Sky Pirates
Theatrical poster
Directed byColin Eggleston
Written byJohn D. Lamond
Produced by
  • Michael Hirsh
  • John D. Lamond
Starring
CinematographyGarry Wapshott
Edited by
  • Michael Hirsh
  • John D. Lamond
Music byBrian May
Production
company
John Lamond Motion Pictures
Distributed byRoadshow Entertainment
Release date
  • 16 January 1986 (1986-01-16)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetAU$4.2 million[1]
Box officeAU $76,170 (Australia)[2]

Sky Pirates (also known as Dakota Harris) is a 1986 Australian adventure film written and produced by John D. Lamond, and directed by Colin Eggleston.[3] The film was inspired by Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), as well as borrowing liberally from The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), The Deer Hunter (1978), Dirty Harry (1971) and Mad Max (1979).[4]

Plot

In 1945, the Second World War is about to come to an end. Meanwhile, the Australian military has come across an ancient device which can be used to travel through time. It is imperative that the Allies have it and the Axis powers do not.

The experienced aviator Lt. Harris (John Hargreaves) gets assigned to transport the precious item to Washington, D.C. Reverend Mitchell (Simon Chilvers), Mitchell's lovely daughter Melanie (Meredith Phillips), General Hackett (Alex Scott) and Major Savage (Max Phipps) are aboard the Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport. During the flight the power of the magic cargo makes the laws of nature fade, hereby causing a tremendous tempest which leaves Harris no other choice than to ditch the aircraft.

In rescue boats they discover a weird and misty area full of wrecked ships of different eras. Rev. Mitchell claims there was a connection to the so-called Philadelphia Experiment. Harris remains unimpressed and concentrates on the survival of Melanie and his crew, even for the price of immolating the arcane freight against Savage's explicit orders.

Back home Savage has Harris sentenced for insubordination by a military court. Harris escapes and seeks to unveil the background of these occurrences. He beseeches Rev. Mitchell's daughter Melanie to team up with him. Together they strive to retrieve the lost magic item. They disclose and confound Savage's hidden agenda before they become a happy couple.

Cast

Production

Sky Pirates was able to utilize a number of warbirds that were found in Australia including CAC Mustangs, Douglas C-47 Skytrains, Grumman Mallards and North American B-25 Mitchells. Principal photography took place in Australia from May to June 1984.[5][N 1]

Soundtrack

The music in Sky Pirates was composed by Brian May, who also scored the first two Mad Max films. The soundtrack was produced, edited and mastered by Philip Powers four years later as part of his Australian film music archive project on the label oneMone Records. Sky Pirates: Original Soundtrack Recording was released on CD in 1989.

Reception

Aviation film historian Simon Beck in The Aircraft Spotter's Film and Television Companion (2016) described Sky Pirates as "influenced by every Spielberg production made up to the mid-'80s."[5]

Eleanor Mannikka in her review for AllMovie.com noted "A limp storyline refuses to go taut throughout this sci-fi adventure that patches together bits and pieces from its famous, multi-genre predecessors (the Indiana Jones series, The Deer Hunter, The Philadelphia Experiment, and others)".[7]

Film historian Leonard Maltin, in Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2013 (2012), derided the "assorted nonsense" of Sky Pirates "Boring and confusing, but Hargreaves earns an A for effort."[8]

Filmink magazine wrote "There’s enough genuinely good stuff in here (Hargreaves, Max Phipps, Brian May’s music score, Easter Island filming) to make you wish John Lamond had just stuck to producing and gotten in a writer to give it some shape."[9]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ The second Douglas C-47DL (c/n 6051, s/n 41-38668), registered VH-DAS, that appeared in the film was actually submerged.[6]

Citations

  1. ↑ Interview with John Lamond." Mondo Stumpo, 2002. Retrieved: 14 October 2012.
  2. ↑ "Australian Films at the Australian Box Office." Film Victoria. Retrieved: 24 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "Review: 'Sky Pirates'." BFI, 2019. Retrieved: 13 August 2019.
  4. ↑ Stratton 1990, p. 80.
  5. 1 2 Beck 2016, p. 176.
  6. ↑ Santoir, Christian. "Review: 'Sky Pirates'." Aeromovies, 28 May 2011. Retrieved: 13 August 2019.
  7. ↑ Mannikka, Eleanor. "Review: 'Sky Pirates'." AllMovie.com, 2019. Retrieved: 13 August 2019.
  8. ↑ Maltin 2012, p. 1272.
  9. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (29 February 2020). "Top Ten 10BA Knock Offs". Filmink.

Bibliography

  • Beck, Simon D. The Aircraft Spotter's Film and Television Companion. Jefferson, North Carolina, 2016. ISBN 978-1-476-66349-4.
  • Maltin, Leonard. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2013. New York: New American Library, 2012 (originally published as TV Movies, then Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide), First edition 1969, published annually since 1988. ISBN 978-0-451-23774-3.
  • Stratton, David. The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry. London: Pan MacMillan, 1990. ISBN 978-0-7329-0250-6.
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