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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

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Pirates of the Caribbean:
The Curse of the Black Pearl
File:Pirates of the Caribbean movie.jpg
Film poster
Directed byGore Verbinski
Written byTed Elliott
Terry Rossio
Produced byJerry Bruckheimer
StarringJohnny Depp
Geoffrey Rush
Orlando Bloom
Keira Knightley
CinematographyDariusz Wolski
Edited byStephen Rivkin
Arthur Schmidt
Craig Wood
Music byKlaus Badelt
Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures
Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
July 9, 2003
Running time
143 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$125 million

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) is a romantic adventure-comedy film set in the Caribbean during the early 1700s. It is based on the Pirates of the Caribbean attractions at Disney theme parks around the world, developed by Walt Disney himself. The movie stars Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport. Pirates was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and became the first Walt Disney Pictures release to earn a PG-13 rating by the MPAA (all previous WDP releases were rated G or PG).

As of March 16 2004, Pirates had grossed at the box office more than $653 million worldwide—the 21st highest grossing movie ever. It proved to be a success for Walt Disney Pictures and, within weeks of its release, the studio announced that a sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was in development and slated for release in 2006. Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is also in production, slated for 2007.

Tagline: Prepare to be blown out of the water.

Production

When production for the film was first announced in early 2002, movie fans and critics were skeptical of its chances of being a success; the concept of Disney basing a movie upon one of its own theme-park rides seemed to many a crass marketing ploy. Additionally, the genre of pirate-themed movies had seen a string of big-budget flops (Cutthroat Island and Treasure Planet, among others). Critics were pleasantly surprised to find the film an enjoyable swashbuckler, and the movie became a huge box-office success, grossing over $300 million in North America alone. The film also received five Academy Award nominations: Best Makeup, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, and a surprise Best Actor nomination for Johnny Depp. It has additionally been voted onto IMDB's "top 250 films of all-time" list by its users. However, the poor reception received by other films based upon Disney theme-park attractions (The Country Bears, The Haunted Mansion) suggests that the success of Pirates of the Caribbean is merely an exception to the rule or, perhaps, that each film is only as good as its makers.

Plot

Template:Spoiler

The story starts when Swann, the new governor of Port Royal, Jamaica, and his daughter Elizabeth set out from England to the Caribbean, escorted by Lieutenant Norrington. They come upon a shipwreck with a sole survivor: a boy named Will Turner. Elizabeth discovers a golden skull medallion around Will's neck and, fearing that he will be executed as a pirate, quickly hides it from the others. Just before the ship continues its journey, Elizabeth briefly glimpses another, black ship with shredded sails vanishing in the mists.

Eight years later and Norrington (now madly in love with Elizabeth) is being appointed Commodore, and Elizabeth attends his promotion ceremony. Norrington begins to propose to Elizabeth on the battlements, but before he can formally state his proposal she faints due to the tightness of her corset, tumbling over the wall into the ocean. Destitute pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, only just arrived in Port Royal, rescues Elizabeth from drowning. Strangely, the skull medallion (which Elizabeth is wearing around her neck) emits a mysterious pulse through the water as she is falling to the bottom of the sea. When Jack returns to dry land after saving her, the occupying British forces attempt to arrest him for his previous crimes — including piracy, for which he has been branded on the forearm by the British East India Company (pirate lore suggests the tattoos were actually placed on the foreheads of the convicted). As he tries to escape, Sparrow meets Will Turner — now the local blacksmith's apprentice, who is in love with Elizabeth but is too shy and refined to admit his feelings to her — and, following a swordfight with Turner, Sparrow is knocked unconscious by Will's employer (who slept through the entire swordfight) and arrested.

File:Carib8.JPG
Jack and Will prepare to commandeer the HMS Interceptor.

That night, Port Royal is besieged by the infamous ghost ship known as the Black Pearl — a black vessel crewed by a vicious, bloodthirsty crew, and captained by a man claimed to be "so evil that Hell itself spat him back out". The mysterious pulse which emanated from Elizabeth's medallion seems to have "called" the Black Pearl somehow. Crew members from the Pearl find Elizabeth (who hides her true identity as the governor's daughter by using Turner as a last name) in possession of the medallion, and take her back to their ship. She invokes the rule of parlé ("parlai" in Middle English, "parlay" in modern American English—a negotiation or discussion between two parties, particularly in military situations, during which no harm can befall the adversary[1]) in order to be taken to the Captain (Sparrow's former First Mate) of the Black Pearl, Barbossa, to ask that he cease his attack on Port Royal in exchange for the medallion. Barbossa agrees but, employing a loophole in their agreements, abducts Elizabeth. The next day, Will (having seen Elizabeth taken by the Pearl's crew) fails in his passionate efforts to convince Commodore James Norrington and the Royal Navy to pursue the culprits immediately (despite the Commodore's own feelings towards Elizabeth). While the Commodore puts his faith in strategy, Will takes up an offer by Jack Sparrow to rescue Elizabeth in exchange for breaking him out of jail. After absconding with the Royal Navy's fastest ship and assembling a crew to man it on the lawless island of Tortuga (Spanish for turtle), Jack and Will set off to find Barbossa and the Black Pearl, which is heading towards Isla de Muerta — a mysterious island that's supposedly undiscoverable, save for "those who already know where it is."

File:Carib5.JPG
The Black Pearl attacks Port Royal.

Here, we learn the true story and intentions of Barbossa and his crew. The ship and its crew were once under the command of Jack Sparrow until they mutinied a decade ago, stealing the bearings for Isla de Muerta from him, and then marooning him with a pistol containing only one shot. The island contained a cursed Aztec treasure that the crew of the Black Pearl discovered — but believing the curse to be a myth, they took the Aztec treasure for themselves. Shocked by this action, Will's father, "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, the only pirate who protested against the mutiny, sent one of the cursed gold pieces away to his son in order to ensure a fitting punishment for the crew's betrayal. In retaliation, Barbossa ordered Bootstrap to be tied to a cannon and thrown overboard. Too late, the crew discovered that the curse was indeed real; in order to break it, they were required to return all the pieces of the treasure to its chest and give a blood sacrifice from everyone who removed them. As part of the curse, the crew's gluttony, greed, and lust for worldly possessions can never be satisfied, and they became undead, forced to never die or rest in their covetousness (moonlight reveals this fact, showing the pirates in its glare to be living, rotting skeletons). After a decade, they have succeeded in fulfilling almost all of the requirements to end the curse — save for obtaining the blood of Bootstrap Bill and the gold piece he stole. With the medallion (in reality, the last piece of the treasure) and Elizabeth "Turner" (who they believe is the child of Bootstrap) in their custody, Barbossa believes he finally has what he needs to lift the curse.

Jack and Will confront Barbossa and his crew at the same time the crew learns that Elizabeth is indeed not the child of Bootstrap Bill. Will, however, had overheard Jack's plan to trade him for the Black Pearl; following his own plan, he knocks Jack out and gets them both captured in a failed attempt to rescue Elizabeth, while revealing himself to the Black Pearl's crew as the true son of Bootstrap Bill. Elizabeth and Jack are stranded on the same island on which Jack was stranded a decade ago, while Will is taken back to be killed to complete the requirements to end the curse. Elizabeth burns all their supplies, as well as some of the small island's palm trees, to create a signal fire to alert Norrington of her location. Elizabeth and Jack are eventually rescued by Norrington, but Elizabeth is unable to convince him to go back and rescue Will until Elizabeth promises to marry him.

File:Pirates4.JPG
Will breaks the curse.

Upon arriving at the cursed island, Jack convinces Norrington's forces to lie in ambush for Barbossa's crew while he goes in and convinces them to come out. He convinces Barbossa to delay spilling Will's blood to break the curse until after they have killed the crew of the Royal Navy ship Dauntless and taken the ship. This proves to all be part of Jack's plan; however, he was not expecting the undead crew to walk along the ocean floor to the ship, which allows them to escape the planned ambush. As the Black Pearl crew engages the Royal Navy in hand-to-hand combat aboard the Dauntless, Jack steals one of the cursed coins, unseen by Barbossa, and engages in his own swordfight with his former first mate. Because of the coin he stole, Jack now has a share of the loot, so he too is cursed and thus can't be killed until the curse is lifted. Moreover, in order for the curse to be lifted, his blood must now also be given. During their fight, he distracts Barbossa long enough until both he and Will can give their blood and return their respective coins (Will has the medallion from the start of the film, Jack the coin he recently stole). As the curse ends and all the Black Pearl crew becomes mortal once again, Jack shoots Barbossa in the chest with his pistol, containing the one shot he was given when marooned after Barbossa's mutiny. The bullet lodges in Barbossa's heart, and he falls to the ground, dead. Once they realize they're no longer cursed — and no longer immortal — Barbossa's crew surrenders to the Royal Navy.

Back at Port Royal, Norrington is forced to hang Jack as per law, but Will, who believes him decent enough a person to not deserve death, rescues Jack. Elizabeth, inspired by Will's sudden defiance, as well as his confession of love towards her, rejects marriage to Norrington and declares her feelings for Will instead. Norrington agrees to release her from her promise and Will is pardoned for his criminal act; meanwhile, Jack escapes and awkwardly falls into the ocean, to be rescued by the crew he assembled to help him earlier and who now man the Black Pearl. As the movie ends, Norrington watches as Jack sets sail for unknown adventure, impressed by the pirate enough to allow him one day's head start before setting out in pursuit.

Script

Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (Shrek, The Mask of Zorro), among others, wrote a script noted for its witty lines and challenge-response jokes. Some examples:

Elizabeth: "Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal."
Barbossa: "There be a lot of long words in there, Miss. We're naught but humble pirates. What is it that you want?"
Elizabeth: "I want you to leave and never come back."
Barbossa: "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request."
Elizabeth: "..."
Barbossa: "Means 'no'."
Norrington: "You are without doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of."
Jack: "But you have heard of me."
Murtogg: "What's your name?"
Jack: "Smith! Or, Smithy, if you like."
Mullroy: "What's your purpose in Port Royal, Mr. Smith?"
Murtogg: "Yeah! And no lies!"
Jack: "Why, then. I confess. It is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer my weaselly black guts out."
Murtogg: (astounded) "I said no lies!"
Mullroy: (whispered to Murtogg) "I think he's telling the truth."
Murtogg: "If he was telling the truth, he wouldn't have told us."
Jack: "Unless of course he knew you wouldn't believe the truth, even if he told it to you."
(Murtogg gives a nod and smile of agreement, then realizing what Jack meant, quickly frowns)
Barbossa: "Ye'd best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. Ye're in one!"
Pintel: "Ello, poppet."

Cast

Trivia

  • For the scenes in which Johnny Depp steers the vessel, the real captain of the Lady Washington was just off screen giving him visual directions.
  • There were no "props" aboard the Interceptor—everything that is seen works and has a reason to be there.
  • The steering wheel fell apart several times during shooting. Normally, the Lady Washington is steered by a tiller; for the movie, a prop wheel was attached to that tiller to ensure that the wheel was a "working prop." Flooring was built around the tiller to conceal it.
  • The film has often been accused of possessing a rather glaring plot hole: the "death" of "Bootstrap Bill" Turner. Presuming Turner was cursed along with the rest of the crew of the Black Pearl, he could not have been killed when he was tossed into the ocean strapped to a cannon. However, never in the movie do they say that Bootstrap was killed, or even imply it. They merely say that he disappeared into the deep of the ocean; it is entirely possible that, during the events of the movie, he's still alive on the bottom of the ocean. However, once the curse was lifted and all accursed pirates reverted to human form, Turner—if still anchored to the cannon—would have drowned, or been crushed by the intense pressure at great depths, unless of course he somehow managed to reach the shore before the curse had been lifted. In the sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Bootstrap Bill plays a role in the film and does indeed survive, delivering Jack Sparrow a message and working for Davy Jones, who presumably "rescued" and enslaved him.
  • Johnny Depp's performance in this movie was ranked the 79th greatest of all time in an article by Premiere magazine in 2006.
  • In interviews, Johnny Depp stated that he had based his persona for Captain Sparrow upon legendary guitarist Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, with some influence from cartoon character Pepé Le Pew. (Richards was signed on to play Sparrow's father in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, but could not take part due to scheduling conflicts.)
  • There is an easter egg on the 2nd disc of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Access the 'Moonlight Serenade' Scene Progression menu and keep pressing down until the tooth on the skull is highlighted and hit select.
  • Professional wrestler Kurt Angle auditioned for the role of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Sequels

Awards

All awards are from 2004, unless otherwise noted.

Academy Awards

Art Directors Guild

  • Nominee, Excellence in Production Design Award, Feature Film - Period or Fantasy Film, Brian Morris

ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

BAFTA Awards

Golden Globes

  • Nominee, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Johnny Depp

The Eddies, American Cinema Editors, USA

Saturn Awards, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA

Screen Actors Guild Awards

  • Nominee, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, Johnny Depp

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ "m-w.com". Definition of parley. Retrieved 26 March. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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