Nate and Hayes
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| Nate and Hayes / Savage Islands | |
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| Directed by | Ferdinand Fairfax |
| Produced by | Lloyd Phillips, Rob Whitehouse |
| Written by | John Hughes, David Odell |
| Starring | Tommy Lee Jones Michael O'Keefe Jenny Seagrove Max Phipps Grant Tilly Bruce Allpress |
| Music by | Trevor Jones |
| Cinematography | Tony Imi |
| Editing by | John Shirley |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1983 |
| Running time | 96 Minutes |
| IMDb profile | |
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 starring Tommy Lee Jones, Michael O'Keefe and Jenny Seagrove, 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, a film which has a plot suspiciously similar to that of Nate and Hayes.
A lot of explanations for the film's box office failure were aimed at the choice of title, with the UK title Savage Islands being preferred by the majority of fans. This small but very loyal fanbase has given the film something of a cult following, seemingly contributing to the release of the film on Region 1 and Region 2 DVD, in June and November 2006 respectively.
Filmed on location in Fiji and New Zealand, the film tells the story of missionary Nathaniel Williamsen (O'Keefe), taken to an island mission with his fiancee Sophie (Seagrove). Their ship, the Rona, is captained by the roguish Bully Hayes (Jones), who also takes a liking to Sophie. When Sophie is kidnapped by slave trader Ben Pease (Max Phipps) "Nate" teams with Hayes in order to find her. The fairly thin plot is essentially a set up for a rousing series of Indiana Jones style action set pieces, including a sequence on a suspension bridge which greatly resembles the climax of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, though it should be noted that "Nate and Hayes" was released a year earlier. It was one of many early 1980s films designed to capitalize on the popularity of Lucas and Spielberg's hero, but its pirate setting, some clever dialogue by screenwriter John Hughes and Jones' charismatic performance cause many film fans to rate it as a cut above the average imitator, though certainly not on the same level as the actual Indiana Jones films.
Favorite quotes among fans of the film include Hayes' assertion that he "never killed a man that didn't have it coming", and his gentlemanly use of the phrase "excuse me" before pushing a hostile native off a cliff.
1984 VHS Tagline: He's a scoundrel... A hero... A lover of danger and the last of the adventurers... This is the story of Bully Hayes!
2006 DVD Tagline: Partners in Piracy. Rivals in Romance. Allies in Adventure.
[edit] Trivia
- Tommy Lee Jones' character was in fact based on a real life pirate. Bully Hayes was active in the South Pacific during the mid 19th Century, until his murder in 1878.
- It could be suggested that the 2003 blockbuster film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ripped off certain elements of the Nate and Hayes plotline [1]. However, the resurgence of interest in Nate and Hayes can be accredited to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, with the Region 1 DVD release of N&H coinciding with the cinematic release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, with a Region 2 release also imminent.
- The scene with Bully Hayes on the rope bridge was almost identically replicated a year later with the 1984 release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
