Genre: Action, Adventure

Rating: PG-13 (for action/adventure violence)

Release Date: July 9, 2003

Actors: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Tom Wilkinson, Keira Knightly, Jonathan Pryce, Jack Davenport

Director: Gore Verbinski

Special Notes: To maximize authenticity, all of the actors playing pirates and a few playing British naval officers, spent weeks training with stunt coordinator George Marshall Ruge and his sword masters (who trained Flynn and Fairbanks). Johnny Depp received training in the art of fencing when he starred in "Don Juan DeMarco" several years ago and Orlando Bloom likewise had already spent time with both Ruge and his team on "The Lord of the Rings." Few ships in existence today could pass for a vessel dating back to the 18th century and the studio and producers initially assumed they would have to build every ship featured in the story until they found a full-scale period reproduction of the first American vessel to make landfall on the Pacific Northwest Coast in 1789 -- The Lady Washington. The Lady Washington's crew was also used in front of the camera. The crew was a combination of men and women, experienced professionals as well as trainees, ranging in age from 16 to mid 50s, all of whom can now claim to have appeared as pirates in a major motion picture; the ladies even sported facial hair. Depp, who developed his ideas for the character of Jack while reading the script in his sauna, says he modeled a large part of the character after legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, added a bit of the cartoon character Pepe Le Pou and tossed in some modern day Rastafarian.

Plot: The story is set in motion in the seventeenth century with 10-year-old Will drifting in the Caribbean Sea amidst the murdered crew and burning wreckage of a British ship that was attacked by pirates. The same day of his rescue, young Elizabeth (who has a romanticized notion about pirates) sees a gold medallion around Will's neck of a Jolly Roger skull and takes it from the unconscious boy thinking she has spared his life. Years later we see Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp), a charming pirate who has sailed all over the world, come to the Caribbean seeking adventure and treasure. Captain Jack's troubles begin when his precious ship, The Black Pearl, is stolen by the conniving Captain Barbossa (Rush). Then Jack is accused of kidnapping the governor's (Pryce) daughter, Elizabeth Swann (Knightly), and thrown in jail by her fiancé, British Commodore Norrington (Davenport). When the town of Port Royal is then attacked by Barbossa and Elizabeth is kidnapped by his men, Jack escapes jail and enlists the help of Elizabeth's childhood friend, Will Turner (Bloom), to commandeer the fastest ship in the British fleet and go after Elizabeth. As the two get closer to catching the kidnappers aboard the H.M.S. Dauntless, they discover skeletons in Barbossa's closet. It appears that his crew is cursed to live forever as the undead, with the moonlight eerily transforming them into living skeletons, until their treasure of gold is returned in full to them. When Jack realizes he has the gold coin that could release them from their curse, the deadly chase is on.