Fight Clip Club: Pirates of the Caribbean

You seem somewhat familiar; have I threatened you before?

I first began teaching stage combat at the college level back in 2005, having been in the industry as performer and choreographer (and assistant teacher) for almost a decade before that. As such, when I began my syllabus-building, first creating this very Fight Clip Club assignment for the purpose, I used this fight scene as one of my examples of a good swashbuckling romp. I used it for instruction because it’s one of those that you can clearly see the fencing moves that the fighters are executing, even though there are a couple ‘wire-fu’ moments in the fight too – something that was super popular at the time, as was including parkour (which can be argued appears here too).

I had also only recently finished up and polished my novella called Crowns of Gold: a collection of longish short stories all about the adventures of a pirate lady and her adventures in a fictional Golden Age of Piracy Caribbean and Europe. I had written and worked on the book as one of my final projects for my MFA degree, which I was awarded in 2001, and so pirates were still still very much in the ol’ brain when this movie came out (and then later when I began teaching this art form to the next generation of actor-combatants). I had had my doubts when I heard they were making a blockbuster movie out of that one Disneyland ride, but boy did it explode into popularity (and multiple sequels). Which, hey. Pirates are cool. I remember seeing this one in the theatres and sneaking a little Myers’ Dark into my Coke as I enjoyed all the sweeping piratey action on the big screen.

This first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, however, remains the only one in the franchise I’ve seen. Should I continue my sea voyage and watch the others? Which ones are great, which skippable? Let me know in the comments, and meet me below the paywall to talk about some swashed buckles, yeah?

Fight Clip Club is the only series on Zuko’s Musings that is paywalled. To join the FCC, upgrade to paid, or drop me a line and ask for free entry. I promise I won’t charge you college tuition.