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The Pirate Movie (1982) More at IMDbPro »

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91 comments in total

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22 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
A brilliant but bad movie., 23 October 2004
Author: MartynGryphon from Coventry, England

I remember my dad renting this movie from the local video store in the late 80's and my brother and I fell in love with it almost instantly. As I got older I acquired a taste for Australian movies (probably one of the most under-rated film making nations). After seeing it had 'FINALLY' got it's DVD release, I just had to have it.

It is 'loosly' based on Pirates of Penzance, with a mixture of Gilbert & Sullivan music and 80's cheesy pop songs, (sung well by Atkins & McNichol). It's daft, it's dated, and the jokes have whiskers on them, but it's brilliant. It was clear to everyone going into it that this movie was never going to win many awards, but the whole cast seems to be enjoying themselves, and the making of this movie must have been a treat to be involved in.

Every major movie of the era is lampooned at least once Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, all of them.

I hate the part with the guy being Inspector Cluseau, the scene is pointless and unwelcome. Special notice has to go to two standout performances. Ted Hamilton's Pirate King is a delight to watch throughout but even his great performance cannot better the wonderful Bill Kerr as the Major General, who's performance in the re-worded version of 'I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General' is by far the funniest thing in the movie.

On it's initial release, this movie was universally slated and nearly destroyed Kristy McNichols career, over the years It has become a bit of a cult movie, and takes me on a nostalgia trip every time I watch it.

thoroughly enjoyable, but, you're always left wondering who the target audience was for this film as the humour is an unstable mix of good clean family fun and risqué teen sexual innuendo. give it a go.

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19 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Favorite Flick!, 16 May 2005

Author: Peach707 from United States

I have been watching The Pirate Movie since 87' when I was 5yrs old. My dad taped it from the TV and I eventually wore it out. I insisted on getting the VHS and now the DVD. It's silly funny, a hopeless romantic, and a definite sing-a-long. Nobody understands my love for this goof ball flick. It's great to see that there are others out there who have actually seen this movie! I give it a 10 for making me laugh and cry after all these years. To me it's sorta like a feel good cult classic. OK. well that's a little far fetched. But, I think everyone is looking for that "Happy Ending!" If you decide to watch it keep an open imagination and you'll get it.

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18 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
A cult sex comedy musical... for kids, 19 April 2005

Author: TelevisionJunkie from Texas

My summary line is sort of strange, but gimme a chance to explain. As has been stated in a few of these comments, "The Pirate Movie" is a big cult movie. In terms of cult status, I'd certainly liken it to "Rocky Horror" or "Donnie Darko" -- not that it shares many common factors with either of those, just that there's this big audience that REALLY loves it. As with several other big flops from this era ("Midnight Madness," "Zapped!"), HBO is probably solely responsible for turning this into the cult phenomenon it is -- after all, they ran it endlessly in the early '80s.

But the real reason I felt it necessary to leave a comment is something that's barely been touched upon here. While many people have said, "I loved this when I was a kid," it's yet to be stated that this seems to be the key to loving the film. I saw it when I was a kid and loved it. I've shown it to kids, and they've loved it. However, the adults that I've shown it to (including several who usually go in for this type of film) hated it. My best friend watched it for the first time last night and, even though he's usually open to a movie like this, he griped all the way through it. His three year old son, however, was glued to the TV.

The saving grace for this film is that, while it IS technically a sex comedy, it's surprisingly innocent. A song called "Pumpin' and Blowin'" could very easily have been lewd and vulgar, but it's disguised as a bubblegum pop anthem (complete with animated characters). And that's the case with a lot of the jokes. While they're not squeaky-clean Disney fare from that era, it's all mainly innuendo, with nothing blatantly obvious: "You'll be hung," Kristy McNichol says, to which Ted Hamilton replies, "Oh I am -- and very well, thank you." How many kids are actually going to get that joke?

If you loved it as a kid, get the DVD and show it to your kids (though I'd avoid the dull director's commentary). If you have kids, show it to them. But if you're going into it for the first time as an adult, chances are it's not for you.

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12 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Wacky version of G&S operetta, 29 December 1999

Author: F A Chang (fachang@mailexcite.com) from Ontario, Canada

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.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Wonderful, but a bit cheesy, 27 May 2005

Author: twirlbananas from United States

My parents taped this movie off the TV when I was about 7 years old. We still had the Beta machine back then. I loved this movie and I watched it over and over and over again. I would watch it, rewind it and play it again until my family got so sick of it, they would come in and turn it off on me. I had it practically memorized, but after we got the VHS, I couldn't watch it anymore and I was so disappointed. I meant to transfer it onto a VHS, but I never have. I always thought it was a made-for-TV movie until I found it on this site. After I found it here, I immediately went and ordered the DVD because I was so excited. I'm not sure why it appealed to me so much as a kid, but I loved the corny jokes and the music was very catchy and upbeat. My brothers and I still break into a chorus of Tarantara every once in a while. Plus the movie has a little bit of everything - comedy, romance, adventure, drama. The reason I gave it an 8 rather than a 10 is because some parts of the movie are a little too cheesy, particularly the underwater scene.

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
a signpost of the eighties., 4 July 2005

Author: Dbusdriver71 from United States

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.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Great fun!, 21 June 2005

Author: Gerard Daams from Finland

This is not a "deep" movie by any stretch of the imagination (and it never pretends to be that), but it was the first and one of the very few movies that I saw on video, rewound and saw again immediately. I then bought the video (also a first for me at the time!) and saw it again several times since it never fails to cheer me up. I think that Christy McNichol was absolutely great. She seriously outplayed Christopher Atkins. Most of the songs are great, especially the cheeky one that Christy sings on the boat. Frankly, I cannot understand for a moment why this movie did badly. It is just an immensely enjoyable, lighthearted, upbeat movie!

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Slapdash pirate musical with "Airplane!"-like spoofery..., 29 July 2006

Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

A wallflower is tossed into the sea and dreams herself into a pirate fantasy as a damsel in love with a pirate's apprentice. Energetic and good-natured, perhaps, but a shoddy enterprise; a failed musical send-up of "The Pirates of Penzance" with a cheap, backlot feel, wan bubblegum songs and constant, leering overacting. Kristy McNichol's film career took a real hit after this, while leading man Christopher Atkins cannot get a grip of any particular emotion, his voice wobbling about in search of an appropriate tone. You have to wonder, if that's the best title they could come up with, what's the level of wit going to be in the actual script? The movie's "Grease"-like affection for musicals doesn't gel with its penchant for slapstick a la "Airplane!", although McNichol works overtime being effervescent and nearly makes the limp handling look endearing. For the most part, it is an embarrassment. *1/2 from ****

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Without a doubt, the absolute WORST movie in the world, 30 April 2006

Author: raptorstryke from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

First off, I would like to make it clear that I voluntarily subject myself to the viewing of terrible movies. I have seen what I thought were the worst of the worst. In my mind, movies could not get any worse than the likes of D.E.B.S., Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood, and Terror Storm. Until I saw this movie.

The Pirate Movie, without any exaggeration, is the WORST MOVIE IN THE WORLD. I was informed prior to watching that the movie was, indeed, awful, but I did not believe the allegations. Believe me when I tell you that this movie is simply an abomination to film.

It starts out with a 3 minute clip of a boat of pirates apparently in the middle of a battle with themselves. "The End" splashes across the screen. Unfortunately, it is not the actual end of the movie. The movie is about an unpopular, awkwardly nerdy girl named Mabel, who carries around a ghetto blaster and is attracted to ambiguously homosexual pirate boys. She drowns and has a overly drawn out hallucination in which she stars as a scantily dressed skank who falls in love with Frederic, who happens to have just crawled out of the ocean. He might actually be homosexual. The Pirate King has a ruby and diamond studded codpiece. It honks and squeaks when he squeezes it.

There is singing in this movie. You might have the impression that this is a hilarious musical. It isn't. Trust me. They are the worst songs that you've ever heard, and by the end of the first original tune you will be searching for objects to pierce your eardrums with.

There are "references" to other movies in here. By references, of course, I mean "obvious rip-offs." The inclusion of Indiana Jones, Inspector Clouseau, and the lightsaber were, in fact, anti-hilarious.

The dialogue is, in its better moments, painful to hear. The direction is flat out awful, and at one point you can see the stunt pad in the scene, which isn't very well hidden at all.

In conclusion, if there is even the shadow of curiosity in your mind about this movie, get rid of it. There are times when people want to see how bad something really is, but this movie is not worth it. Put it completely out of your mind and never think about it again. If you cherish your mental capacity then I beg of you, NEVER EVER WATCH THIS MOVIE.

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Long live the Pirate King!, 23 June 2005

Author: leah_is_ from Canada

I have also been watching this movie since I was in grade one! I fell in love with it, and so did all the females in the family! We have watched it way over 200 times, know all the words, and songs, and even the dance moves (heehee)! One time we had to bring it back to the videostore, after watching it non stop for 2 days, and we were wishing we kept it. So we were flipping channels, and what should appear? The (original)Pirates of Penzance!!! Now, almost 25 years later we introduced my 3 year old niece to it. She LOVES it! She has watched it at least 3 times a day over a 2 week period. She's learning the words and singing the songs...and just absolutely adores Happy Ending! So the tradition lives on....

For I am the Pirate King, I don't buy this orphan thing, we'll go away without dismay, but we'll be returning....

TED HAMILTON, WHERE ARE YOU?!!!??? LONG LIVE THE PIRATE KING!

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