Yellowbeard

Yellowbeard
 
Outside of Monty Python, life was never kind to Graham Chapman. Whereas the other five had their own phenomenal successes, (John Cleese-Fawlty Towers, A Fish Called Wanda. Terry Gilliam-Brazil, Time Bandits. Eric Idle-Spamalot. Terry Jones-Personal Services. Michael Palin-Travelogue Adventures). Chapman never gained the success he did in things like Monty Python's The Life of Brian. Yellowbeard was almost his success, but it just wasn't to be.
 
Yellowbeard follows the story of the pirate of the same name, played by Graham Chapman. Betrayed by his first mate Moon (Peter Boyle) and imprisoned for tax evasion, he is told his sentence has been increased by 150 years unless he reveals the whereabouts of his hidden treasure. Escaping he finds out from one of his previous strumpets (Madeline Khan) that he possibly has a son (Martin Hewitt) who she has tattooed on the head with the map to Yellowbeard's treasure. Taking his son along for the ride with Moon and his henchman Gilbert (Marty Feldman) on his tail, as well as the British navy led by Eric Idle, Yellowbeard seeks out to find his treasure.
 
As a loyal Python fan, I loved this film, but the more I watch it, the more I wonder why that was?? Was it that I genuinely found it funny? Or was it because I was a loyal Python fan who could sit through an awful film like Casper based solely on the fact that Eric Idle was in it? It's probably a bit of both.
 
Yellowbeard feels like a film with far too much going on. In fact, it feels like Chapman has tried to pull strands from various comedy styles: Python represented by Chapman, Cleese and Idle, American with Cheech and Chong, Peter Boyle and Madeline Kahn, the Alternative UK comedy represented by The Young Ones' Nigel Planer and the classic British comedy of Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan and Peter Cook. And though these are nice, they all feel underdeveloped and so a bit hit and miss. Cook, who was once voted the greatest ever comedian is an embarrassment as Lord Lambourn staggering around, muttering incoherently and rather than being funny it's just sad to watch. Similarly, Cheech and Chong seem to have just walked in from a completely different film and I forget if Chong actually speaks with a lisp, but if he doesn't, this acting ploy didn't make his performance any funnier.
 
However, when the jokes hit their mark, they are as good as anything Python ever did. Chapman's performance is wonderfully over the top and some of the cameos (particularly Spike Milligan and John Cleese) are just great. Technically the film can't be faulted as costumes, sets, music are all perfectly suited to the swashbuckling genre and even as a spoof of all pirate movies it still hits home with some great authenticity. It's just a shame that a perfect script couldn't have been attached to it.
 
Yellowbeard is a good film for Python fans, but others may want to find another map to locate their comedy treasure.