"Batten down the hatches, mates, it's gonna get ugly! Relatively speaking." -- Captain Jack Sparrow
The Starz original series Black Sails, an interesting prequel to Treasure Island, has really struck a chord with viewers. Pirate films have always been popular and perhaps a few more films are still to be made, but until that point we have a virtual treasure trove of films to satisfy us.
Movies
1.Captain Blood (1935). The film that made Errol Flynn Olivia de Havilland stars. A great story of a young doctor sold into slavery who escapes and become a feared pirate in the West Indies.
2.The Sea Hawk (1940). Another pairing of Errol Flynn and Director Michael Curtiz. This time with Flynn as an English privateer fighting the Spanish for Queen Elizabeth I.
3.The Black Swan (1942). Winner of two Academy Awards and staring Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara and Anthony Quinn. Piracy and espionage.
4.Treasure Island (1950) and Long John Silver (1954) A popular adaptation of Steven's novel. This version made Long John Silver a household name.
5.Yellowbeard (1983). Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame brings together a great cast in search of a great hidden treasure.
6.The Goonies (1985). A classic Richard Donner/Steven Spielberg adventure about a group of kids in 1985 Oregon searching for the fortune of a 17th Century pirate to save their homes from demolition.
7.The Princess Bride (1987). A Rob Reiner film adapted from the novel of William Goldman. This film is a cult hit and often is included in many top 100 movies of all time lists.
8.20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954). Adapted by the Jules Verne novel, it stars Kirk Douglas and James Mason and was made by Walt Disney.
9.The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (2003, 2006, 2007, 2011, and 2016). This multi-billion dollar franchise stars Johnny Depp, Orland Bloom, Keira Knightley and Geoffrey Rush.
10.Captain Phillips (2013). Starring Tom Hanks, this story took place in 2009, when an unarmed cargo ship is hijacked off the Horn of Africa hijacked by Somali pirates and ultimately rescued by the US Navy with the help of some Navy SEALs.
Honorable Mention
The Island (1980). This Michael Caine / David Warner thriller is a real gem about a reporter finding that pirates exist in the modern Caribbean.
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002). Alexander Dumas adaptation stars Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce and the late Richard Harris. A falsely imprisoned man uses a vast treasure to exact revenge.