Grandma rented Disney's old live-action Treasure Island for the kids tonight. Starring one of the truly great character actors, Robert Newton, as Long John Silver. (He was also Sykes in Oliver Twist if that helps at all). It still holds up after 50 years. Silver has many great lines, but I'll limit myself to two. One, after he offs the First Mate on his ship (making it look like an accident), he affects great piety at the man's funeral. Close-up on him as the prayers end: "Arrr-men."
The second great line comes after the mutiny has occurred and the Captain and the loyal crew reject Silver's terms. Well, then there'll be no mercy, he says, "'Im that dies'll be the lucky one." (Say it in full pirate fashion --cockney accent, tilted head, nervous tic in the eye. Marvelous.) Close to 10 years ago now, I was at dinner with my brother and one of his best friends. My brother had a hankerin' for crab, so we went to some joint with a name like "Ye Olde Crabbe Shacke." Little did we know they meant literally the crab was old. For some reason we started talking like pirates during that meal (maybe it was the tainted fish), and our friend wrote on the comments card regarding how we liked the meal: "Arrr. Im that dies will be the lucky one."
