This is it people, this is the countdown to the end of the year because there are only four Sundays left in total for the year and after today only 34 days left (side note: I realize that the blog is titled 365, but there is in fact 366 days this year). For today’s Sunday At The Classics film, I was in the mood for a pirate film so I chose to watch 1952’s Blackbeard, the Pirate. The always honest Robert Maynard (Tora! Tora! Tora!‘s Keith Andes) is on a mission to go undercover to capture Sir Edward Morgan (The 7TH Voyage Of Sinbad‘s Torin Thatcher) even though Morgan claims that he is reformed and no longer a pirate. So Maynard poses as a surgeon for the most infamous Pirate of them all in Edward Teach a.k.a Blackbeard (Oliver Twist‘s Robert Newton) in hopes he can prove that Morgan still dabbles in piracy. The film also stars Linda Darnell (The Mask Of Zorro) as Edwina Mansfield, William Bendix (Detective Story) as Ben Worley, Irene Ryan (The Beverly Hillbillies) as Alvina, a lady in waiting, Alan Mowbray (The King And I) as Noll, Richard Egan (The 300 Spartans) as Briggs, Skelton Knaggs (House Of Dracula) as Gilly, and the film was directed by Raoul Walsh (White Heat).
As far as this film goes, its actually not too bad of a film because it’s fun to watch especially if you want to imitate pirates like we did when we were children. Blackbeard was one of the most infamous pirates and the film definitely portrays him as someone that no one should trust even his own crew. We never really find out if Maynard gets his guy because there is just so much going on in the film that you have to assume that he doesn’t. One part that made no sense to me is one minute he is being tied up and beaten with a whip and having salt thrown on the wounds to being right by Blackbeard’s side all over again. It bounced back and forth like that way too many times, but there is some cool action to keep you interested. There is a battle scene between Morgan and Blackbeard’s ships that I really enjoyed and then there are the sword fights which were cool as well. The acting of course was superb by everyone in the film as they had some real heavyweights of the time in the film. The cinematography was pretty good as I loved the shots of the ships while at sea. The film is actually available to watch on Youtube if you want to view it. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.
One of my all time favorite actors from the 1980’s is definitely John Cusack who starred in many classics like One Crazy Summer, The Sure Thing, Tapeheads, Say Anything, and so many more. In 2000, he starred in the Stephen Frears (Philomena) film High Fidelity. In the film, he plays record store owner, compulsive list maker Rob Gordon, a man that could use a little growing up emotionally. One day, his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) leaves him and Rob can’t figure out for the life of him why it happens to him. So, he develops a top five list of break ups in his life and he gets to the bottom of them while trying to recuperate his own life along with his crazy employees. The film also stars Jack Black (Orange County) as Barry Judd, Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption) as Roy, Todd Louiso (Thank You For Smoking) as Dick, Lisa Bonet (The Cosby Show) as Marie, Catherine Zeta-Jones (The Mask Of Zorro) as Charlie, Joan Cusack (Say Anything) as Liz, Lili Taylor (The Conjuring) as Sarah, Joelle Carter (American Pie 2) as Penny, Natasha Gregson Wagner (Urban Legend) as Caroline Fortus, and Sara Gilbert (Roseanne) as Anna.
While this can be filed as a new age romantic comedy film for John Cusack, who was used to starring in those back in the 80’s, also manages to do one thing as well. That is it combines a love for music and vinyl which is right up my alley. This was one of those films that I had only seen bits and pieces of, but I am glad I saw this. If you know John Cusack films, then this is a pretty particular film for him because he is constantly breaking the fourth wall and talking to you which he has done plenty of times in the past. It’s that touch of the 80’s that they can’t seem to get rid of, but i like it because I like being talked to. The film sort of has it all from drama, romance, a little comedy courtesy of Jack Black, kick ass music, and the amazing Catherine Zeta-Jones. The film did at times attack pop culture as to say that it wasn’t music with heart or a soul which can be true some of the time. One thing that I found pretty cool is that there is a list online of all the top five lists from the film which you can check out 
365moviesin365dayschallenge 