An unsuccessful attempt by the Kiwis to storm the world market, based on a script co written by John Hughes of all people, but it has it's charms. It's a throw back to those Burt Lancaster South Sea swashbucklers of the 1950s such as His Majesty O'Keefe, with Tommy Lee Jones as a kind of pirate, based on a real dude who was apparently much nastier than his screen depiction here.
The plot has Jones in rivalry with Max Phipps, also playing a real life character, only here really evil. Goody two shoes Michael O'Keefe arrives in the islands with fiance Jenny Seagrove; Seagrove gets kidnapped by Phipps and O'Keefe and Jones go off to rescue her. It's actually the same plot as was used years later in Pirates of the Caribbean... mind you it is the same plot as Star Wars (i.e. good guy and anti hero try to rescue girl).
Lots of other scenes and moments in this are reminiscent of other movies: the opening sequence recalls Raiders of the Lost Ark, the German villains recalls The African Queen, the ending reminded me of Cat Ballou. Tommy Lee Jones does pretty well in the lead, Phipps chews the scenery as required, and Seagrove is an ideal pirate movie heroine.
O'Keefe is dull, and the movie never quite "clicks" and gets the charm it's looking for. But there is pretty scenery and decent production value.
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