Yellowbeard Movie Review

Long missing on DVD, Yellowbeard is that strangest of combinations: A Cheech and Chong movie melded with a Monty Python movie.

And not in a very good way.

Yellowbeard has some cult fans, probably owing the Graham Chapman's wild-eyed performance as a crazed old pirate who is allowed to escape from prison so he may be tracked en route to his stash of treasure. He discovers he has a son, a snooty naval officer of all things, but eventually they join forces and round up Yellowbeard's old crew to track down the booty.

What follows is a series of sight gags and typical low-grade humor, fairly in line with Cheech and Chong's oeuvre (sans the drugs) but far afield from the typical wit of the Pythons. Even the sex jokes -- which the Pythons were far from being above -- are crude and silly rather than unique and unusual.

Some of this may have to do with director Mel Damski. Yellowbeard was his first theatrical feature, and today 64 of his 67 credits are for TV work. Damski clearly goes for the easy humor time after time, but there's no laugh track to save him from dud after dud.

The film isn't without a small amount of charm, but it really is small, carried by supporting players who far outshine Chapman and even John Cleese, who reported termed this his worst film ever. I tend to agree with him, though it's by no means awful. It's just disappointing.