Sky Pirates

This article is about the film. For the topic, see sky pirate and skyjacker. For other uses, see sky pirate (disambiguation).

Sky Pirates
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Colin Eggleston
Written by	John D. Lamond
Produced by	Michael Hirsh John D. Lamond
Starring	John Hargreaves Meredith Phillips Max Phipps
Cinematography	Garry Wapshott
Edited by	Michael Hirsh John D. Lamond
Music by	Brian May
Production company	John Lamond Motion Pictures
Distributed by	Roadshow Entertainment
Release date	16 January 1986 (1986-01-16)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	AU$4.2 million
Box office	AU $76,170 (Australia)

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. 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).

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 lieutenant Harris gets assigned to transport the precious item to Washington, D.C. Reverend Mitchell, Mitchell's lovely daughter Melanie, General Hackett and Major Savage 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

• John Hargreaves as lieutenant Harris
• Meredith Phillips as Melanie Mitchell
• Max Phipps as Major Savage
• Bill Hunter as O'Reilly
• Simon Chilvers as Rev. Mitchell
• Alex Scott as Gen. Hackett
• Adrian Wright as Valentine
• Peter Cummins as Col. Brien
• Tommy Dysart as Bartender
• Arron Wayne Cull (as Wayne Cull) as Logan
• Alex Menglet as Sullivan
• Nigel Bradshaw as Spencer
• Chris Gregory as Appleton
• John Murphy as Gus

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.

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."

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)".

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."

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."

References

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.

External links

• Sky Pirates at IMDb
• Sky Pirates at AustLit
• Sky Pirates at Oz Movies