Clayton's Pirates

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“	Aye, cut her loose!	„
	~ Sylvester.

“	Come on, pull it down.	„
	~ Hamilton.

“	Put your back in it. All right, move it.	„
	~ Kevin.

“	All right, move it, you bilge rats!	„
	~ Max Braslavsky.

Clayton's Pirates, also known as Thugs or sometimes known as Clayton's Men, are supporting antagonists in Disney's 37th full-length animated feature film Tarzan, which is based on the 1912 American novel Tarzan of the Apes by the late Edgar Rice Burroughs. Working as a crew to the ship's captain, they were secretly hired by the pompous poacher named Cecil Clayton as his personal henchmen to capture Tarzan's ape family and take them to London, England to be sold to a zoo. The crew consists of about 14 pirates (excluding the captain and his officers, who they turn on in the film's climax).

Biography[]

Under the orders of the ship's captain, the thugs are first seen packing up the luggage and supplies of Jane, Archimedes, and Cecil Clayton (much to the latter's dismay) onto the ship to return home to London. When Clayton manipulates Tarzan's feelings for Jane by telling him that she would stay in the Jungle with if he showed them the gorillas, Tarzan agrees. Clayton then informs Snipes to round up the other thirteen pirates together for the next phase of his villainous plan.

When Tarzan, Jane, and Archimedes boarded the ship the next day to return to England, Jane and her father are then captured by Clayton and his thugs (who have also turned on the captain and his officers); after seeing this, Tarzan tried to escape them by jumping on the cages and climbing the ship's masts.

Even though he almost effortlessly avoided them at first, the thugs quickly started to catch up with him, with one of them grabbing him from his ankle. He then shakes him off, but as they were closing in on him, he makes a huge leap from the top of the mast and manages to hold on to the funnel's end, only to fall down shortly afterwards.

As Tarzan crawled out of the remnants of the boxes, two of the thugs were quick enough to grab him and slam him against the wall of the superstructure; as Tarzan was still weak, infirm, suspicious, pessimistic and hurting after falling from such a height, he did not have enough strength to break free from the thugs' grip. When Tarzan sees Clayton, he begs for his help while trying to break free from them. However, Clayton reveals to him that he tricked him into leading them to the gorillas' nests, so that he and his pirates could capture them easily and sell them to a zoo in London.

After locking Tarzan in the ship's brig along with Jane, Archimedes, the captain, and his officers, Clayton and his pirates then take a loading boat through a river into the jungle and ambush the gorillas, netting them, forcing them into cages, and throwing the babies in burlap sacks. Tarzan's ape father named Kerchak intervenes to rescue his group, but is overpowered when the thugs restrain him with whips and a net.

Clayton slowly approaches Kerchak and prepares to kill him, preferring him to be stuffed before Tarzan, Jane, and Archimedes (who have escaped from the ship's brig with the help of Terk and Tantor) intervene and fight off Clayton and his group of dangerous pirates in order to free the gorillas and put the thugs in the cages that they used to confine the gorillas in. The thugs are not seen again after this, so it is unknown what has happened to them. However, it is likely that the captain and his officers put all of the thugs into the ship's brig as their custody and take them back to England so that they can await trial for their crimes (though it was never seen onscreen).

Personality[]

The Pirates are known to be treacherous, vituperative, and short-tempered. They are basically hateful, murderous and destructive thugs who can capture Tarzan's ape family somewhere in the jungle. Despite their traitorous and violent nature, they can also be loyal and intelligent to Clayton, as they follow Clayton's orders and are able to pack up the luggage and supplies of Jane, Archimedes, and Cecil Clayton onto the ship to return home to London. However, they can also be fearful when they get chased by animals.

Appearance[]

Jonathan[]

File:Jonathon.jpg

Jonathan

Jonathan is an obese man with hazel eyes, brown hair, a mustache, eyebrows, and a beard. He wears gold earrings, a gray coat, a yellow shirt, a silver undershirt, navy blue pants, and black boots. He could also be 41 years old.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Joe Whyte.

Larry[]

File:Thug Larry.jpg

Larry

Larry is a slender man with green eyes, gray hair and eyebrows, and a shaven face. He wears a teal coat, dark teal pants, a turquoise blue shirt, black shoes, and gray bullets. He could also be 59 years old.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Paul Eiding.

Snipes[]

File:Snipes.jpg

Snipes

Snipes is a slender man with gray eyes, long light brown hair, a mustache, and a goatee. He wears a turquoise blue shirt with dark turquoise blue buttons, a dark brown belt, brown boots, a gray canteen held by his belt, and dark olive green shorts. He could also be 30 years old.

He was only mentioned by name once in the film and he’s also Clayton's second-in-command since he was ordered by Clayton to round up the rest of the boys for the next phase of Clayton's plot.

He was voiced by Bob Bergen.

Jones[]

File:Jones (Tarzan).jpg

Jones

Jones is an obese man with brown eyes, brown hair, thick eyebrows, and a mustache. He wears a blue vest, gold earrings, a dark red bandanna and dark red socks with silver stripes, a black belt, brown shoes, and dark brownish-gray shorts. He could also be 44 years old.

He was only mentioned by name once in the film.

He was voiced by Corey Burton.

Max[]

File:Max the thug.jpg

Max

Max is a slender, muscular man with brown eyes, blond hair, eyebrows, a mustache, and sideburns, a He wears a black eyepatch, denim blue jeans, a brown belt, and black shoes. He also has a black outlined tattoo shaped like a heart on his right arm. He could also be 39 years old.

He is also the only thug to wear no clothes above the waist.

He is one of the two thugs who capture and manage to restrain Tarzan after he falls from the ship's funnel trying to escape from them, alongside Kevin.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Philip Proctor.

Kevin[]

File:Kevin the thug.jpg

Kevin

Kevin is a slender, muscular man with blue eyes, dark gray hair, eyebrows, a mustache, and a beard. He wears an olive green vest, maroon pants, a black belt, and copper brown boots. He could also be 68 years old.

Alongside Max, he is one of the two thugs who capture and manage to restrain Tarzan after he falls from the ship's funnel trying to escape from them.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Frank Simms.

Sylvester[]

File:Sylvester the thug.jpg

Sylvester

Sylvester is a slender man with blue eyes, light brown hair, eyebrows, a mustache, and a beard. He wears a turquoise blue shirt, dark brown shoes, black pants with a little hole, and a black belt over his shirt. He could also be 37 years old.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by the late Jack Angel.

Hamilton[]

File:Hamilton.jpg

Hamilton

Hamilton is an obese, bald man with green eyes, a shaven face, and thick dark gray eyebrows. He wears gold earrings, a silver sleeveless shirt, a dark beige vest, black shoes and a belt, and brown pants. He could also be 34 years old.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Charlie Adler.

Peter[]

File:Peter thug.jpg

Peter

Peter is a slender man with brown eyes, dark gray hair, a mustache, sideburns, and eyebrows. He wears a cream sleeveless shirt, navy blue pants, a red sash tied around his waist, and brown shoes. He could also be 53 years old.

During the escape sequence aboard the ship, he is the only one out of the entire thug crew who briefly manages to get a hold of Tarzan, stopping him in his tracks by grabbing him from his ankle when he was about to leap to save Jane and the rest, and leaving him hanging from the ship's mast in the process before Tarzan kicks him in the face and resumes his escape.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by the late Eddie Korbich.

Cornelius[]

File:Cornelius.jpg

Cornelius

Cornelius is a slender, barefoot, bald man with gray eyes, a gray mustache, and goatee and eyebrows. He wears a pink undershirt, a beige shirt, dark beige pants, and a black belt over his shirt. He could also be 46 years old.

He is also the only thug to wear no footwear or socks.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Ian Redford.

David[]

File:Thug David.jpg

David

David is a slightly obese man with brown eyes, balding dark brown hair, eyebrows, a soul patch, and a mustache. He wears a green shirt with lime green buttons, a black belt, dark green shorts, brown shoes, red socks, and dark olive green wristbands. He could also be 48 years old.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Rodger Bumpass.

Samuel[]

File:Samuel thug.jpg

Samuel

Samuel is a slender, muscular man with teal eyes, balding gray hair. He wears a blue sleeveless shirt with silver stripes, a red bandanna, gray pants, a black belt without a buckle, and brown shoes. He could also be 79 years old.

He is also the only thug to have no facial hair, therefore he is clean-shaven.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by the late Michael Gough.

Florentino[]

File:Florentino.jpg

Florentino

Florentino is a slender man with brown eyes, brown hair, a beard, a mustache, and eyebrows. He wears a red shirt with pink cuffs, navy blue suspenders, brown pants, and light brown boots. He could also be 50 years old.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Patrick Pinney.

Dennis[]

File:Dennis the thug.jpg

Dennis

Dennis is a slender, bulky, muscular man with blue eyes, long blond hair, eyebrows, a beard, and a mustache. He wears a green coat with a lime green button, a red shirt with silver stripes, dark green pants, a black belt over his coat, and brown shoes. He could also be 61 years old.

It is unknown what has happened to him in the film, but he was chased away by the baboons and possibly caged up along with the rest of the pirates. He and the other thirteen thugs were later locked in the ship's brig.

His name was never mentioned in the film.

He was voiced by Jim Cummings.

Trivia[]

Dennis' name might be a reference to one of the film's assistant effects animators, Dennis Spicer.
Max's name might be a reference to one of the film's key assistant layout artists, Max Braslavsky.
Jones' voice actor, Corey Burton also did the voice of Captain Hook from Disney's 2002 animated film Return to Never Land.
Sylvester's voice actor, Jack Angel also did the voice of Chunk from the 2010 Disney/Pixar film Toy Story 3.
Hamilton's voice actor, Charlie Adler also did the voice of Gazeem from Disney's 1992 animated film Aladdin.
David's voice actor, Rodger Bumpass also did the voice of Turnbuckle from Disney's 2002 animated film Treasure Planet.
Dennis' voice actor, Jim Cummings also did the voice of Steele from the 1995 animated film Balto by Universal Pictures.
One of the thugs named Samuel, who captures Jane, but is bitten by her on the ship is a caricature of the former Disney animator Glen Keane.
Multiple duplicates of Jones appear in the Tarzan stages of Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure and are all identified as "Henchman".
- Along with Jones, Max was one of the only two thugs who had action figures made after them in the Tarzan Disney Heroes toys.
Out of the entire crew of pirates, only three are able to get ahold of Tarzan and effectively restrain him even if momentarily, namely Peter, Max, and Kevin: the first one manages to grab him from his ankle right when he attempts to leap forward to save Jane and Porter, and he leaves him hanging from the mast for a while before Tarzan kicks him in the face and breaks free; meanwhile, Max and Kevin are the two thugs who finally capture Tarzan when he was hurting and recovering from his fall from the funnel's top, thus Tarzan was unable to break free from their grip. These two are also implied to be the ones who lock him up in the ship's cargo room alongside Jane and the rest.
Snipes and Jones are the only two thugs to have the names that are mentioned in the film. The names of the other twelve thugs were never mentioned in the film.

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