feldman). The Royal Navy sends Commander Clement (Idle), who receives aid from a blind agent named Pew (Cleese).

Yellowbeard and everyone else reach the island, but find two Spanish conquistadors (Cheech & Chong) have already claimed it for themselves, and they're living like kings. Oh, and Dave's not here! The battle for the treasure commences, and who will win?

All right...I did enjoy this movie, but it wasn't the hysterically funny picture that it could have been. Maybe it was due to the enormous cast, or perhaps it was because British and American humor really doesn't mesh that well with each other. Still, there's some great performances here, so I can say this is a recommended DVD. Too bad MGM didn't really feel the same way; the transfer to disc is excellent, but there's no extras on the disc, and the main menu is essentially block text with no background pictures from the film.