Nate and Hayes
Encyclopedia
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
and Jenny Seagrove
, It was one of many early 1980s films designed to capitalize on the popularity of Lucas
and Spielberg's
hero, Indiana Jones
, but 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
.
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 Nate and Hayes was released a year earlier.
, in June and November 2006
respectively.
2006 DVD Tagline: Partners in Piracy. Rivals in Romance. Allies in Adventure.
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...
swashbuckling adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
set in the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
in the late 19th century. Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax and filmed on location in Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, it starred Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
, Michael O'Keefe
Michael O'Keefe
Michael Raymond O'Keefe is an American film and television actor.- Early life :O'Keefe was born Raymond Peter O'Keefe, Jr. in Mount Vernon, New York, the oldest of seven children in a devoutly Roman Catholic Irish American family. His father was a law professor at Fordham University, as well as...
and Jenny Seagrove
Jenny Seagrove
Jennifer Ann Seagrove is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and rose to fame playing the lead in a TV dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance and the 1983 film Local Hero...
, It was one of many early 1980s films designed to capitalize on the popularity of Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
and Spielberg's
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
hero, Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
, but 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
Box Office Poison
Box Office Poison is a series of comic books by Alex Robinson. It was published in collected form by Top Shelf Productions in 2001. The story concerns the life and trials of a group of young people in New York City....
, a belief not laid to rest until the 2003 release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 adventure fantasy film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks. It was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
.
Plot
The film tells the story of missionary Nathaniel "Nate" 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 plot is essentially a set-up for a rousing series of Indiana JonesIndiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
style action set pieces, including a sequence on a suspension bridge which greatly resembles the climax of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark . After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone...
, though Nate and Hayes was released a year earlier.
Releases
The film has a small but very loyal fanbase which seems to have encouraged the release of the film on Region 1 and Region 2 DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, in June and November 2006
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
respectively.
Taglines
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.
Bully Hayes
- Tommy Lee Jones' character was based on a real-life pirate. Bully HayesBully HayesWilliam Henry "Bully" Hayes has been described as a South Sea pirate and "the last of the Buccaneers", who together with Ben Pease, engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s. Hayes operated across the breadth of the Pacific in the 1850s until his murder on 31 March 1877 by his cook Peter...
was active in the South Pacific during the mid 19th century, until his murder in 1877.