''Sky Pirates'' (also known as ''Dakota Harris'') is a 1986 Australian

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

written and produced by John D. Lamond, and directed by

Colin Eggleston __NOTOC__ Colin Richard Francis Eggleston (; 23 September 1941, Melbourne – 10 August 2002, Geneva) was an Australian writer and director of TV and films. He began his career making police dramas for Crawford Productions. Select credits *''A ...

. The film was inspired by Steven Spielberg's ''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...

'' (1981), as well as borrowing liberally from '' The Philadelphia Experiment'' (1984), ''

The Deer Hunter ''The Deer Hunter'' is a 1978 war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives were upended after fighting in the Vietnam War. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, ...

'' (1978), ''

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department (SFP ...

'' (1971) and ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...

'' (1979).Stratton 1990, p. 80.

Plot

In 1945, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

have it and the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

do not. The experienced aviator Lt. Harris ( John Hargreaves) gets assigned to transport the precious item to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Reverend Mitchell (

Simon Chilvers Simon Chilvers is an Australian actor. He won for the 1986 AFI Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Mini Series for his role in ''The Dunera Boys''. He was nominated for the same award in 1988 for '' True Believers'' and for the ...

), Mitchell's lovely daughter Melanie (Meredith Phillips), General Hackett ( Alex Scott) and Major Savage ( Max Phipps) are aboard the

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

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

era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

s. Rev. Mitchell claims there was a connection to the so-called

Philadelphia Experiment The Philadelphia Experiment was an alleged event claimed to have been witnessed by an ex- merchant mariner named Carl M. Allen at the United States Navy's Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, sometime around ...

. 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 Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying a lawful order of one's superior. It is generally a punishable offense in hierarchical organizations such as the armed forces, which depend on people lower in the chain of command obeying ord ...

by a

military court A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

. 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 Lt. Harris * Meredith Phillips as Melanie Mitchell * Max Phipps as Major Savage * Bill Hunter as O'Reilly *

as Rev. Mitchell * Alex Scott as Gen. Hackett *

Adrian Wright Adrian Wright (1 July 1947 – 28 November 2015) was English Australian actor remembered for his roles in the 1970s children's television series ''Freewheelers'' and the Australian serial ''Prisoner (TV series), Prisoner'' in which he played ma ...

as Valentine * Peter Cummins as Col. Brien *

Tommy Dysart Thomas Gibson Dysart (24 December 1935 – 7 June 2022) was a Scottish-born Australian actor, known for his appearances on television dramas and comedies and in character roles in films and miniseries. Early career Dysart graduated from NIDA ...

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,

Grumman Mallard The Grumman G-73 Mallard is a medium, twin-engined amphibious aircraft. Many have been modified by replacing the original Pratt & Whitney Wasp H radial engines with modern turboprop engines. Manufactured from 1946 to 1951, production ended when ...

s and

North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

s. Principal photography took place in Australia from May to June 1984.Beck 2016, p. 176.

Soundtrack

The music in ''Sky Pirates'' was composed by

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

, who also scored the first two ''

'' films. The soundtrack was produced, edited and mastered by

Philip Powers Philip Powers (born 1963) is a record producer - and author - specialising in film scores and classical music. His recordings have been nominated for five ARIA Awards. He has produced 34 CDs for the 1M1 Records label including ''The Lighthorse ...

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 ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...

'' series, ''

'', '' The Philadelphia Experiment'', and others)". Film historian

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

, 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

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Beck, Simon D. ''The Aircraft Spotter's Film and Television Companion''. Jefferson, North Carolina, 2016. . * 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. . * Stratton, David. ''The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry''. London: Pan MacMillan, 1990. .

External links

*
''Sky Pirates''
at

AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...

''Sky Pirates''
at Oz Movies {{John D. Lamond 1980s science fiction adventure films Australian science fiction adventure films Australian aviation films Films directed by Colin Eggleston Films scored by Brian May (composer) Films shot in Bora Bora Easter Island in fiction 1980s English-language films