List of references in Pirates of the Caribbean

A list of references in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Many of these come from the original Disneyland ride.

Ride references

 * The auction scene from the original Disneyland ride was the main inspiration for this film, including:
 * The pirate Auctioneer selling wenches.
 * The sign "Auction: Take a Wench for a Bride" hanging during the auction.
 * Pirates referring to the "Red head", particularly a drunken pirate chanting "We wants the redhead!"

Ride references

 * Most of the film has various nods to the original Disneyland ride, from which The Curse of the Black Pearl was mostly based on. These references include (but are not limited to):
 * The song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)", by X Atencio and George Bruns, sung three times in the film: by Elizabeth Swann in the opening scene aboard the Dauntless; by Elizabeth with Jack Sparrow on Rumrunner's Isle; and by Jack in the final scene.
 * Most of the Black Pearls pirate attack on the British port Port Royal was taken from the Wicked Wenchs pirate attack on the Spanish port Puerto Dorado.
 * The jail scene where prisoners try to tempt the prison dog who held the keys to their cells with a bone. Even Jack Sparrow's line, "The dog is never going to move" highly referenced the fact that the dog never moved in the ride.
 * In the scenes in Tortuga, there were many nods to the ride's "burning town" sequence, including:
 * Many pirates shooting people with their Flintlock pistols.
 * Pirates drinking rum. One pirate drinking rum atop two wobbling barrels, and the "stuffed pirate" drinking the rum spurting out of a barrel.
 * The appearance of Scarlett, the "redhead" prostitute.
 * Joshamee Gibbs found wallowing with the pigs.
 * In a deleted scene, which later make it to Dead Man's Chest, a skinny man in shackles can be seen shivering with fear as a guy is dunk in a well.
 * Another deleted scene showed a fat woman chasing a skinny pirate.
 * The treasure of Cortés was based on the talk of cursed treasure from the ride, particularly from the line, "Who knows when that evil curse will strike the greedy beholders of this bewitched treasure."
 * A skeletal Captain Barbossa drinking wine, which trickles through his exposed rib cage.
 * The HMS Interceptor sailing in the midst of a thunderstorm was derived from a similar scenery from the ride.
 * Cotton's parrot says "Dead men tell no tales", a line repeated throughout the narration of the ride.
 * The caves of Isla de Muerta were based on the Dead Man's Cove from the ride. A treasure-filled cavern as well as a quick shot of a skeleton sprawled on the beach, with a crab nearby, was taken from the ride.
 * During the battle between the Black Pearl and the HMS Interceptor, Barbossa called his crew "bloomin cockroaches".
 * The term "keep a weather eye open" was most likely taken from the ride's talking skull and crossbones.

Other media references

 * Part of the Caribbean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is called "Port Royal".
 * The shot of Captain Jack Sparrow standing atop the mast of his sinking boat is a reference to Buster Keaton at the end of The Navigator.
 * Jack's line, "And then they made me their chief&hellip;" is taken from the UK sketch show, The Fast Show, of which actor Johnny Depp is a fan. The line as spoken in the show, ends with "Which was nice." In the deleted, extended version of the scene in which Jack invokes parley on Isla de Muerta ends with the line, "I'll get me coat", another catchphrase from the show.
 * The smoke from a cannon shot fired at Fort Charles billows into the iconic shape of Mickey Mouse's head; making it the film's Hidden Mickey.
 * Jack Sparrow and Will Turner walking underwater beneath a rowing boat is a reference to The Crimson Pirate.
 * Barbossa naming his monkey "Jack" (after his former captain Jack Sparrow) was taken from Treasure Island.
 * The shot of Barbossa dropping his apple as he dies, it rolling off the pile he dies on and the shot of his lifeless face is taken from the 1941 film Citizen Kane.
 * In some shots Weatherby Swann's wig has a Mickey shape on his left.

Ride references

 * There were a few references to the original Disneyland ride in Dead Man's Chest, including:
 * Tia Dalma's shack on the Pantano River, and the fireflies that surround it, was a recreation of the opening Blue Bayou scene in the Disneyland ride.
 * In the scenes in Tortuga, there nods to the ride's "burning town" sequence, including:
 * Many pirates shooting people with their Flintlock pistols.
 * In some of the deleted scenes that were originally filmed for The Curse of the Black Pearl, a skinny man in shackles can be seen shivering with fear as a guy is dunk in a well.
 * A pirate band playing in the Faithful Bride.
 * Though unintentional, the net of gunpowder barrels used by Will Turner to defeat the Kraken was reminiscent of the dangling barrels of explosives.

Other media references

 * The role of Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones is similar to the role of Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars.
 * Will Turner asking several people where Jack is and getting different answers from each of them is taken from a scene in the 1941 film Citizen Kane when a reporter asks several people about Kane and gets different answers from each of them.
 * A pirate crew captured and suspended above a cage is taken from the 1952 film The Crimson Pirate.
 * The scene where Jack was being chased by the Pelegostos was likely taken from a similar scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
 * The scene where Davy Jones is playing his organ, and he appears to be in pain and torment as he does so. Is a reference to Disney's version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, as Captain Nemo played his organ as he appeared to be in pain and torment as he did so.
 * Davy Jones' speech while summoning the Kraken ("Let no joyful voice be heard! Let no man look up to the sky with hope! And let this day be cursed by we who ready to wake...the Kraken!") is a paraphrased version of chapter 3, verses 7 and 8 of the Book of Job ("Lo! that night&mdash;let it be gloomy, Let no singing come into it. Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan.")
 * The three-way sword fight on Isla Cruces was reminiscent of the three-way gunfight in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
 * Though quite coincidental, Captain Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl being taken down by the Kraken is quite similar to Captain Hook and the Jolly Roger being taken down by an octopus in Return to Neverland.

Ride references

 * There were a few references to the original Disneyland ride in At World's End, including:
 * The crew of the Hai Peng sails from the world of the living and goes down World's End, a massive waterfall, and ends up in Davy Jones' Locker. This was taken from the ride in which a ship from present day goes down a waterfall, and ends up in the era of pirates. A scene with a waterfall was originally going to be in The Curse of the Black Pearl (in which Jack Sparrow and Will Turner to go down a flume into the caves at Isla de Muerta), but was cut due to budget.
 * Barbossa quotes from the ride twice. Before going down the waterfall, he says "You may not survive to pass this way again and these be the last friendly words you hear" (the latter portion also spoken by Barbossa in the first screenplay draft of The Curse of the Black Pearl). During the battle of Calypso's maelstrom, Barbossa says "It be too late to alter course now mateys!"
 * After Hector Barbossa sends the Hai Peng down the waterfall, the screen blacks out and some of the most well-known audio from the ride, including the famous line, "Dead Men Tell No Tales", can be heard.
 * The ships spinning around in the maelstrom could be a reference to the fact that the ships in the ride always spin around over and over. However, if considering riding the Pirates ride once, it would be a stretch.
 * "A Pirate's Life For Me" was sung twice in the film. Once by Jack Sparrow as he sailed off to find the Fountain of Youth and the other by William Turner III as he merrily walked to the cliff to meet his father.

Other media references

 * At World's End is played out in a similar manner of the last film in a trilogy, particularly Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
 * The use of the two lockets playing during the scene between Tia Dalma and Davy Jones on the Black Pearl was inspired by Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More, in which the villain, El Indio, keeps one of a pair of lockets that is played to pick up the tune of the other locket during the film's climactic fight.
 * "Parley", the cue played during the parley scene at the sandbar, is based on "Man With the Harmonica" by Ennio Morricone from Once Upon a Time in the West.
 * Jack being slapped the two women, then slapping Gibbs is taken from a famous Three Stooges routine when two of them slap each other, the third one watches and then gets slapped by one of them himself.

Ride references

 * There were a few references to the original Disneyland attraction in On Stranger Tides, including:
 * In a deleted scene, Old Bill can be seen trying to give rum to a cat.
 * Jack Sparrow was sitting on a cannon in a similar manner as Mr. Coote.
 * Ponce de León's skeletal corpse looking at a map with a magnifying glass, surrounded by mounds of treasure aboard the Santiago, was taken from a scene from the ride. This overt link to the original ride was a result from Rob Marshall's research of the ride before he began filming On Stranger Tides, upon noting the tableau known as the "Captain's Quarters".
 * Though coincidental, Barbossa replacing Blackbeard as captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge seemed to be a reference to the 2006-revamp of the ride, in which Barbossa replaces a similar captain of the Wicked Wench. Barbossa even referred to his crew as "blooming cockroaches" in the both scenes.
 * Jack Sparrow's last line "It's a pirate's life for me" came from "A Pirate's Life For Me".

Other media references

 * Some elements from the novel of the same name by Tim Powers were used for this film.
 * A pirate engaging the British in a carriage chase is reminiscent of Cutthroat Island.
 * Blackbeard's wariness of Hector Barbossa is the same of Billy Bones' wariness of Long John Silver in the book Treasure Island, as both characters were referred to as a "one-legged man".
 * The line said by Blackbeard "Which one of you poor, unfortunate souls was on watch?" is an homage to the song of the same title in The Little Mermaid.
 * A mermaid saving a human and the two falling in love with each other also happens in Disney's animated film The Little Mermaid. The American fantasy romantic comedy film Splash also shares the similar plot.
 * Barbossa's line "You can sleep when you're dead" is a possible reference to the line said by Galen Tyrol of Battlestar Galactica.
 * The sword with the poisoned tip was possibly taken from Hamlet.
 * The Chalices used to give and take life is similar to the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
 * The plot involving many parties searching for the Fountain of Youth, including the British, the Spanish and pirates, which eventually led to its destruction is remarkably similar to Age of Empires III.