South Pacific (2001) (TV)

Director:

Richard Pearce

Writers (WGA):

James Michener (novel)
Oscar Hammerstein II (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

26 March 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Drama | Comedy | War

Plot:

During World War II in the South Pacific love is found between a young nurse, Nellie Forbush (Glenn Close) and an older French plantation owner...

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Love | Remake | Based On Book | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Glenn Close	...	Nellie Forbush
Harry Connick Jr.	...	Lt. Joseph Cable
Rade Serbedzija	...	Emile de Becque (as Rade Sherbedgia)
Jack Thompson	...	Captain George Brackett
Lori Tan Chinn	...	Bloody Mary
Ilene Graff	...	Singing Ngana
Natalie Jackson Mendoza	...	Liat (as Natalie Mendoza)
Simon Burke	...	Harbison
Steve Bastoni	...	Bus Adams
Kimberley Davies	...	Luann
Robert Pastorelli	...	Luther Billis
Craig Ball	...	Austin
Damon Herriman	...	Professor
Salvatore Coco	...	DeVito
Peter Lamb	...	Bruno

Also Known As:

Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Trillium Productions

Trivia:

The musical number "Happy Talk" (sung by Bloody Mary) has been cut from this version of the musical.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Grumman Goose seaplane used in the filming had retractable pontoons. The retractable pontoons weren't added to the Gooses till the 1960's.

Movie Connections:

Version of South Pacific (1958)

Not recommended for the die-hard old school fans.

This version of South Pacific is not half bad....that's the good half. The other half is bad, very bad indeed.

You'll notice straight away there are actually black people in the navy and no one wears tighty-whities or midriff bearing t-shirts. Amen for that! But, hey, who had the bright idea of casting Glenn Close as a twenty-somthing? Oh yeah....GLENN CLOSE. Much too old for Nellie. I'd believe she's in her late thirties at the youngest. When she sings "Cockeyed Optimist" the pancake layers of white concealer is woefully apparent. (She and the other navy women wear these khaki slacks which are really unflattering to the hind region!) And what about the character of her love interest, Emile? This guy looks like the spazzed out postal worker who delivers my mail on a daily basis. I wouldn't believe for one minute he's wealthy or dashing!

Luther seems like a dude who just took a nasty fall out of 1984 and unwittingly stumbled into a reality show called "World War II". You almost feel sorry for him.

Most disappointing of all, however, was Bloody Mary. Everyone take cover and duck! She sounds like Roseanne Barr after an all nighter alcohol and heroin binge. Her singing voice? It's slightly better, with the attributes of a cat being painfully executed. Overall she just screams, "Am I Pacific-Islander enough? Am I offending as many people as I can?" How 'bout them lips on Cable?! There was a semidramatic close-up during the Bali Hai number where I thought those things were gonna come through the screen and smother me alive!

With that being said, let's not dwell any longer on the negative. As aforementioned, some aspects of the musical were well done. No weird purple and orange lighting, mostly good vocal performances, and better costumes made this worthwhile. Also, I noticed the musical numbers were sequenced differently (probably to make it faster paced). Even with the unfortunate absence of Stew Pot, I would watch it again!