Pintel and Ragetti
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| Name: | Ragetti and Pintel |
|---|---|
| Job: | Pirates, cannoneers |
| Portrayed by: | Mackenzie Crook And Lee Arenberg |
| Ships used: | The Black Pearl |
| Weapons: | Pistols, Cutlasses |
Pintel and Ragetti were two of Barbossa's pirates in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and served under Jack Sparrow in its sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. They are used as comic relief characters in the films. Both were under the Aztec curse, and as such were immortal for the majority of the first movie. Pintel and Ragetti are played by Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook respectively, though the two were both voiced by Greg Ellis in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.
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[edit] Fictional Biography
[edit] Early Life
Little is known about their background. Prior to the release of Dead Man's Chest, actor Lee Arenberg maintains that Ragetti is Pintel's nephew and the son of a prostitute who is probably Pintel's sister. The actor Mackenzie Crook has suggested that Ragetti might be gay, but this seems unlikely because in a deleted scene in The Curse of the Black Pearl they both watch Elizabeth while she is dressing, and they are audibly excited about what they see.
According to the Essential guide to "Pirates of the Caribbean", prior to serving as cannoneers aboard the Black Pearl, Ragetti and Pintel spent a year as naval soldiers, press-ganged into service for the British Royal Navy before deserting in order to escape the bad food and abusive treatment.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The two pirates served aboard the Black Pearl under Captain Jack Sparrow and later Captain Barbossa. They are first seen in The Curse of The Black Pearl when they invade the governor's house and take Elizabeth Swann prisoner. In the battle between the Pearl and the Interceptor, they fired the chainshot that broke the Interceptor's foremast, which of made it impossible to escape for the Interceptor and facilitated the boarding of the latter by the cursed pirates. For the remainder of the film, their characters provide comic relief during some of the movie's more intense scenes and give information about the storyline. Once the curse is broken and the pirates defeated, they are captured and jailed.
A running gag throughout the first movie involves characters surrendering themselves to Ragetti and Pintel while invoking the right of "parley." Under the Pirates' Code, parley guarantees a prisoner will be escorted unharmed to the captain in order to conduct negotiations. At one point, Pintel snarls at his captives, "If any of you so much as thinks of the word 'parley', I'll have your guts for garters!" Ironically, after they are captured, Pintel attempts to invoke parley himself, in vain.
There are also frequent gags about Ragetti's false wooden eye, which is often knocked out of its socket and has him frantically searching for it; one of Ragetti's professed desires is to get a real glass eye. It is not known how he lost his other eye; perhaps in a fight while he was serving in the Royal Navy as an adolescent. There are also funny bits about the two character sharing feelings of closeness. Whenever they do, they become embarrassed or angry, and the moment quickly passes; therefore director Gore Verbinski jokingly described the two as more of a "married couple."
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
In the sequel, the duo have escaped from jail and are rowing a boat towards the Isle of Pelegosto. Ragetti has become somewhat religious, telling Pintel, "Since we're not immortal no more, we gotta take care of our immortal souls." When they find the Black Pearl on the island, Pintel manages to convince Ragetti that to steal the ship would be salvage, and salvaging would be saving it. Although they attempt to steal the Pearl, Jack Sparrow magnanimously, if unintentionally, allows them to rejoin his crew, and they accept reemployment rather graciously. Although they become more or less loyal members of his crew, the writers state in the DVD commentary that Jack considers them, in addition to Norrington, as the most expendable crew members.
Later, when Jack comes looking for Davy Jones' heart and a fight breaks out, Pintel and Ragetti are once again left with the opportunity to steal something valuable. Pintel once again manages to convince Ragetti, by saying that they will be "removing temptation from their (the duelists') paths" by stealing the chest. They take it, but do not go very far before Elizabeth catches up to them. Before they can kill her, however, Davy Jones' crew attacks them and one of the crew members manages to get the chest. When the Dutchman's crew catch up with them that they start to fight alongside Elizabeth. When cornered by Jones' men, they fight using different things improvised as weapons, as Elizabeth had taken their swords from them.
The two pirates are not without loyalty or humanity. When the Kraken attacks the Black Pearl, Ragetti saves Elizabeth from its deadly tentacle. Both Ragetti and Pintel shed genuine tears of respect and grief over Jack's apparent demise and join the pledge to resurrect their captain—ironic considering they supported and participated in Barbossa's mutiny against Jack and marooning him on an island.
The comic duo (especially Ragetti) can unexpectedly engage in erudite and intelligent discussions. When Tia Dalma says that something vexed Davy Jones so much that he abandoned land for an eternal life at sea, Ragetti speculates the reason was, "The dichotomy of good and evil," to which Pintel and Gibbs both give him astonished looks. The two also engage in a lengthy discussion over the proper pronunciation of "Kraken," with Pintel saying he believes the correct pronunciation is "kray-ken" while most say "krack-en." As Ragetti explains that the derivation of the word is from original Scandinavian, Pintel points out they aren't original Scandinavians. To which Ragetti retorts, "It's a mythological creature, I can calls it what I wants!" Ragetti also displays a knack for knowing things he is expected not to know, such as the reason why Jack, Will Turner, and Norrington each want the heart of Davy Jones.
[edit] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The actors have announced that the characters will have some importance to the plot; In an interview with Empire magazine (Australia) Mackenzie Crook says "You sort of discover that Lee (Arenberg) and I are there for more than just comic relief in the third movie. It turns out that we do have a purpose in the grand scheme of things."
[edit] Characteristics
[edit] Behavior
Pintel and Ragetti appear and act nearly always together, therefore their roles in the film series have been compared with those of Mr. Wint & Mr. Kidd in Diamonds Are Forever. Several scenes that feature them became reoccurring jokes/motifs in the series with the release of the sequel. For example:
- In the first movie, during a scene where Ragetti and Pintel are manning a cannon, Ragetti's wooden eye was hit by a fork (which is being used as a replacement for a cannonball by the Interceptor's crew), Ragetti and Pintel look at the fork and then slowly look out the cannon gunport at the Interceptor. This scene is repeated in the second movie (with the exact same camera angles), as Ragetti and Pintel look out at the Kraken's tentacle, which is pressed against the Pearl.
- The scene where Ragetti looks frantically for his wooden eye (the first movie it is during the fight against Norrington's fleet, and in the second it is as they are attempting to steal the Pearl) is repeated with the same camera angles.
- In the first movie, when Ragetti and Pintel find Elizabeth, Pintel says "'ello Poppet." This scene is repeated in the second movie when both turn on Elizabeth for the treasure, Pintel once again, repeats that same line.
[edit] Exterior
Like most Pirates, Pintel and Ragetti wear old, threadbare clothes. According to the Essential guide to "Pirates of the Caribbean", Ragetti's green jacket was stolen from a French nobleman, Pintel's trousers are washed with urine to get bloodstains out and Ragetti's trousers are covered with tar to make them water-proof. It also was mentioned in the Essential guide that Pintel spends hours in front of a mirror in order to practice his famous gloomy face expression.
[edit] Abilities
Pintel and Ragetti are skilled fighters, so skilled that, in the first film, they kill many Royal Marines and in its sequel they fight the Flying Dutchman's crew, although they abandon Elizabeth Swann, leaving her to fend them off alone as they attempt to escape with the chest. Normally, they both fight with cutlasses, but in a scene in Dead Man's Chest, when Elizabeth had taken their swords from them, they continue fighting with incredible efficiency using only the chest, an oar, and a net. They also use flintlock pistols; it should be noticed that Pintel uses a double-barrelled one. They are skilled gunners, and therefore during sea battles, like the battle between the Black Pearl and the Interceptor, they serve at the cannons.
[edit] Merchandise
Both Pintel and Ragetti were made into Action Figures in NECA's Series 2 of the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Series. NECA will make them into Action Figures once again in Series 1 of the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Series.
- Ragetti was made as a plush toy in the Dead Man's Chest M&M plush assortment. He was the Orange M&M.
[edit] In Popular culture
[edit] Commercials
- In 2006, the duo were part of an ad campaign for VISA credit cards, in which they try multiple ways to "get treasure" from out of a VISA card.
- Ragetti was mentioned in an M&M's commercial where he plays himself, suggesting to the Yellow M&M that he use the other hand to eat the white M&M's (as his right one was a hook), but it is a peg leg.
[edit] Games
- Ragetti and Pintel appear as playable "Chamber Card" characters in the Pirates of the Caribbean Trading Card Game, acting together as one composite character.
- Ragetti and Pintel appear as boss characters in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow for the Playstation 2 and PC platforms; both are voiced by Greg Ellis.
