Yellowbeard (1983) ***

There's no way that I could hate a movie starring three Pythons (Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and John Cleese), four Young Frankenstein (1974) alumni (Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, and Kenneth Mars), Cheech & Chong, James Mason and an uncredited cameo by David Bowie*. 

1983's Yellowbeard is an inherently silly film and I understand why many people would get offended by the number of rape jokes. Without apologizing for those, I'll just point out that it is a pirate comedy after all (playing on all the associated stereotypes), and overall I laughed a lot. There's plenty of other (not politically incorrect) humor to enjoy, plus swashbuckling, and loads of fun nonsense. I realize this isn't a terribly great film, but I found it pretty dang funny.

The history behind the development and production of Yellowbeard is fascinating as well:

- According to star Peter Cook, "It all started when Keith Moon, Sam Peckinpah, Graham Chapman and myself were dining at Trader Vic's. Keith suggested doing a movie about pirates and we were all discussing it and being enthusiastic, when I saw Sam, who was too tired to actually go to the lavatory, relieving himself in the artificial palm tree by the table. It was then that I thought the whole thing was rather unlikely to get off the ground." [Ref] 

- The original concept for the film was funded by Moon, who wanted to play the lead role, but was dropped early on because of his deteriorating health. [Ref] 

- The actor set to play the romantic lead, Dan, changed from Adam Ant to Sting to Martin Hewitt (which I will acknowledge probably hurt the film, as either of the first two choices would have been better). 

- Bowie was on holiday in Mexico in late 1982 when he met with Chapman and Idle on a beach, agreeing to make a cameo appearance. [Ref]

- Chapman's friend Harry Nilsson created a preliminary soundtrack, including one song specifically for the film. This was not used because the producers felt he could not be relied on to finish it. [Ref]

- Feldman died of a heart attack while filming in Mexico City in December 1982. His work on the film was nearly finished except for the scene of his character's death, filmed a few days later using a stunt double. [Ref]

*Mr. Bowie was at the peak of his popularity and commercial success and incredibly busy the year that this film hit theaters—he released the biggest album of his career, Let's Dance (and its four music videos), and also starred in The Hunger (review) and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.