100 Best Pirate Movies of All Time
by spfitzinger | created - 4 months ago | updated - 4 months ago | PublicI found 31 different ranked lists online of “best pirate movies of all time” and averaged them all to create this list. My full results and methodology are on my website: https://www.listobsession.com/best-pirate-movies/
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1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
PG-13 | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate "Captain" Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor's daughter, from Jack's former pirate allies, who are now undead.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
Votes: 1,210,576 | Gross: $305.41M
2. Captain Blood (1935)
Passed | 119 min | Action, Adventure, History
After treating a Monmouth rebel against King James II in 1680s England, a young Irish doctor is exiled as a slave to Jamaica where he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the most feared pirate of the Caribbean.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone
Votes: 16,096 | Gross: $2.96M
3. The Princess Bride (1987)
PG | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon
Votes: 450,986 | Gross: $30.86M
4. Treasure Island (1950)
PG | 96 min | Adventure, Family
The treasure seeking adventures of young Jim Hawkins and pirate captain Long John Silver.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton, Basil Sydney, Walter Fitzgerald
Votes: 9,466
5. Hook (1991)
PG | 142 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
When Captain James Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins
Votes: 273,275 | Gross: $119.65M
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
PG-13 | 151 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Jack Sparrow races to recover the heart of Davy Jones to avoid enslaving his soul to Jones' service, as other friends and foes seek the heart for their own agenda as well.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport
Votes: 767,764 | Gross: $423.32M
7. Captain Phillips (2013)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Catherine Keener
Votes: 492,694 | Gross: $107.10M
8. The Goonies (1985)
PG | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A group of young misfits called The Goonies discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate's long-lost treasure.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman
Votes: 298,423 | Gross: $61.50M
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
PG-13 | 169 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Captain Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann must sail off the edge of the map, navigate treachery and betrayal, find Jack Sparrow, and make their final alliances for one last decisive battle.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush
Votes: 693,565 | Gross: $309.42M
10. Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
G | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
The Muppets set sail in search of treasure, with Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver.
Director: Brian Henson | Stars: Tim Curry, Billy Connolly, Jennifer Saunders, Kevin Bishop
Votes: 26,566 | Gross: $33.61M
11. Peter Pan (1953)
G | 77 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
Wendy and her brothers are whisked away to the magical world of Neverland with the hero of their stories, Peter Pan.
Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Jack Kinney | Stars: Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried, Bill Thompson
Votes: 153,114 | Gross: $87.40M
12. The Sea Hawk (1940)
Approved | 127 min | Action, Adventure, History
Geoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for the attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills on the sword.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp
Votes: 10,732
13. The Crimson Pirate (1952)
Not Rated | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
During the 1700s, pirate Captain Vallo seizes a British warship and gets involved in various money-making schemes involving Caribbean rebels led by El Libre, British envoy Baron Jose Gruda, and a beautiful courtesan named Consuelo.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok, Torin Thatcher
Votes: 6,990
14. Treasure Planet (2002)
PG | 95 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
Jim Hawkins is a teenager who finds the map of a great treasure hidden by a space pirate. Together with some friends, he sets off in a large spaceship, shaped like a caravel, on his quest.
Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Thompson, Martin Short, Roscoe Lee Browne
Votes: 133,054 | Gross: $38.18M
15. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
PG-13 | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Captain Jack Sparrow is pursued by old rival Captain Salazar and a crew of deadly ghosts who have escaped from the Devil's Triangle. They're determined to kill every pirate at sea...notably Jack.
Directors: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg | Stars: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, Orlando Bloom
Votes: 345,962 | Gross: $172.56M
16. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
PG-13 | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it too.
Director: Rob Marshall | Stars: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Ian McShane, Geoffrey Rush
Votes: 564,197 | Gross: $241.06M
17. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
PG | 88 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Pirate Captain sets out on a mission to defeat his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the Pirate of the year Award. The quest takes Captain and his crew from the shores of Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.
Directors: Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt | Stars: Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Piven, Martin Freeman
Votes: 51,421 | Gross: $31.05M
18. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, James D'Arcy
Votes: 237,957 | Gross: $93.93M
19. The Black Swan (1942)
Approved | 87 min | Adventure, Drama
An ex-pirate contends with rowdy buccaneers and a love/hate relationship with an aristocratic woman who's tougher than she seems.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Laird Cregar, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 5,084 | Gross: $1.01M
20. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
PG | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
When Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement.
Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains
Votes: 54,495 | Gross: $3.98M
21. Peter Pan (2003)
PG | 113 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
The Darling family children receive a visit from Peter Pan, who takes them to Never Never Land where an ongoing war with the evil Pirate Captain Hook is taking place.
Director: P.J. Hogan | Stars: Jeremy Sumpter, Jason Isaacs, Olivia Williams, Lynn Redgrave
Votes: 80,179 | Gross: $48.46M
22. The Buccaneer (1958)
Approved | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, History
During the War of 1812, Louisiana buccaneer Jean Lafitte assists the Americans in defending New Orleans against the attacking British war fleet.
Director: Anthony Quinn | Stars: Yul Brynner, Claire Bloom, Charles Boyer, Inger Stevens
Votes: 2,758
23. The Pirates of Penzance (1983)
G | 112 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
After a young man leaves a band of pirates, hilarity ensues.
Director: Wilford Leach | Stars: Kevin Kline, Angela Lansbury, Linda Ronstadt, George Rose
Votes: 3,902 | Gross: $0.69M
24. The Sea Hawk (1924)
Passed | 123 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A wrongly-convicted English gentleman goes from galley slave to pirate captain.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Milton Sills, Enid Bennett, Lloyd Hughes, Wallace Beery
Votes: 641 | Gross: $0.78M
25. Cutthroat Island (1995)
PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A female pirate and her companion race against their rivals to find a hidden island that contains a fabulous treasure.
Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, Frank Langella, Maury Chaykin
Votes: 30,543 | Gross: $10.02M
26. Anne of the Indies (1951)
Approved | 81 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In order to recover his ship impounded by the British, former pirate captain LaRochelle agrees to spy on the notorious Caribbean Sea pirates Blackbeard and Anne Providence.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Jean Peters, Louis Jourdan, Debra Paget, Herbert Marshall
Votes: 1,493
27. Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
G | 126 min | Adventure, Family
A Swiss family must survive being shipwrecked on a deserted island.
Director: Ken Annakin | Stars: John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Janet Munro
Votes: 18,170 | Gross: $40.36M
28. The Black Pirate (1926)
Not Rated | 88 min | Adventure, Action
Seeking revenge, an athletic young man joins the pirate band responsible for his father's death.
Director: Albert Parker | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, Tempe Pigott, Donald Crisp
Votes: 2,140 | Gross: $0.68M
29. Treasure Island (1934)
Passed | 110 min | Adventure, Family
Young Jim Hawkins is torn between his loyalty to his benefactors and his affection for lovable rogue Long John Silver in their struggle to recover a buried pirate treasure.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Lionel Barrymore, Otto Kruger
Votes: 3,165 | Gross: $2.54M
30. Pirates (1986)
PG-13 | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
The adventures of pirate Captain Red and his first mate Frog.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Walter Matthau, Cris Campion, Damien Thomas, Olu Jacobs
Votes: 9,451 | Gross: $1.64M
31. Ostrov Sokrovishch (1988)
G | 72 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Cartoon adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's most famous adventure novel.
Director: David Cherkasskiy | Stars: Valeriy Bessarab, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Viktor Andrienko, Vyacheslav Dubinin
Votes: 4,343
32. The Legend of Zorro (2005)
PG | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
Despite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Don Alejandro de la Vega and his wife, Elena, to take action.
Director: Martin Campbell | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rufus Sewell, Alberto Reyes
Votes: 107,636 | Gross: $46.46M
33. Castle in the Sky (1986)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada
Votes: 182,373
34. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
G | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre
Votes: 37,176 | Gross: $28.20M
35. Blackbeard's Ghost (1968)
Approved | 106 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
An unassuming track coach accidentally invokes the spirit of a notorious pirate long believed dead, and who must now team up to lay the pirate to rest, and save a local hotel from a mobster.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, Suzanne Pleshette, Elsa Lanchester
Votes: 6,754 | Gross: $10.90M
36. Porco Rosso (1992)
PG | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
In 1930s Italy, a veteran World War I pilot is cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Shûichirô Moriyama, Tokiko Katô, Bunshi Katsura VI, Tsunehiko Kamijô
Votes: 102,121
37. Serenity (2005)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The crew of the ship Serenity try to evade an assassin sent to recapture telepath River.
Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alan Tudyk
Votes: 305,682 | Gross: $25.51M
38. The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Approved | 94 min | Action, Adventure, Family
A young Spanish aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard
Votes: 10,979 | Gross: $4.36M
39. Waterworld (1995)
PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a future where the polar ice-caps have melted and Earth is almost entirely submerged, a mutated mariner fights starvation and outlaw "smokers," and reluctantly helps a woman and a young girl try to find dry land.
Director: Kevin Reynolds | Stars: Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dennis Hopper, Tina Majorino
Votes: 209,973 | Gross: $88.25M
40. Treasure Island (1990 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
The treasure seeking adventures of young Jim Hawkins and pirate Captain Long John Silver.
Director: Fraser C. Heston | Stars: Charlton Heston, Christian Bale, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee
Votes: 5,984
41. A High Wind in Jamaica (1965)
Approved | 103 min | Adventure, Drama
In 1870, a Jamaican colonial family sends its children to Britain for proper schooling but their ship is taken over by pirates who become fond of the kids.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Anthony Quinn, James Coburn, Dennis Price, Lila Kedrova
Votes: 2,338
42. Against All Flags (1952)
Approved | 84 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Brian Hawke of the Royal Navy versus the pirates of Madagascar.
Director: George Sherman | Stars: Errol Flynn, Maureen O'Hara, Anthony Quinn, Alice Kelley
Votes: 2,964
43. Nate and Hayes (1983)
PG | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A swashbuckling adventure which takes place in the mid-1800's on the South Pacific islands where bloody raids and battles were once the rule of the day.
Director: Ferdinand Fairfax | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Michael O'Keefe, Max Phipps, Jenny Seagrove
Votes: 2,395 | Gross: $1.96M
44. Yellowbeard (1983)
PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy