The Pirate Movie

The Pirate Movie
	; The Pirate Movie film poster
Directed by	Ken Annakin
Produced by	Ted Hamilton (executive); David Joseph
Written by	W. S. Gilbert (operetta); Trevor Farrant
Starring	Christopher Atkins; Kristy McNichol; Ted Hamilton
Music by	Mike Brady; Terry Britten (songs); Sue Shifrin (songs); Peter Sullivan; Arthur Sullivan (operetta)
Cinematography	Robin Copping
Editing by	Ken Zemke
Distributed by	20th Century Fox (theatrical); Anchor Bay Entertainment (DVD)
Release date(s)	August 6, 1982
Running time	105 min./USA: 98 min.
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	$5,000,000
Gross revenue	$8,000,000 (domestic)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

"Pirate movie" redirects here. For the genre, see pirate film. For copyright infringement, see film piracy.

Main cast
Actor	Role
Christopher Atkins	Frederic
Kristy McNichol	Mabel Stanley
Ted Hamilton	The Pirate King
Bill Kerr	Major-General
Maggie Kirkpatrick	Ruth, the ship nurse
Garry McDonald	Sergeant/Inspector

The Pirate Movie is a 1982 musical and comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol. The film is loosely based on Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. The original music score is composed by Mike Brady and Peter Sullivan. The movie performed far below expectations when first released and is generally reviewed very poorly.^[1]^[2]

[edit] Plot summary

Kristy McNichol plays Mabel Stanley, an introverted girl yearning for popularity in a seaside community in Australia. She attends a local pirate festival featuring a swordplay demonstration led by a curly-haired instructor (Christopher Atkins), who then invites her for a ride on his boat. She is duped by her acquaintances into missing the launch, so she rents a small sailboat to give chase. A sudden storm throws her overboard, and she washes up on a beach. She subsequently dreams an adventure that takes place a century before.

In this fantasy sequence, the swordplay instructor is now named Frederic, a young apprentice of the Pirates of Penzance, celebrating his twenty-first birthday on a pirate vessel. Frederic refuses an invitation from the Pirate King (Ted Hamilton), his adopted father, to become a full pirate, as his birth parents were murdered by their contemporaries. Frederic swears to avenge their deaths and is forced off of the ship on a small boat.

Adrift, Frederic spies Mabel and her older sisters on a nearby island and swims to shore to greet them. Frederic quickly falls for Mabel and proposes marriage, but local custom requires the elder sisters to marry first. Soon, Frederic's old mates come ashore, also looking for women and kidnap Mabel's sisters. Major-General Stanley (Bill Kerr), Mabel's father, arrives and convinces the Pirate King to free his daughters and leave in peace. The pirates anchor their ship just outside the harbor instead of actually leaving.

Mabel wants Frederic to gain favor with her father so they can marry, so she plots to recover the family treasure stolen years earlier by the pirates. Unfortunately, the treasure was lost at sea, but the location where it lies was tattooed as a map on the Pirate King's back. Mabel successfully tricks the Pirate King into revealing his tattoo while Frederic sketches a copy.

The next day, Mabel and Frederic recover the stolen treasure and present it to her father. The Major-General is underwhelmed as he believes the treasure will simply be stolen again once the pirates realize it is missing. Mabel dispatches Frederic to raise an army for protection, but the Pirate King interferes. The ship nurse (Maggie Kirkpatrick) convinces them to stop fighting, reminding the Pirate King of Frederic's apprenticeship contract. Frederic's birthday is February 29, and he is dismayed to see that the contract specifies his twenty-first birthday, rather than his twenty-first year. As his birthday occurs every four years, Frederic has celebrated only five birthdays and is still bound by contract to remain with the pirates.

That night, the pirates raid the Stanley estate, and the Pirate King orders their execution. Mabel demands a "happy ending" - admitting for the first time that she believes this all to be a dream. The pirates are confused, but they comply. Mabel then confronts her father, but the Major-General is steadfast that the marriage custom remains in effect. Mabel quickly pairs each of her older sisters with a pirate, and she also pairs the Pirate King to the ship nurse. With Mabel and Frederic now free to marry, the fantasy sequence ends in song and dance.

Mabel awakens back on the beach to discover that she is wearing the wedding ring that Frederic had given her in her dream. At that moment, the handsome swordplay instructor arrives and lifts her to her feet. He passionately kisses Mabel, who is still shaken by her dream. She asks if his name is Frederic. He assures her that he isn't who she imagines him to be, but then carries her off to marry her, thus giving Mabel her happy ending in reality as well.

[edit] Soundtrack

Polydor records released a soundtrack album and singles from this film.

"Victory" - Pirates featuring Mike Brady
"We are the Pirates" - Ian Mason
"Stand Up and Sing" - Kool & the Gang
"The Chinese Battle" - Peter Sullivan & the Orchestra
"I Am the Pirate King" - Ted Hamilton & the Pirates
"The Sisters' Song" - The Sisters
"First Love" - Kristy McNichol & Christopher Atkins
"The Chase" - Peter Sullivan & the Orchestra
"The Modern Major General" - Bill Kerr & the Cast
"Pumpin' and Blowin'" - Kristy McNichol
"The Duel" - Peter Sullivan & the Orchestra
"How Can I Live Without Her" - Christopher Atkins (also released as a single)
"Hold On" - Kristy McNichol
"Tarantara" - Garry McDonald & the Policemen
"We are the Pirates II" - Ted Hamilton & the Pirates
"Come Friends Who Plow the Sea" - Ted Hamilton & the Pirates
"Pirates, Police, and Pizza" - Peter Sullivan & the Orchestra
"Happy Ending" - Cast
"Happy Ending" - Peter Cupples Band
"Medley" - Peter Sullivan & the Orchestra

[edit] The Pirate Movie: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture

Tracklisting:

A1- Pirates, The - "Victory" (2:37)
A2- Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins - "First Love" (4:13)
A3- Christopher Atkins - "How Can I Live Without Her" (3:08)
A4- Kristy McNichol - "Hold On" (3:14)
A5- Ian Mason - "We Are the Pirates" (3:36)
B1- Kristy McNichol - "Pumpin' and Blowin'" (3:05)
B2- Kool & The Gang - "Stand Up and Sing" (4:32)
B3- Peter Cupples Band, The - "Happy Ending" (4:58)
B4- Peter Sullivan and The Orchestra - "The Chase" (1:33)
B5- Ted Hamilton and Pirates, The (The Pirate Movie) - "I Am a Pirate King" (2:03)
C1- Cast of The Pirate Movie, The - "Happy Ending" (4:18)
C2- Peter Sullivan and The Orchestra - "The Chinese Battle" (2:36)
C3- Bill Kerr and Cast of The Pirate Movie, The (The Pirate Movie) - "The Modern Major General's Song" (2:00)
C4- Pirates, The - "We Are the Pirates" (2:18)
C5- Peter Sullivan and The Orchestra - "Medley" (4:03)
D1- Gary McDonald and The Policemen (The Pirate Movie) - "Tarantara" (1:53)
D2- Peter Sullivan and The Orchestra - "The Duel" (4:04)
D3- Sisters, The - "The Sister's Song" (2:42)
D4- Peter Sullivan and The Orchestra - "Pirates, Police and Pizza" (3:32)
D5- Ted Hamilton and Pirates, The - "Come Friends Who Plough the Sea" (2:00)

[edit] Historical note

The movie was made soon after the 1980 New York City Central Park and 1981 Broadway theatre production of The Pirates of Penzance produced by Joseph Papp, which re-popularized swashbuckling pirates as a theatrical genre.