The film started gaining a cult status in the late '80s largely due to repeat screenings on HBO.
The song "How Can I Live Without Her?" sung by Christopher Atkins from this movie went to No. #71 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Publicity for this picture at the time of release declared that with a budget of $9 million the film was the most expensive Australian movie ever made.
Reportedly, after this movie was released, Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins were approached by record companies regarding individual recording contracts.
Joseph Papp's Broadway revival of the W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan operetta 'The Pirates Of Penzance' was an enormous success in 1981. When Universal Pictures announced plans to faithfully adapt the show as a film utilizing the Broadway cast, Fox hurriedly pushed the send-up that they had been developing into production in a successful attempt to beat Universal to the screen, and a third production, The Pirates of Penzance (1982), was thrown together for British television. Fox's "The Pirate Movie" was theatrically issued six months before Universal's The Pirates of Penzance (1983) was released. Both films were considered theatrical flops, but each went on to garner loyal cult followings due to heavy exposure on television and home video.