Real pirates of the Caribbean - what were they like? Why you need to watch the new “Pirates of the Caribbean”: we explain with gifs.

On May 25, the premiere of the long-awaited film “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” took place.

What surprises does the fifth part of the famous movie saga have in store for us? And what happened to the actors during filming? We reveal the main secrets of the premiere (no spoilers).

1. Filming took place in Australia, in the state of Queensland.

Long-suffering film crew, who is already accustomed to all sorts of natural disasters, did not escape them this time either. So, during filming, a powerful cyclone Marcia swept over the coast of Queensled, which brought heavy rainfall. And one day, because of a series of natural phenomena the actors had to swim to the island where filming was to take place.

2. For filming, a grandiose set was created that imitated the city of Saint-Martin.

She occupied 5 acres of land in the small town of Maudsland. Almost all the houses had only facades, but Grimes' Tavern and Swift's Navigation House were built entirely.

3. We will meet again the characters of Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom.

Previously, Knightley said that she would no longer star in the sequels to “Pirates,” but she was persuaded.

As for Bloom, the last time we saw his character Will Turner was exactly 10 years ago in the third part of the franchise - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Then Will received a fatal wound to the heart and became the captain of the ghost ship "Flying Dutchman". According to the spell, he can now go ashore once a decade. And now exactly 10 years later, Orlando Bloom and his hero will appear on the screen again!

4. Penelope Cruz will not be in the new part of the franchise.

Last time we saw her heroine Angelica in the fourth part of the franchise: “Pirates of the Caribbean: On strange tides" Jack Sparrow's lover appeared in the most last scene, already after the credits, holding a voodoo doll in her hands and smiling mysteriously, apparently planning something. Unfortunately, in this part of the saga the intrigue will not be revealed, and Angelica’s plan will remain unknown.

5. Penelope Cruz “passed the baton” to her husband Javier Bardem, who debuted as the nightmarish Captain Salazar, Jack Sparrow's nemesis.

One of the film's directors said:

“We asked him (Javier) to star in the film, and the first thing he did was ask his wife if she liked filming with us. She replied: “It was wonderful, you have to agree.” She gave her blessing and we got him for the film! If she had answered that she didn’t like filming, he would have refused.”

6. New characters will be at the center of events.

This is Will Turner's grown-up son Henry (played by Australian Brenton Thwaites) and his companion Karina Smith (Kaya Scodelario). Henry and Karina will go together in search of Poseidon's trident. Henry is sure that this magic item will help free his father.

By the way, actor Brenton Thwaites has been a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie saga since childhood, so he couldn’t believe his luck when he was cast in the role.

25-year-old Briton Kaya Scodelario, who played the role of Karina, was also very pleased with the filming:

"Every day was a lesson acting. It's like being in the best drama school, and also located on the beach!”

7. Another new character will appear in the film.

This is a mysterious sea witch named Shansa, played by Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani. 42 people worked on her costume, working 15 hours a day for a week.

8. In the fifth part of the film saga you will see the legendary Paul McCartney, but you won’t recognize him!

Johnny Depp personally corresponded with the musician, persuading him to take part in the filming. In the end, McCartney agreed to cameo role a pirate, but he was made up so that Sir Paul is simply impossible to recognize!

9. Johnny Depp broke his arm while filming the film.

But this did not happen as a result of performing a dangerous stunt, as one might think, but because of a quarrel between Depp and his then-wife Amber Heard. During a telephone conversation with his wife, the heated actor hit the wall with his hand. The injury was so serious that the directors had to send the temperamental Johnny to America for treatment and postpone filming, which affected the film's budget.

10. There are only three actors who starred in all 5 parts of the franchise.

These are Johnny Depp, Kevin McNally and Geoffrey Rush.

11. The makeup team created more than 1,000 wigs for the film.

At times, stylists had to style over 700 people's hair a day.

12. Every day, Javier Bardem spent more than two hours applying complex makeup, and Golshifteh Farahani spent more than 4 hours a day on “beauty”!

13. Karina Smith's diary plays an important role in the film.

88 versions of it were created, and only one of them was to the taste of the directors. To visually age the diary pages, they were dipped in coffee.

Pirate films flourished in Hollywood throughout the first half of the 20th century. However, in the second half of the 1950s, this genre in the United States faded away and actually died. All serious attempts to revive him have turned out to be costly fiascos. Until finally, in 2003, the Walt Disney studio released a blockbuster, which became an international hit and the beginning of a popular film cycle. This exciting film was called “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.”

Pirates occupy interesting place in European culture. On the one hand, these are obvious criminals. No one would want to sail on a ship that was attacked by sea bandits. On the other hand, during the heyday of piracy in America, pirates were often “privateers” - legal sea ​​robbers, who, under the auspices of Britain and other European states, plundered Spanish ships and colonies. Thus, for Britain, pirates were both villains and heroes, and among the English pirates there were both those who ended their lives on the gallows and those who were fully legalized and gained official honor and respect. At the same time, pirates were also a symbol of sea freedom - that complete freedom that many migrants were looking for in the New World. It's hard to find more controversial real-life characters!

In the 19th century, pirates, long disappeared from European and American everyday life, were even more romanticized than before, and such successful books as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and the novels of Rafael Sabatini made pirates more popular literary heroes. Cinema was not slow to take advantage of this, and the first films about pirates began to appear in early era silent cinema. The genre's heyday came from the 1930s to the 1950s, when, for example, Australian-Hollywood actor Errol Flynn was primarily known for playing the roles of noble and romantic pirates.

It seemed that nothing would stop pirates from sharing the laurels of their adored characters with the heroes of westerns. But in the 1960s, Hollywood switched from historical narratives to stories about modern America, and pirate movies died quickly - much faster than Westerns, which were more firmly integrated into American culture. Both genres have become stale, and their reliance on story has left them lacking the innovation to appeal to a new generation of viewers. From romantic robbers, pirates have turned into an old-fashioned joke.

Later, when Hollywood became less politicized and more entertaining in the 1980s, attempts were made to revive pirate films more than once. Thus, in 1986, Roman Polanski directed the $40 million blockbuster “Pirates,” and in 1995, Renny Harlin released the $98 million “Cutthroat Island.” These films, however, turned out to be artistically weak, and their distribution was simply disastrous. There were other similar fiascoes, and each of them convinced the major studios that only a madman would get involved with pirated movies. Or someone who is not afraid of losing money.

This, however, did not stop screenwriters who loved pirate films, wanted to revive the genre and came up with their own ways out of the situation. In 1992, Aladdin co-writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio proposed to Walt Disney Studios to make a pirate film that would be both an adventure film and a mystical story. The idea was based on a Disneyland attraction called Pirates of the Caribbean, where visitors were greeted at the start of the show by a talking skull and where "underground caves" were filled with animated skeletons of pirates. "Pirates" was the last part of Disneyland created with the personal participation of Walt Disney. Note that the 1929 short “Skeleton Dance” was Disney’s first musical cartoon, so the comical macabre was “native” for the studio.

Elliott and Rossio believed that audiences would be interested in an unpredictable pirate movie, in which supernatural events would provide an additional degree of plot freedom. For example, a traditional treasure for the genre can be made into a cursed Indian treasure that does something terrible and amazing to those who try to steal it. For example, it will turn pirates into living skeletons. The cursed gold was part of Pirates, and the writers wanted to develop this theme.

Then the Disney bosses refused to co-authors. “To film the attraction?! You're crazy! - they told the writers. But years passed, and in the early 2000s the studio decided that the attraction (or rather, based on its general concept and visual ideas) was really worth making a movie. Not to make a lot of money, but to cement the Pirates of the Caribbean brand in the movie and prevent anyone else from taking advantage of it. Spend huge sums Then no one was going to do it, and even the option of releasing a video film was being explored.

Once Disney executives figured out what kind of story they wanted to tell, they brought in writer-producer Jay Wolpert, who wrote the 2002 Hollywood adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. Then we were talking about an ordinary, traditional pirate movie, which it was decided to shoot in the spirit of a “buddy movie” (that is, a comedy thriller about forced cooperating partners).

The script, which Wolpert wrote, was about a prison guard in love with the governor's daughter. When the famous pirate captain kidnapped a girl and demanded a ransom, the jailer released the villain's former comrade-in-arms to help find the pirates and save the beauty. Further events developed along the lines of such films as the 1982 thriller 48 Hours, where a policeman temporarily pulled a criminal out of prison to help him find the killer. Let us remember that this picture made Eddie Murphy a movie star.

Why was the pirate made the second main character, and not the first? Because main character in this kind of Hollywood storytelling, it's usually the virtuous bore who serves as the film's moral compass. On the contrary, the second main character does as he pleases and says whatever comes into his head. Let’s remember the duet from the same “48 Hours” or from “Rush Hour”. And since no one needs a boring pirate, the hero-pirate was assigned a second main role, in which he could show all his pirate habits and be as colorful and cynical as studio censorship and script imagination allowed.

After Wolpert, the Australian Stuart Beattie, the future screenwriter of Collateral and G.I., had a hand in the script. Joe: Rise of Cobra." Beatty was considered an expert on the pirate theme in Hollywood, although he had no screenplays about pirates. Among other things, Beatty came up with the idea of ​​naming the main characters after birds - the pirate Jack Sparrow, the governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann (swan means "swan") and the guard Will Turner (the surname comes from the French etourneau, "starling").

It was assumed that Sparrow would be played by Matthew McConaughey, who, on the set of the 2002 science fiction film “The Reign of Fire,” established himself as a capricious, patient and hardworking star, perfect for filming technically complex films. “Power” had not yet been released, but there were already rumors about working with McConaughey that were pleasant for the actor. However, other options were also explored, depending on the budget that the studio was willing to allocate. One of the candidates was Hugh Jackman, and it is said that it was in his honor that the pirate was named Jack.

When the studio began to lean towards the idea that the film was worth making not only for copyright reasons and that it was worth investing heavily in the expectation of impressive box office receipts, Disney asked for the help of a blockbuster expert - producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who had already produced such hits as like Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, The Rock, Armageddon and others. Bruckheimer knew a lot about masculine stories, but he also knew how pirate blockbusters consistently failed. Therefore, the producer refused to work on the film.

Luckily for the project, Disney had an ace up their sleeve. Remembering Elliott and Rossio's long-standing "pirate" script proposal, the studio turned to co-writers who had worked on The Mask of Zorro and Shrek since Aladdin, and invited them to submit their ideas for improving Wolpert and Beatty's script. Elliot and Rossio figured out how to incorporate an ancient curse and skeleton pirates into the script. What they proposed impressed both Disney and Bruckheimer, who continued to monitor the project. Supernatural events made it possible to make the picture more spectacular than previous, “realistic” pirate productions, and to distinguish it from other attempts to revive the genre. So Bruckheimer decided to try to succeed where his colleagues had failed.

The producer, however, had one condition. He wanted Jack Sparrow to be played not by the “obvious” McConaughey for such a role, but by someone whom the public does not imagine in such a movie and whose participation would intrigue viewers and journalists. Bruckheimer clearly understood that if the genre of a film is more of a commercial disadvantage than a commercial advantage, then it is necessary to lure the audience with unexpected casting.

Disney had an answer to this request as well. A year earlier, the eccentric and talented handsome Johnny Depp, the hero of Tim Burton's films and other famous films, often arthouse ones, asked the studio if it had a cartoon script that he could voice. Depp was then a young father (his daughter Lily-Rose Melody Depp was born in 1999), and he wanted to give his daughter a gift - a feature film disney cartoon with a father's voice. Disney didn’t have anything suitable in mind, but contact was established with the actor, and when Bruckheimer set his condition, Disney asked Depp if he wanted to play a pirate in a teen blockbuster.

Depp wanted it. I really wanted to. This was no longer for his daughter - it was for himself. He loved the old pirate movies so much that he agreed to act as soon as he heard that he could play a pirate and wave a sword. He didn't even read the script! However, when Depp read the script, his determination only strengthened, because he realized that he was being offered a multifaceted role in which he could really have a blast. While the main character, although he turned from a security guard into a blacksmith as the script was reworked, he remained a bore.

Jack Sparrow was originally conceived as a colorful pirate, but Depp squared his eccentricity, if not cubed it. The actor reasoned that during the pirate era in the Caribbean, famous pirates behaved much like modern rock stars, and he based his interpretation on Keith Richards' character from Rolling bands Stones. Richards later played Jack's father in the second sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Jack turned out to be so unique that Disney bosses were shocked by what they saw during rehearsals. “Is he gay or always drunk?” – the producers asked indignantly about the character. Depp, however, insisted on his vision, and Bruckheimer supported him. Depp was invited to make the film unusual and intriguing, and Jack turned out to be a fascinating character. Besides, he didn't have to be "normal" since that was Will's job.

Meanwhile, the film acquired a director. The director of “Pirates of the Caribbean” was Gore Verbinski, whom Bruckheimer looked closely at even when he was shooting video clips and commercials. The producer liked Verbinski's visual ideas. Then Bruckheimer did not find a suitable project for the aspiring director, but he was able to come to an agreement with him when Verbinski completed filming the horror film “The Ring,” a remake of the Japanese film of the same name. Like Depp, the director was a big fan of old pirate movies, and after The Ring, he also knew a lot about supernatural stories. Therefore, he was fascinated by the opportunity to make a mystical pirate movie and use all the power of the latest special effects in it.

Verbinski cast Australian Geoffrey Rush, an Oscar winner for the 1996 biopic Glitter, to play the film's main villain, pirate captain Hector Barbossa, who kidnaps Elizabeth in the hopes that she will help break the treasure curse placed on Barbossa and his crew. The director felt that this was a role for not only charismatic, but also talented performer, which will make Barbossa a controversial and interesting villain.

Rush did not come to the project empty-handed. He brought with him the actor who plays Will Turner. Rush was simultaneously filming the Australian historical film “The Kelly Gang,” and he offered to read the “Pirates” script to his on-screen partner Orlando Bloom, who became famous as Legolas in “The Lord of the Rings.” The Englishman was not happy that all his Pirates colleagues had brighter images than him, but he consoled himself with the fact that he was playing the actual protagonist.

Bloom's compatriot Keira Knightley received the role of the governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann thanks to casting. Haven't seen Verbinski English painting"Bend It Like Beckham" made Knightley a star in his home country, but he still saw in the 17-year-old a superb modern heroine - both attractive and athletic. Unlike traditional pirate movie heroines, Elizabeth was not a helpless damsel in distress, and the film needed a beauty who would look convincing in both a dress and a gun.

The film also stars the Englishmen Jack Davenport and Kevin McNally, the Welsh actor Jonathan Price and the future “ethnic” science fiction film star Zoe Saldana, a US native with Latin American and Lebanese roots. They played, respectively, the British naval officer and official fiancé of the heroine James Norrington, Jack Sparrow's first mate Joshamee Gibbs, Governor Weatherby Swann (Elizabeth's father) and the pirate Anamaria. Unlike her colleagues, Saldana refused to appear in the sequels of the film because she did not like how she was treated on the set of “Pirates.”

The actors of the film did not just follow the director’s instructions. They actively participated in developing their characters and coming up with their own lines and jokes. Rush was especially zealous, enjoying unquestioned authority and proving more than once that he could reduce an unnecessarily long script line to one expressive gesture or eyebrow movement.

While the Pirates crew was preparing for filming, in July 2002, the children's musical film Country Bears, based on a Disneyland park attraction called Country Bear Jamboree, was released and completely failed. This put Pirates in jeopardy, as Disney's top brass doubted they would spend the $140 million allocated for the film. However, they were impressed by the design work Verbinski already had, and Bruckheimer convinced Disney that the studio had to spend heavily to keep up with the competition. In any case, comparing "Bears" with "Pirates" was incorrect, since they were completely different films for different audiences.

Although "Pirates" was a fantasy with little connection to actual historical events, the filmmakers consulted experts on the history of piracy, navigation and the Caribbean to give the film a touch of verisimilitude. However, as usual in such cases, a significant part of the consultations consisted of experts explaining why what is described and shown in the film is completely impossible.

Among the film's consultants were experts on classic pirate films. In particular, the legendary Bob Anderson, a British fencer who represented his country at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, participated in the training of those actors who were to fence in the frame. Anderson then became a prominent Hollywood fencing coach and stage director. At the beginning of his career, he trained the master of the pirate genre Errol Flynn, and later worked on Star Wars, Highlander, The Princess Bride, The Lord of the Rings and many other films.

Filming for “Pirates” began in October 2002 and ended in March 2003. Studio filming took place at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, where, among other things, a giant underground cave set containing pirate treasure was built. By the way, as consultants explained to the filmmakers, in reality there were no such storage facilities - the pirates quickly spent everything they managed to loot, since their lives were too short and dangerous to save for retirement. So pirate treasures are just idle myths. But myths are myths, and the “bank” cave was needed according to the scenario, and 100 builders worked on it for five months. For another three weeks, the scenery was filled with imitations of treasures, among which was a million “Spanish doubloons.” The decorators had to contract a company that specialized in producing imitations of ancient coins.

Early location shooting of the film took place on the California coast, where the producers managed to find places from where signs were not visible modern civilization like high-rise buildings and power lines. The scenery of the Port Royal fortress was built there ( largest city Caribbean Islands during the heyday of piracy) and the palace of Governor Swann.

When, during preparation for filming, the creators of the film thought about where they would film the Caribbean tropics, they looked first at California, and then at Australia and Thailand. However, in the end they decided that the Caribbean should be filmed in the Caribbean, since each tropical region has its own unique appearance and the imitation will be visible to the audience who happened to travel. So, after closely studying about 20 Caribbean islands, the group chose the island of St. Vincent, part of the state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Historically, this is a banana land, not a tourist one, and the producers found enough coastal space to build sets of the ancient piers and towns of Port Royal and Tortuga (Tortuga Island was the unofficial pirate capital of the Caribbean islands).

Filming of sea scenes took place off the coast of St. Vincent and off the coast of California. Basically, three ships took part in them. According to the scenario, this is the pirate galleon "Black Pearl" (Jack Sparrow's former ship and Barbossa's current ship), the powerful British warship "Dauntless" and the high-speed clipper "Interceptor", which the heroes steal to go on the trail of the pirates who kidnapped Elizabeth. The Black Pearl and the Undaunted were ship sets built on modern barges. They were moved using tugboats, which were then cut out of the frame using computer graphics. The same technology was used to turn floating sets into full-fledged vessels.

The Interceptor was a slightly modified real-life sailing ship, the Lady Washington, for the filmmakers' needs - a copy of the first American ship that reached the northwest coast of what is now the United States, and then reached Hawaii, Hong Kong and Japan. Lady Washington serves as an open-air museum and is based in Washington State. The brig arrived in the Caribbean under its own power with an intermediate stop for repairs in Colombia (the ship was damaged by strong storm). Navigating such a ship requires special training and skill, so the crew of the Lady Washington starred in Pirates as extras. Since there were women on the ship’s crew, and they were not supposed to be on the screen, the “sea wolves” had to disguise themselves as men and wear fake beards and mustaches.

In general, a lot of attention was paid to the makeup and costumes of the pirates. Verbinski deliberately abandoned pirates with eye patches and hooks instead of hands, since this cliche of pirate cinema had long ago become comical and “childish”. The costume designers were inspired by real-life outfits that pirates might wear, and the makeup artists were responsible for making the pirates look like they had never brushed their teeth or washed themselves. The director wanted the characters in the film to have an air of “rebellion” against social norms. Depp put four crowns made of precious metals on his teeth to emphasize his character's former high status in the pirate hierarchy. All the leading actors, except Orlando Bloom, wore wigs typical of European fashion of the pirate era. The weapons they carried were partly fake and partly genuine, bought at auctions. So, Jack Sparrow's sword was a real weapon of the 18th century.

Contrary to Hollywood's current love of computer graphics, there was relatively little of it in Pirates. It was mainly used to remove signs from the screen modern world and visual addition to the scenery. The film's main CGI effect was the skeleton pirates. The ILM studio involved in creating the corresponding scenes completely scanned each of the actors who were to turn into a skeleton, and based on these scans created computer “skeletal” models, each of which was unique and recognizable. It was important for Verbinski that the pirates, after turning into skeletons, did not merge into a homogeneous crowd.

Filming fight scenes involving skeletons was particularly difficult, as the actors had to chop the air and do it the same way in every take so that editors and computer technicians could then assemble the scene from separately filmed and drawn components. Since filming wrapped just four months before its scheduled release, post-production was done almost around the clock, with Verbinski spending 18 hours a day in the studio.

For the same reason, 15 composers worked on the film. They were led by Germans working in Hollywood, Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt. Verbinski hoped to be able to work with his permanent employee Alan Silvestri, but Bruckheimer decided that the team of Zimmer and Badelt, with whom he had already collaborated, would cope faster and with a better result. Time was running out - the film had to be released during the summer blockbuster season.

The resulting movie became the first Disney release to be rated PG-13. The studio was hoping for a PG rating, but felt it was better to attract older audiences to the movie than to focus on the safety of the film for children and release a toothless " semolina porridge", which will attract only young children. To demonstrate their confidence in the project, Disney added the words “Curse of the Black Pearl” to the title “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Like, this is only the first episode of the planned cycle. Verbinski was unhappy with this decision, since the treasure in the film is cursed, not the pirate ship. Therefore, the director insisted that the additional title be printed on the posters in small, barely readable font.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released on July 9, 2003. The release was accompanied by a powerful advertising campaign, and many observers wondered how much the studio would lose on the "doomed pirate movie." However, "Pirates" exceeded all expectations. The film debuted in first place at the weekend box office and ultimately grossed $654 million against a budget of $140 million. This made it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2003 worldwide and the third highest-grossing film in the United States. Only The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Finding Nemo and The Matrix Reloaded showed the best results, while, for example, X-Men 2 and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines lost the race to Pirates.

Stories about the adventures of pirates captured the imagination of people in the 17th and 18th centuries. Even 300 years later, the stories of John Silver, Captain Hook and Jack Sparrow are still as popular as ever. But are these fictional characters really like real pirates?

Was the buried treasure actually marked with an "X" on the map, with a black flag with a skull and crossbones fluttering in the wind? Did Royal Navy officers and pirate leaders actually fight each other in mortal combat?

It turns out yes.

But in reality, the life of pirates was even more amazing than what you saw on the big screen.

I am a gentleman of luck and I will certainly catch it

Henry Avery was a sailor aboard a merchant ship and knew firsthand the hardships of life for ordinary sailors. The captains and owners of merchant ships treated the sailors very poorly. They were given meager rations, were deceived in the payment of their salaries, and were often fed spoiled food.

It couldn't go on like this. In 1694, Avery rallied other sailors around him, promising them freedom, wealth and glory. Having landed the captain and several of his supporters on a boat, the crew captured the ship and set out to sea under a pirate flag.

Soon they met a ship at sea belonging to the Indian emperor. On the ship the crew found a lot of gold, silver, jewelry and ivory. Avery caught his luck by the tail, and each member of his crew received at one time as much money as they would have received in 20 years of service on board a merchant ship.

Navies around the world were hunting for pirates, but Avery bribed the governor of the Bahamas, left him his ship and returned to Europe on a smaller ship.

Upon landing in Ireland, he said goodbye to the crew. Then his traces are lost in history, but there are many rumors and myths about his future fate.

The fate of pirates and the pirate flag

The authorities fought piracy in every possible way and spread news everywhere about the terrible fate that befell many pirates. The stories of the capture and execution of the pirates were full of grisly details. This was done specifically to intimidate people so that they would be discouraged from becoming pirates. It was also necessary to destroy the aura of romanticism that surrounded pirates. But some of these creepy stories were by no means exaggerated.

"Black Sam" Bellamy, for example, was rising star in the world of pirates of the "Golden Age". He called himself the "Robin Hood of the seas" and earned a reputation for invincibility. Already at the age of 26 he was the captain of his own ship and the most scary person, which terrified everyone who swam in the waters washing North and South America.

In 1717, Bellamy was caught in a storm near Cape Cod. His ship drifted towards the shore and, hitting a sandbank, it capsized and sank with all the treasures on board. About 160 people died, including the captain. The newspaper of those days claimed that God was punishing him for becoming a pirate.

There are still sad famous story about Jack Rackham. As a pirate, Jack was quite unsuccessful. He was captured easily enough in 1720 and hanged. But a different fate awaited his flag. It is this flag with the skull and crossbones, Jolly Roger, everyone still knows it as a symbol of piracy. The black flag with the attributes of death inspired horror, and many ships surrendered without a fight to the mercy of the pirates.

Female pirates

Rackham was also famous for having two women in his crew - Mary Read and Anne Bonny, the only known female pirates of that era.

Women on sailing ships of that time they could simply be passengers, but female sailors were extremely rare, since there was a belief that a woman on a ship was a sign of trouble.

Reed and Bonnie were also convicted of piracy and would, of course, be hanged. But knowing that pregnant women are not sent to the gallows, both women seduced the guards while they were in captivity and became pregnant, escaping the common fate of the crew.

Blackbeard

Edward Teach, nicknamed Blackbeard, was an English pirate who carried out robbery in the Caribbean in 1713-1718.

Blackbeard was not at all the most successful pirate, but he knew how to inspire terror with his menacing appearance alone. He wove wicks into his beard and during the battle he burst aboard the captured ship, literally in fire and smoke. At the sight of such a monster, many sailors gave up immediately.

Blackbeard died in a brutal duel with English naval lieutenant Robert Maynard.

There is a mystery surrounding the name of Blackbeard - his disappearance ship's log, where the captain recorded everything important events– names of robbed ships and information about captured treasures.

Who knows, maybe there was even a map in the magazine with an “X” marking it, indicating the place where the treasure was hidden.

But those who secretly took possession of the magazine are long dead, and dead men tell no tales.

Pirates have been a part of popular culture since they first occupied the seas and oceans in search of fortune, fame and fortune. In the 17th and 18th centuries, stories of pirate exploits and adventures fascinated people of all genders and classes. Even 300 years later, the exciting stories of pirates such as John Silver, Captain Hook and Jack Sparrow continue to attract more and more fans.

But which of these fictional adventures is based on historical data, and which is simply romantic speculation?

Were there really maps where treasures were hidden under the X sign, as well as black flags with a skull and crossbones, frightening all who dared to go to sea?

Were there real duels to the death between the captains of two warring ships?

It turns out that all this is actually true. With a small caveat. Real stories much more interesting and exciting than everything that was described in adventure novels and filmed.

Legendary pirate

If there was one man who could inspire others by example and set in motion the so-called golden age of piracy, it was Captain Henry Avery. He was something of a pop idol for the generation that became the golden age pirates. At the time when all these future pirates were teenagers, Avery was already a legend.

As a seaman aboard a merchant ship, Avery, like many other sailors, became increasingly disillusioned with the work, the conditions and the system as a whole. On board many of these merchant ships, the captains and owners had no regard for the sailors, especially the sailors. They were fed little and often served spoiled food, and they had to work tirelessly day after day.

In 1694, Avery refused to tolerate such treatment and organized a riot. He captured the ship under cover of darkness while Captain Charles Gibson slept in his cabin.

Rumors and myths

Avery and his crew sailed primarily in the Indian Ocean, using Madagascar as a base. During one of their voyages they came across a ship that belonged to the Indian emperor.

Accounts of what happened aboard the ship vary from source to source, but they all agree on one thing: Avery walked away from the battlefield a rich man. On the ship there was a lot of money, jewelry, gold, silver and ivory worth the equivalent of 200 million dollars. Avery was lucky. Each member of his crew received a share of the treasure, representing the amount due to the sailor for 20 years of work on board a merchant ship.

With the treasure, Avery sailed to the Bahamas, where he bribed the governor of Nassau, receiving a new ship bound for Europe. Landing on the shores of Ireland, he said goodbye to his crew and disappeared. Nothing more is known about him or his treasures.

Avery is one of the very few pirates who managed to get away with it and avoid punishment. For his followers, the pirates of the golden age, a happy old age was extremely rare. The authorities hunted them, sparing no time and money.

Golden Age of Piracy

The persecution of pirates usually ended in brutal executions, which the authorities tried to use as a means of intimidating future pirates. And there were many who wanted to become them.

The Golden Age is called that because there were many pirates in it, one more colorful than the other.

"Black Sam" Bellamy, for example, was a real star in the pirate world. He was nicknamed "The Robin Hood of the Sea." In 1715, at the age of 26, Black Sam became the captain of his own ship and one of America's most feared pirates. Having accumulated a fortune and earned a great reputation, he set out for Cape Cod in 1717, but on the way there the famous pirate luck abandoned Sam. The ship ran aground during a strong storm. Bellamy, his crew and his treasure went down.

Another famous pirate is Jack Rackham, nicknamed Calico Jack. As a pirate, Rackham was not particularly successful. He was captured and hanged in 1720, but his flag has survived the centuries and remains the pirate symbol we know today. This is a skull and crossbones, or Jolly Roger.

Female pirates

Rackham also distinguished himself with his crew, which included two of the most famous “pirates” of the Golden Age - Mary Read and Anne Bonny. At that time, women on the ship brought misfortune, and it was not easy to find representatives of the fairer sex among the sailors.

Of course, names such as Chin Shi in China and Granual or Grace O'Malley in Ireland are known throughout the world, but these women were not so much pirates as leaders and leaders of pirate bases.

Mary Read and Anne Bonny were accused of piracy and sentenced to death by hanging. Having learned that expectant mothers are exempt from death penalty, both pirates seduced their guards and became pregnant. Their arrest, trial and avoidance of execution were very big news in the London press, but none of the pirates could boast of such newspaper attention as Edward Teach, the most famous and feared of all the pirates of the golden age. This is a man who became famous under the nickname Blackbeard.

The fearsome pirate

The interesting thing is that if it occurred to anyone to make a list of the most successful and richest pirates of the golden age, Blackbeard would not even make it into the top ten. But he is by far the most famous pirate of all whose identities have been reliably confirmed. historical documents. And all because he deliberately cultivated the image of a frightening pirate, with whom it was best not to engage in battle.

Blackbeard ruled the seas through fear. He grew a long beard and wore expensive clothes aristocrats and forced his entire team to support the chosen image - savages in noble clothes.

During battles, Blackbeard attached wicks to his hat that burned and smoked, creating a demonic halo of sparks, fire and smoke. For the sailors of those unfortunate ships that came across Beard’s path, the captain was a truly terrifying sight. Most of them surrendered without a fight. And if it came to battle, then Blackbeard’s ship, like the two-meter captain himself, was armed to the teeth.

Deathmatch

Blackbeard's tactics were so successful that there is no single certificate intentional killings, torture and harm caused by a pirate. Everyone just gave in to him. And this continued until the final fatal battle with the British Royal Navy in 1718.

Young Lieutenant Robert Maynard led a detachment of sailors whose main goal was to find and neutralize the famous pirate, who had already acquired the status of a legend during his lifetime. Blackbeard and his crew besieged and boarded Maynard's ship. But the young lieutenant refused to give up, and a mortal battle ensued between him and the giant pirate. Maynard shot at Blackbeard, but the pirate continued to fight furiously. His machete was ready to cut the lieutenant in two when Maynard's soldiers attacked the pirate from all sides and inflicted several mortal wounds on him.

The Mystery of Blackbeard

Blackbeard's biggest mystery still remains: the location of his captain's log.

The journal was found by Maynard and was used as evidence in the trial against the captain and crew on charges of piracy. But after the meeting, the journal, along with all court documents and records, disappeared from the face of the earth. Many people have tried to find the lost records over the years, but to no avail. No one even knows what exactly Blackbeard's journal is hiding. Perhaps the same card with an X mark is hidden there, indicating pirate treasure. However, all those who held the magazine in their hands are already dead a long time ago, and the dead, as we know, do not tell tales.

How I love Pirates of the Caribbean! Great music, bright images, juicy pictures! Fights, chases, mysticism, intrigue... This franchise made me take a fresh look at Hollywood cinema, made me fall in love with myself and still doesn’t let go. Of the blockbuster series, my favorite is probably the X-Men. “The Curse of the Black Pearl was a great tale for all ages with lots of funny, scary and intense moments. “Dead Man's Chest” turned out to be incredibly eventful, dynamic and significantly expanded the universe. “At the End of the World,” although it came out a little chaotic, was a worthy conclusion to the trilogy. Well, five years later, everyone’s favorite heroes returned in the “On Stranger Tides” part.
The fifth film in the franchise is coming out in May, Dead Men Tell No Tales, which I’m looking forward to with great anticipation. But you already understood from the title that not everything is so simple. So, the top 11 annoying moments of Pirates of the Caribbean!

In I deliberately did not mention the time turner, I ignored the eagles. There will be no deduction from brackets here, because there are simply no such well-known plot holes in the plot. It's a pity.
11. Undead Monkey


The hilarious monkey named Jack is the clearest example of how you can create a character for comedic relief, but at the same time not annoying. In the post-credits scene of the first part, she steals a coin from a chest and turns into walking dead and makes a final jump scare into the camera. Of course, Verbinski and the company did not abandon such a funny hero and included him in subsequent films, and in the third part they also endowed him with incredible intelligence. But... in subsequent parts she repeatedly appears in the frame at night! By the light of the moon! And there is no trace of her “corpse-likeness”! That is, the creators initially neglected this detail. It seems like a small thing, but it really catches your eye!

10. Pintel and Ragetti became good

Another hello from the first part. Most of Barbossa's immortal team from The Curse of the Black Pearl were completely unmemorable thugs. But there was a pleasant exception. A charming couple, Pintel and Ragetti, who somehow reminded me of the robber duo from Home Alone. And in the sequel they decided not to abandon them and made them good. They even made fun of this moment a little, making one of them a devout person who reads the Bible. As often happens, bandits decide to take the right path and find their salvation in the holy books. But damn it, I couldn’t just forget the sins of the first part! At their first appearance, Pintel, without a twinge of conscience, shoots the innocent butler with the cynical phrase “It took a long time!” It is clear that a pirate is, in principle, a lawbreaker. But this scene is very jarring, especially when watching subsequent parts.

9. Davy Jones' Stash


In general, everything that happened with Davy Jones' Stash was just one drug trip. As is customary to write in such cases: “So many questions and so few answers.” Why, after being eaten by the Kraken, did “Pearl” and Jack end up intact somewhere incomprehensible? What kind of crabs are these? Why did he “swim” to the seashore with their help? Do other ships that the Kraken eats also end up in this “cache”? If yes, what size is it? And how did it happen that the pirates who came to the rescue immediately found Jack? Although, of course, this cannot be called a strong jamb. Because the answer to everything is: “It’s magic, shut up and watch!”

8. Stupid blackmail from Elizabeth that worked


One of the strangest scenes of the first part. When you first watch it, it doesn’t raise any questions at all, but it’s worth rewatching the film, and you’re already thinking: pirates, what’s wrong with you? So, Barbossa’s team finds the last coin of the cursed gold and, as it seems to them, Bill Bootstrap’s daughter (why they didn’t know that Bootstrap had a son and not a daughter is another conversation). And Elizabeth begins to dictate terms to the pirates. How did she do it? She began to threaten to throw the medallion overboard. But... But... But this is completely pointless! A little earlier, the pirates themselves say that gold attracts them, especially in the water! In fact, they found the coin when Elizabeth carelessly fell into the sea with it. And further footage showed that they were calmly walking along the seabed. So what stopped them from going down and calmly picking up the medallion? Moreover, in the blackmail scene they were standing in a bay, which means there would be absolutely no problems with this!

7. Physics went out to smoke and did not return


I don’t understand complaints in the spirit of “the fact that Sparrow’s wound moves from the left side of his face to the right one confuses you, but the fact that the living dead walk in the film does not.” Because any fairy tale, any fantasy initially sets some laws of the genre, some conventions. But at the same time, a number of things should not differ from her real world, otherwise there would be zero meaning in the fairy tale and you could do whatever you want. The only fairy tales that are initially set up to break any laws are "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass". And yes, I am not embarrassed by the living dead pirates, but I will be embarrassed by banal movie bloopers and just stupidity. And what really confuses me is the endless violations of the laws of physics in the franchise. As far as we are given to understand, Jack and Will are two ordinary people, like you and me. They weigh like ordinary adult men. SO HOW THE HELL DO THEY MANAGE TO WALK ON THE BOTTOM AND CARRY AN INVERTED BOAT LIKE A DIVING DOME?! This is completely unrealistic, if only they didn’t weigh 200 kg. And how does Jack in the second part, running away from the natives, manage to fall from a gigantic height (albeit with a slightly slow fall) and not break anything? How do the heroes in the third part manage to turn over an entire ship, even if they rock it back and forth? Yes, even the scene of meeting Jack has no physical meaning - he swims up to the pier on an almost sunken boat, which, having gone under the water, does not stop, but continues to move, as if it does not have a sail, but a motor.

6. Useless Calypso


The writers of the third part decided to surprise us with several unexpected moves. And one of them was that the scary sorceress Tia Dalma actually turned out to be locked by the mistress of the sea Calypso. And so Barbossa had a long argument with the pirate barons about whether she should be released or not. It seems like everyone decided not to do this, but Geoffrey Rush’s hero did his own thing and still released her. Hoping for some good things. And what did Calypso end up doing? Maybe she took revenge on Davy Jones? Or vice versa, it helped ex-lover? Took revenge on the pirates who captured her? Or did she help the pirates who freed her? What did she do? She stupidly turned into a whirlpool. And what? And for what? And why? She is such a powerful goddess! Was that all she could do? An absolutely pointless and ridiculous scene that was needed solely to show a cool battle scene in a crater.

5. Some kind of game with the Aztec curse


As we remember, the pirates in the first part stole the cursed Aztec gold and turned into the living dead. IN moonlight we saw their true essence - skeletons covered with decayed rags. They became immortal, but in return they lost the joy of food and feminine warmth. Their task was to collect all the lost coins and return them to their original place... And this whole curse raises many questions. Why didn’t the other coin bearers—Will, Elizabeth—become cursed? They don't count because they didn't want to get rich from them? But the monkey also hardly thought about buying bananas with these coins, then why did he become cursed? And why then were all the pirates cursed? Did they all steal these coins? Surely someone remained on duty on the ship while the others climbed into this cave.
Not fewer questions causes clothes of the dead. Here it was becoming decayed in the moonlight. And if they changed clothes, would the curse spread to the new clothes or would it remain on the old ones?
Well, the main question: the pirates clearly did not lead a peaceful lifestyle - even in pursuit of one coin, they slaughtered half a fort. And it’s scary to imagine how many people they put in collecting the previous ones. And was it really true that not a single limb was cut off from them? Watch the scene with Governor Swan and the severed hand. It turns out that half of the Caribbean must be in animated limbs!
And when Will lifted the curse, Barbossa immediately died from a bullet fired by Jack. Why then did the other pirates who fought with the soldiers not die from their wounds? And they were probably there, and not alone.

4. The Curse of Will Turner


The ending of the third part was very dramatic. It seems like everything ended with a happy ending: the bad guys were defeated, the good guys won, but... Everything is not so rosy. Will dies in Elizabeth's arms, but Jack saves him and makes him captain of the Flying Dutchman. This seems good, but the hero suffers a heavy curse: he can only go to land one day every ten years. “The main thing is what kind of day it will be,” Will says beautifully. And at the very end, we are first shown that he and Elizabeth are spending time in a film with a children's rating, and 10 years later the long-haired boy runs to meet the folder.
But no one put a curse on Elizabeth! Nothing prevents her, for example, from joining Jack on the ship, taking a ride to the Flying Dutchman and having mercy with her beloved Will before his polyps and tentacles grow! Of course, he is a busy man, but he can find an evening for his sweetheart! Even sea captains and their wives see each other more often than once every ten years!
Moreover, this entire ten-year curse is completely negated by one scene of negotiations on the island. On one side are Jack, Barbossa and Elizabeth. On the other - Lord Beckett, Will and... Davy Jones with their feet in a tub! So, trees and sticks, then put Will in a barrel and at least take him to the Gobi Desert! Or you can also make a bucket for each leg - and let him walk wherever he wants, the main thing is not to spill it! The negotiation scene is really interesting, but this Jones in a barrel completely deprives the curse of any meaning.

3. Pirate Baron Barbossa


The epic trilogy had to end epically. And one of brightest moments the third part is a massive congress of pirate barons from all over the world. At a large meeting there are barons from China, France, Turkey, Africa and other walking stereotypes. There is also Jack among them, which in itself is strange, given his “isolation” from the pirate fraternity, and - here’s a surprise! - Barbossa! This really really hurt my eyes the first time I watched it. I somehow didn’t pay much attention to the larger mistakes and inconsistencies that are lower in the rating. And this raises questions from the very first second. On what basis did Barbossa become a pirate baron? In the first part we were told in plain text: “He was a cook on Jack’s team and started a riot.” Kokom, Karl! Why on earth did the pirate baron go to work as a cook? You say: was this his plan to take possession of the high-speed “Pearl”? Let us suppose. But why didn’t Jack recognize him then?! After all, he should have crossed paths with him at least once, when all the pirate barons locked Calypso together! It’s immediately obvious: the creators of the third part didn’t even bother to review the first, saying the legendary bad comedy “SHAAAAVAYUT!”

2. Merged Kraken


The Kraken is one of the brightest monsters in world cinema in general. In the second part we were shown all its inevitability and indestructibility. Severed tentacles grow back, cannon shots are not taken, and if this beast rushes at you, then you can only hope that a devoted team will find you in Davy Jones' chest. And the creators did everything right: they didn’t show us the whole thing almost until the very end and built up suspense before his next attack. And what will happen to the Kraken in the third part? But it’s okay, he’ll be lying dead on the shore, and Pintel and Ragetti will be jumping all over him! At the same time, he was killed by Davy Jones himself on the orders of Beckett. All that remains is to ask: “Why, was it possible?” Moreover, we were not even shown the murder process itself, because it must have been very epic. But the most incomprehensible thing is why did Beckett need to kill the Kraken? Same most powerful weapon, which obeys Davy Jones, who obeys you! It's like voluntarily destroying a nuclear warhead. I somehow did not notice any nobility in Lord Beckett to deprive myself of such an advantage! The only explanation is that the writers stupidly didn’t know what to do next with the Kraken and how to get him out of the final battle.

As a bonus today, I'd like to mention an issue that doesn't apply specifically to this series, but has spread to other films. Namely, the image of Captain Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp was a perfect fit for this image in 2003. They say that many people auditioned for this role, including Jim Carrey, but Gore Verbinski managed to find someone who would play the extravagant hero, but within certain boundaries, and not like Jim Carrey. Unfortunately, because of this role, the previously versatile actor Johnny Depp began to play the same character over and over again: “Willy Wonka”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Lone Ranger”... And even in serious roles like Sweeney Todd had “sparrow” notes. Although it seems like the actor has been improving lately.

1. The entire film "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"

There are successful sequels - for example, Back to the Future 2 and 3. There are sequels that are even better than the original (Terminator 2). There are bad continuations. There are even terrible ones. But On Stranger Tides is even worse. He's just... no good. This is an empty, unattractive film that evokes ABSOLUTELY no emotions from watching it. After watching it, the only question left is: why is it needed? No, of course, to make money on the franchise, but still. The original trilogy came out with a brilliant, complete story, with amazing humor, great dialogue and phrases that have become popular among the people. Can you remember at least one phrase from the fourth part? The fourth part turned out to be absolutely useless and unnecessary. It doesn't develop the plot of the trilogy in any way, doesn't expand the universe in any way, and doesn't try to start new story. That is, it seems that in the post-credits scene we were shown Penelope Cruz with a Jack voodoo doll, but even during the first viewing it became obvious: there is no development of the story here and there will not be.
“On Stranger Tides” is memorable only because it constantly slips into quoting old phrases. There's not even new music here. Still the same theme of “He’s a pirate” and a couple more unattractive compositions.
Love line? God, she's pointless and pathetic. Will and Elizabeth annoyed me in the trilogy, but at least their relationship was interesting. There is also a missionary and a mermaid, who do not have even a billionth of charisma, committing senseless acts (why, for example, did the mermaid want to help the sailors who were hunting her sisters?).
The villain? Seriously, why on earth would I be afraid of some guy, even if he controls the ropes of his ship? In the previous parts I saw animated skeletons, the terrifying Kraken and the team of Davy Jones! That's who instilled real fear - a crowd of immortal monsters from depths of the sea! And here... well, just another pirate who doesn’t even hold a candle to Barbossa from the first part, let alone Davy Jones. It’s unclear why Jack was suddenly so afraid of him.
You remember that the post is called “top 11 most annoying moments”? And what irritates me most about the fourth part is that... there’s simply nothing to hate about it! As a separate story, it looks quite tolerable, although a little clichéd. But I don't see any reason to love her (well, except for Penelope Cruz's breasts heaving above her corset)! And I'm damn offended that such a great franchise contains such an empty film.

As I wrote above, in May we will see the fifth part of the adventures of Jack Sparrow... Sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow. Orlando Bloom will return to the franchise, they seem to promise a cameo by Keira Knightley... Well, the colorful Geoffrey Rush is in place. And although I look forward to it in my heart, I understand with my mind that I shouldn’t expect any discoveries from her. And the reason for this is the useless fourth part. However, we should not forget that no one will take away from us the three excellent first films. And thanks to Gore Verbinski and company for this! Do you dare?