Pirate Movie

This is one of the movies that still stands out as the perfect example of the movies that was the eighties. It was wonderful and it is still as fun now as it was so many years ago. It's greatest testament is time; how long and how well it has endured. There will always be people (cynics from the 90's) that only measure a movie by the dollars and cents that it made in a certain time span. This movie is over twenty years old and still is that good. The academy awards gave 'million dollar baby' an academy award for best picture; let's see how good it endures twenty years from now! Political correctness is not necessarily that main test of how good a movie is. Like Ghostbusters and Goonies, a must see for movie enthusiasts who LOVED the eighties as much as I and many others do, that want to be entertained by movies and not judge a movie simply on how much dollars a certain movie makes or its political correctness.

Found the movie while searching youtube for something to watch. the dance numbers and singing make this super cheesy and I love it. from the cast and Ruth just being there for comedic value its everything you want

Arrgh me hearties, this is an OK movie about singing & dancing pirates.

The film keeps a fine pace when it involves the pirates, but struggles to keep an interest when there no salty old seadogs involved in the scene.

Ted Hamilton as the Pirate King, provides a performance that is reminiscent of Errol Flynn at his peak.

Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed at Werribee Mansion, a site that is one of the most commonly used in Australian TV & film.

Arrgh I give this little piccy 5/10, a good film for the youngens. Arrgh.

Anyone rating this less than 7 clearly doesn't understand the film at all. When Gilbert & Sullivan first wrote The Pirates of Penzance in the late 1800's, they were writing it in satire of the operatic idiom. If the film's title wasn't enough of a clue in itself, The Pirate Movie is a satire of the sort of musical adventure cinema we were seeing in the 70's and early 80's (see Grease, Xanadu, The Wiz, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Man of La Mancha, Rock & Roll High School... the list goes on!). Also, it was just meant to be a lot of fun. If you are going in, expecting something with the musical mastery of West Side Story, The Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables, you are looking in the wrong place. If a film that could be the lovechild of The Goonies and ABBA sounds intriguing, then you are going to have a blast! So put away your critic's notepad, pop some corn and enjoy!

Cuties Chris Atkins and Kristy McNichol, he of the blonde curls and she of the blonde curls, star in this wacky version of the old chestnut, Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan.

Atkins plays Frederic the boy pirate who falls for McNichol's Mabel. He was 21 at the time, two years after starring in Blue Lagoon, yet he retained the perennial look of a fifteen year old teenager. McNichol was a famous star at the time, but this is her first role as a femme fatale, not as a tomboy.

This movie could be a musical version of Blue Lagoon. See Atkins and McNichol cavorting in the skimpiest of costumes designed to show their pretty legs and other bits. Surprise, both of these two cuties can sing, and even dance a bit!

The story is too well know to bear repeating. But there are a couple of wacky twists, in the best tradition of the British music halls. Except this movie is an Australian production!

Of course we get the model of the modern major-general (Bill Kerr) with his famous solo song. But we also get a light sabre from Star Wars. We get Inspector Closeau from Pink Panther with a hilarious word play on "pirate" and "parrot". We get a bit of Indiana Jones. And the stars make those asides which are British music hall tradition, stopping in mid-scene to address the audience.

There's lots of double entendre jokes, again another British music hall tradition, where simple words are used with a possible vulgar or sexual meaning. See Frederic at the mercy of the pirate's sword say "nuts". To which the pirate points his sword at Frederic's boy treasures and says "But you'd still have one left".

A jolly good movie. One for a cold winter's evening to warm the heart. Even the old Victorians would approve of this one.