Yes, I wrote correctly.
It’s not about “a movie inspired by Monkey Island”, but the opposite: a pre-existing movie which (most likely) Ron Gilbert and the other guys have took from, to give birth to our beloved Monkey Island game.
The movie is “IL CORSARO NERO” (literally The Black Corsair “Blackie The Pirate” in the English version). It’s an italian movie (1971). Not to be confused with the homonym movie starring Kabir Bedi (1976).
The movie I am referring to is this one, starring Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. (tagging @milanfahrnholz here, which I know he likes these movies).
Let’s make the pictures talk.
Please, take a seat.
You are going to see the Secret of Monkey Island. (No joking)
Ready?
3…
2…
1…
IL CORSARO NERO - The Images
The Title
A strange inn
Three Important-Looking Pirates
Carla was there, too
Guybrush Threepwood (actor Terence Hill)
Elain Marley (actress Silvia Monti)
Guybrush dressing
Close-up of a pirate
Pirate hanging from the chandelier
Guards (MI2-style)
LeChuck (actor Bud Spencer)
Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game
NOTICE: in the original movie, the plot is completely different from the game’s. In the movie there is no use of magic, voodoo, and so on.
Credits: user Giocherellone from The Monkey Island World Forum (italian community)
The complete post about this movie can be found here (in italian language)
I was authorized from that user to write this post, here in this forum.
That’s all.
The Secret of Monkey Island has now been revealed.
Case closed.
I might have seen that one when I was young (predating Monkey Island), as I watched almost all Bud Spencer & Terence Young movies.
I don’t have it on DVD though - only 1 collection of 6 movies.
Just some Wiki for everyone who might be interested.
“Il Corsaro Nero” is the title of the novel which the movie was inspired from.
In Italy “The Black Corsair” is an iconic character. He’s THE pirate, even for people who didn’t read Salgari’s book. Many movies were based upon that novel.
I think they changed the international title because they thoght that the reference to Salgari might have been too obscure… I’m quite confident the only Salgari’s character who’s really globally famous is Sandokan.
Basically you can hold up Monkey Island to any classic pirate film and you’ll probably find some fairly clear visual parallels. Most of the stuff in this movie is long-established pirate tropes.
I don’t have too many of 'em on DVD, just three I think, but I watched a ton of them back in the day.
This particular one isn’t a Bud Spencer & Terence Hill movie, but a movie with Bud Spencer & Terence Hill in it. Not necessarily a bad thing I suppose, as the Spencer & Hill movies get a lot more formulaic. But this movie can’t really decide if it’s a comedy or a drama and both parts suffer for it. My Name is Nobody sort of does the same thing but much more successfully.
Most likely they acted speaking in English, and in post production they were dubbed in Italian (even if a good part of the cast is Italian). Back then it costed less money this way.
Yesterday evening I watched the movie. Thank you for the link! It is exactly what I needed to relax a bit. And I liked the acting roles of Hill and Spencer which are different from usual, before this couple’s formula was established. The plot goes on in the second part not as balanced as it could between drama and fun, as @Frenzie said, but in the end I liked it.
As for the original language of acting: it is likely that it was acted in Italian, and Spanish, depending on the nationality of the cast.
I can be quite sure, reading their lips, that Hill, Spencer and some other actors acted in italian (even if dubbed in their very same language) while Don Pedro (spanish actor Francisco Martinez Celeiro) and Carmen (spanish actress Aurora Julià) probably acted in Spanish. It is an italian-spanish co-production after all.
I didn’t know they did a pirate movie. Then again, I never bothered with Terence Hill movies. I found the Bud Spencer solo movies more entertaining.
So the opposite of what the tread title suggest. Then, “The movie which inspired Monkey Islands’ settings and characters” would be more like it, I guess.
More like a beat 'em up kind of movie, I suspect, right? Explains LeChuck’s strong punch.
“Blackie The Pirate” in the English version). It’s an italian movie (1971). Not to be confused with the homonym movie starring Kabir Bedi (1976).
I thought they are speaking German…
