This is topic Nate and Hayes (1983) in forum Ŧ 80's Movies at iRewind Talk.


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Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
 
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"Nate and Hayes, also known as Savage Islands (UK title), 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, Jenny Seagrove and Max Phipps." (Wikipedia)

Watched this early 80s pirate flick yesterday.
It was a decent movie but i was a bit disappointed.

It was written by none other than John Hughes and David Odell (The Dark Crystal, Supergirl, Masters of the Universe)
Once again Tommy Lee Jones' character was based on a real-life person (Bully Hayes).

Jones and Max Phipps were good but i think that Michael O'Keefe was a wrong choice for the part.
I just couldnīt stand his grin in this one [Cool]

The opening sequence is straight from Raiders of the Lost Ark
but then again this movie includes a rope bridge scene before Temple of Doom.
The movie also includes some pretty nice settings.

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All in all it was a nice little film but i guess that the budget couldīve been bigger
and the story much better. The movie feels rushed.

1983 Nate and Hayes TV Trailer

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Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
 
I remember a friend of mine who has great taste in movies was raving about "Nate and Hayes" back in the day. It was a terrible flop in U.S. theatres--didn't even clear $(US) 2 million--so I had to wait until it was on HBO/Cinemax. When I caught up with it, I found that it was a pleasant enough time-waster, but not really as well put together as my friend had led me to believe. I told him that he loved pirate movies, and since it was the first pirate movie in a long, long time, he had overpraised it. In its favor, it does have Tommy Lee Jones in it, though I don't think that this is his best performance, it's colorful, and Jenny Seagrove looks great in period costumes and bondage.

I've read a lot of stuff about John Hughes over the years, but I've never really read about how he came to co-write that screenplay or his involvement in the film. I've always wondered about that. Was he called in simply as a script doctor to fix David Odell's (and perhaps someone else's) script, and he did enough to earn a credit? (Those screenwriters' guild rules being goofy as they are.) The screenplay seems so very unlike anything else that he did at that time. A subject for further research...
 
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
 
I found one site which includes Nate and Hayes Handbook of Production Information

It says that:

" Having written primarily comedy screenplays for film,
Hughes was delighted with the opportunity of contributing his writing skills to the adventure film."

I guess that he found out that it wasnīt his "thing" [Smile]
 
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
 
Wow! It really wasn't his thing.

Thanks!
 
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
 
Still, give him credit for trying something different; not all writers would take the risk of stepping out of their comfort zone, successfully or not.
 
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
 
So true, Chris.
Iīm pretty sure that this movie wasnīt the easiest project for anyone involved.
 


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