The fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series is just as ridiculously fun
as any of the prior four chapters, and it's just as chock full of Easter eggs, too.
Here are some subtle -- and sometimes not so subtle -- in-jokes from Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales that all ye landlubbers will just love.
Aye, but beware the spoilers.
What's in a name?
We didn't need Javier Bardem's Captain Salazar to actually say the line…
"Dead men tell no tales."
… before the opening credits to get where the title phrase came from.
Previously, it was spoken in the third film, At World's End, even if it was only said during
a voiceover moment in a transition scene.
Even earlier than that, the phrase appeared in the original Pirates theme park ride.
And remember this scene from Curse of the Black Pearl?
"Dead men tell no tales."
Meanwhile, anyone who's been hungering for some old school Johnny Depp swagger should
be pleased with this film's extended glimpse of the swashbuckler in his younger days.
Thanks to Captain Salazar, we learn exactly where, when, and how the Captain got his name
-- he defeated Salazar's squad by having them steer into the Devil's Triangle to be obliterated,
and upon first taking command of his ship and the compass, he looked like a sparrow.
We also learn where he got all his odd accessories.
After killing Salazar, who'd been on a mission destroy every pirate ship in the sea before
being beaten by Sparrow, his new crew offered him his signature beads and hat, among other
items of booty, as a tribute for his conquest.
And thus his famed fashion sense was born.
The Kraken doesn't speak
Henry Turner is the son of Will Turner, so he'd definitely heard tale of the Kraken that
his father escaped in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
So, when scientist-slash-skeptic Carina Smyth makes an offhanded comment about his probable
belief in mermaids and the Kraken, he says, "the Kraken doesn't speak."
And he would know.
"I am a woman of science.
I choose not to believe in ghosts."
"Do you not see what's behind us?"
Interestingly enough, as it was described to Will Turner, the Kraken has "the reeking
odor of a thousand rotting corpses."
And the attack mode of Captain Salazar's ship is quite reminiscent of the way the Kraken
would down a vessel, too.
And guess what?
It definitely smelled like rotting corpses because it was staffed by undead sailors.
Rock star pirates
It's no secret that Johnny Depp has a thing for working with rock stars.
In fact, he considers himself to be one.
So, after borrowing some of Keith Richards' style to inform Jack Sparrow's appearance
in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, he helped the Rolling Stones guitarist snag
an acting role in At World's End and On Stranger Tides as his father, Captain Teague.
"If enough people keep saying it, it must be true."
When Richards was unavailable to return to the fifth film for another cameo, Depp turned
to another iconic musician and long-time pal, Paul McCartney.
Depp revealed that the filmmakers needed a "pirate rocker" to sub in as his Uncle Jack,
and Depp thought of the Beatles legend first thing, inviting him to appear in the pic via
text.
You just know their behind-the-scenes jam sessions were lit.
Johnny Depp's least favorite joke
Jack Sparrow's Uncle Jack offers him a joke as he's about to be executed for his crimes
against the island: "A skeleton walks into a bar, orders a mop and a beer."
Simple enough, right?
Well, Johnny Depp might not have gotten a writing credit for Dead Men Tell No Tales,
but he certainly deserved one because that was a quip he'd had a long history with.
While he was filming Donnie Brasco, Al Pacino would tell him the joke repeatedly, and he
never quite understood it.
He told The Express in 2010, "He thought it was my problem.
He inflicted it upon me and I could feel my IQ points drop.
I finally figured it out."
Obviously, he's come to appreciate the humor.
"Are all pirates this stupid?"
"Yes."
Nodding to the timeline
When Captain Jack is en route to his execution, he's given the choice between dying by hanging
or dying by the newfangled guillotine device.
"Guillotine?
Sounds French.
I love the French.
Did you know that they invented mayonnaise?"
While most of the Pirates films have only loosely honored historical events and have
definitely fudged the timeline a bit, this reference seems like a pointed effort to pin
down a more precise date.
The modern guillotine wasn't invented until 1789 and was first used in 1792, around the
time of the French Revolution.
Although we've never seen it go quite like this.
Oh, and that very random mention of mayo may have had some sly historical significance
as well.
Legend has it that mayonnaise was first formulated as part of a victory feast for the Duke de
Richelieu after he beat back the British at Port Mahon that year.
Captain Jack might not be known for his historical humor -- and some historians believe it was
the Spanish who actually came up with the condiment -- but the fact that he praises
mayo to a man of the British crown certainly seems like a smart dig at the redcoats.
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