Nate and Hayes

Nate and Hayes / Savage Islands
Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax
Produced by Lloyd Phillips
Rob Whitehouse
Written by John Hughes
David Odell
Story by David Odell
Starring
Music by Trevor Jones
Cinematography Tony Imi
Edited by John Shirley
Production
company
Phillips-Whitehouse Productions
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
 18 November 1983
Running time
 96 minutes
Country New Zealand
Budget NZ$7.5 million[1]
Box office $1.9 million (domestic)

Nate and Hayes (also known as Savage Islands in NZ and the UK) is a 1983 swashbuckling adventure film set in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax and filmed on location in Fiji and New Zealand, it starred Tommy Lee Jones, Michael O'Keefe and Jenny Seagrove.

This was one of many early 1980s films designed to capitalize on the popularity of Lucas and Spielberg's hero, Indiana Jones, but Nate and Hayes was a flop at the box office. This contributed to the long-held belief in Hollywood that pirate swashbucklers were box office poison, a belief not laid to rest until the 2003 release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Sir Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop said Savage Islands kick-started the New Zealand filmmaking boom of the 1980s.[2]

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

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.[3]

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. "I'm not making Carry on Pirates or anything like that, but I think it will be a very funny film," he said.[1]

The film was shot in Fiji, Rotorua and Urupukapuka Island. At Urupukapuka the producers built a set reconstructing the Port of Samoa.

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.[1]

Release

The film has a small but very loyal fanbase which seems to have encouraged the release of the film on Region 1 and Region 2 DVD, in June and November 2006 respectively.

Influence

Nate and Hayes inspired Lawrence Watt-Evans to write the 1992 novella The Final Folly of Captain Dancy.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Buccaneer comedy could put NZ on world movie map". The Canberra Times. 57, (17, 238). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 8 December 1982. p. 31. Retrieved 3 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "Oscar-winning Kiwi producer dies". 3 News NZ. January 28, 2013.
  3. ↑ FILM CLIPS: 'MR. MOM' AUTHOR DEFIES TINSEL TYPEWRITER IMAGE FILM CLIPS London, Michael. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 23 Nov 1983: g1.
  4. ↑ 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 June 4, 2013
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