Johnny Depp smashes enduring cinematic mold of pirates

LOS ANGELES -- Pirate films are almost as old as movies themselves.

There was Douglas Fairbanks as "The Black Pirate" in 1926. Errol Flynn was "Captain Blood" in 1935. In 1952, Burt Lancaster became "The Crimson Pirate." Thirty years later, Kevin Kline was the Pirate King in 1983's "Pirates of Penzance."

Johnny Depp defines the pirate of the new millennium with Captain Jack Sparrow, his drunken, dreadlocked scamp at the center of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy. With his flamboyant style and campy charm, Depp's Jack Sparrow is a departure from the macho swashbucklers of yore, yet with the same good looks and rebellious edge that have long made pirate films so popular.

"He's so handsome," said "Pirates of the Caribbean" producer Jerry Bruckheimer. "Let's face it, he's a heartthrob, and the fact that he gave it this real character twist adds to the intrigue and the fun of the movie."

Past movie pirates were typically tough guys -- take-no-prisoners types who managed to slay the villain and get the girl.

"These were vehicles for the most handsome and athletic of all Hollywood stars," said Jonathan Kuntz, a professor of film history at UCLA. "Jack Sparrow is a definite contrast to the hero of those days."

Sparrow is the rare pirate captain "who's such a goofball," said film historian Leonard Maltin.

He's not so serious and not so brave -- more a silly rapscallion who flirts with women and danger but prefers a nice bottle of rum.

"He's enormously appealing," Maltin said. "He's so off-the-wall and such a total surprise, everybody was disarmed and delighted. ... He's made such a tremendous impact, he's now immortalized at Disneyland" as part of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride, on which the original movie was based.

Depp's co-star Naomie Harris, who plays Tia Dalma in "Pirates" 2 and 3, credits the actor's unique pirate character for much of the movie's allure.

"When I ask people, 'What do you want so badly to see in the second and the third,' often they say Johnny Depp," she said. "I think it's incredible how he just made that character his own, just did his own thing with it."

But Bruckheimer said Jack Sparrow isn't vastly different from other pirates who've sailed Hollywood's seas, such as Wallace Beery, who starred as Long John Silver in 1934's "Treasure Island."

"He was outrageous, too," Bruckheimer said. "He was bigger than life and fun. He didn't play a drunk, but it was really out there."

Maltin also compared Depp's character to Long John Silver, only he pointed to Robert Newton's version in Disney's 1950 telling of "Treasure Island."

"Newton's performance is probably the closest antecedent to Jack Sparrow because he's colorful, unpredictable, roguish and scurrilous but somehow likable," Maltin said.

Though Jack Sparrow is more goofy than gallant, he can still stand up for himself in a sword fight. He fought aspiring pirate Will Turner in the first two films, and with his tenacity could surely give past movie pirates a run for their booty.

"He's a fly you can't swat," said "Pirates" director Gore Verbinski. "The booger that's stuck to your finger, and you flick it and it's on your other finger. And you try to flick it again, and he keeps coming back. He's pesky in that way. In that final battle with Davy Jones, he just keeps showing up."

He also defines the macho pirate in a way that makes sense for the new millennium, Kuntz said.

"We're in the 21st century and the whole idea of masculinity has been questioned," he said. "Depp is idiosyncratic and unique and amazing. He's still got something going for him, but it's something quite different from Errol Flynn."