Ep. 119 Swishbucklers

Here it is. Our massive exploration of one of the most disreputable
genres imaginable: The Swishbuckler. A loose collection of movies
created in the mid-70s through the mid-80s parodying the classic
swashbucklers of yore, swishbuckler films like Zorro The Gay Blade,
Pirates, Yellowbeard and Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers
are marked by their terrible comedy, penchant for grotesquerie,
extreme campiness and even more extreme poor taste. This might be
The Pink Smoke's most massive podcast undertaking yet: from the
genre's roots in Richard Lester's Musketeers films to a send-off
into the swashbuckler revival of the 90s ignited by Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves, it's an improbably in-depth look at an utterly
ridiculous genre for which hosts Christopher Funderburg and John
Cribbs have an almost inconceivable enthusiasm. Support our
Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke (Still need an explanation of
what the hell is going on here? Here ya go: At the dawn of cinema,
there was The Swashbuckler: intrigue, romance and derring-do that
swept audiences into the colorful royal courts and handsome pirate
ships from the pages of Dumas and Sabatini. Even after its post-war
peak, the Swashbuckler remained the most popular of Hollywood
entertainment, having made international stars of Douglas Fairbanks
and Errol Flynn and modern legends of mythical heroes like Zorro,
Robin Hood, the Three Musketeers and Captain Peter Blood. By the
1970's, the legacy of Fairbanks and Flynn had devolved into what we
loving term the Swishbuckler: a subgenre of comedy that borrowed
the same tales of adventure and romance mixed with a healthy dose
of modern irreverence. For a solid decade, raunchy satires placed
in historical settings marked a trail of flatulence and queasy
sexual politics across American screens to an overwhelmingly
hostile critical and poor commercial response. We at the Pink Smoke
are so fascinated by this odd epoch of cinema that we recorded a
nearly five-hour episode in which we chronicle 14 Swishbuckler
"classics," trying to understand how this wave of mediocrity
managed to stay afloat for 10 years in spite of marked indifference
to outright derision from critics and consistently sinking box
office returns. How did these always weird, sometimes nasty
exercises in Golden Era grave robbing reflect the styles and
attitudes of comedy of the time? How did they deal with huge
movements like women's liberation? Was the heritage of the
Swashbuckler respected, even while the outmoded ideals of gallantry
and romance were being purposefully disrespected? If you ever asked
for an in-depth analysis of this bizarre trend of parodying a
bygone era of film, you've come to the right place!) The Pink Smoke
site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/cfunderburg Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea
for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"