Peter-Spotting
      Card #21

 
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               - production letterhead



      "..tricky stunts like
       swinging from one
       ship to another and
       the collapse of a
       36m swing bridge -
       the longest in film
       history, they claim
       - are on Diamond's
       list..."

               - Rob White in "The Star"
                  newspaper, November
                  27th, 1982

1983

SAVAGE ISLANDS
(Nate & Hayes)

Paramount Pictures
directed by Ferdinand Fairfax
starring Tommy Lee Jones,
Michael O'Keefe, Jenny Seagrove
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In this piratical South Seas adventure,
a would-be missionary (Nathaniel 'Nate'
Williamsen) teams with a roguish captain
(Bully Hayes) to rescue his fiancee from
the hands of a viscious slave trader...

Peter spent three months in New
Zealand and Fiji on this swashbuckling
production, working as the film's stunt
co-ordinator. And it was a Big Deal
Down Under, making local headlines
and raising hopes that the Kiwi film
industry might soon be taking on
the might of Hollywood.

Except that it didn't.

Re-titled for its US release, and given
poor reviews the film sank without
trace at the box-office. But it's found
a particular fanbase in recent years,
via ancillary markets.

Peter earned a second credit on the
film for his role as a member of
Ben Pease's Crew...

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Peter plays a bandana-wearing
CREWMAN.

He's dressed predominantly in black
and he's sporting a big drooping
moustache.

He makes his first appearance in the
melee on the missionary's island,
32mins in to the film. We see him
jabbing his rifle butt mercilessly
into a stricken islander.

Eight minutes later, his character
sneaks below decks to take advantage
of Sophie (Jenny Seagrove)...

But, as Ben Pease concludes his deal
with the German navy, a cry rings out.
Everyone rushes off to find that Sophie
has outwitted her assailant.

"Let me go, or I'll kill him!"

Sophie threatens to strangle Peter
with her chains, but nasty Ben then
outwits her by  dispatching him
himself, with his own knife!

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Did you know?

• This film shares a lot of similarities
   with "Indiana Jones & The Temple
   of Doom". Both include an action
   set-piece involving rope bridges,
   and a big cult sacrifice. What's more,
   both were distributed by Paramount
   Pictures and both were in production
   around the same time...

• There are also lots of plot tie-ins with
   "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the
    Black Pearl"...

• But heaven knows, the film industry
   has been trading storylines since its
   inception!