''Savage Islands'' (also known as ''Nate and Hayes'' in the United States) is a 1983 swashbuckling

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

set in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax and filmed on location in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and New Zealand, it starred

Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Tommy Lee Jones, various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Scre ...

Michael O'Keefe Michael O'Keefe (born Raymond Peter O'Keefe Jr.; April 24, 1955) is an American actor known for his roles as Danny Noonan in '' Caddyshack''; Ben Meechum in '' The Great Santini,'' for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Bes ...

and

Jenny Seagrove Jennifer Ann Seagrove (born 4 July 1957) is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and first came to attention playing the lead in a television dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's '' A Woman of Substance'' ...

. It was one of several 1980s films designed to capitalize on the popularity of ''

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...

'', but ''Savage Islands'' was a flop at the box office.

Plot

The film tells the story of missionary Nathaniel "Nate" Williamson, taken to an island mission with his fiancée Sophie. Their ship, the ''Rona'', is captained by the roguish William "Bully" Hayes, who also takes a liking to Sophie. When Sophie is kidnapped by slave trader Ben Pease, "Nate" teams with Hayes in order to find her. The two men enjoy a friendly rivalry for Sophie's affections, and she is to some extent torn between them, though committed to Nate.

Cast

as Bully Hayes *

as Nathaniel Williamson * Max Phipps as Ben Pease *

as Sophie * Bruce Allpress as Mr. Blake * Grant Tilly as Count von Rittenberg * Peter Rowley as Louis Beck * Prince Tui Teka as King of Ponape *

Roy Billing Roy Harwood Billing (born 1947) is a New Zealand television actor, now based on Waiheke Island, New Zealand. He was brought up in Ruawai, Northland Region, Northland, New Zealand. Billing spent almost three decades living and working in Austral ...

as Auctioneer

Production

The story was based on the adventures of real-life blackbirders Bully Hayes and Ben Pease. The character of Hayes was much softened in the film and Pease turned into a villain. The script was rewritten by John Hughes. The director was Ferdinand Fairfax, an Englishman most recently notable for his direction of the television series, ''Churchill — The Wilderness Years''. Fairfax described the film as a tongue-in-cheek adventure in the style of ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western (genre), Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, k ...

''. "I'm not making '' Carry on Pirates'' or anything like that, but I think it will be a very funny film", he said. The film was entirely financed with New Zealand money but achieved distribution in the US. Producer Phillips raised money in part on the back of the success of his short film, '' Dollar Bottom''. The film was shot in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...

and Urupukapuka Island. At Urupukapuka, the producers built a set reconstructing the Port of Samoa.

Release and reception

The film has a cult following which seems to have encouraged the release of the film on Region 1 and Region 2

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

, in June and November 2006 respectively.

Reception

In his review,

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film one star and called it 'inexplicable', criticizing the tone and plot. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave plaudits to the performances, but felt the film was 'no fun at all', criticizing the inconsistent action and production values.

Colin Greenland Colin Greenland (born 17 May 1954) is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best-known novel is '' Take Back Plenty'' (1990), winner of both major British science ficti ...

reviewed ''Savage Islands'' for '' Imagine'' magazine, and stated that "''Savage Islands'' doesn't have quite the pace or panache of ''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Set in 1936, the film stars Harrison Ford as Indiana ...

'', but it is first-class nonsense."

Legacy

Sir Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop said ''Savage Islands'' kick-started the New Zealand filmmaking boom of the 1980s. ''Savage Islands'' inspired Lawrence Watt-Evans to write the 1992 novella ''The Final Folly of Captain Dancy''.'How I Came to Write "The Final Folly of Captain Dancy"'
at Watt-Evans.com; by Lawrence Watt-Evans; published December 2008; retrieved 4 June 2013

References

External links

*
''Savage Islands''
at New Zealand On Screen * *

at DVD Savant {{DEFAULTSORT:Savage Islands 1983 films 1980s New Zealand films 1983 drama films 1980s adventure films Action films based on actual events Films scored by Trevor Jones Films set in the 1860s Films set in the 1870s Films shot in Fiji Films with screenplays by John Hughes (filmmaker) New Zealand adventure films Paramount Pictures films Pirate films Seafaring films Films directed by Ferdinand Fairfax Films with screenplays by David Odell