Nate And Hayes

The name John Hughes doesn't usually conjure up thoughts of pirates. But oddly enough, the king of the 80's teen films did pen a pirate movie, 1983's Nate And Hayes.

Tommy Lee Jones stars as the rougish pirate Captain Bully Hayes. Bully and his crew comandeer the ship of a missionary, Nate Williamsen, Michael O'Keefe, and his fiancee Sophie, Jenny Seagrove. Bully doesn't hurt the couple because he has taken a shine to Sophie. But when an evil slavetrader Ben Pease, Max Phipps, kidnaps Sophie with plans of selling her off as a slave, enemies Nate and Hayes have to join forces to rescue her.

This fun swashbuckler adventure was released during a time when Hollywood was on a pirate kick. Along with Yellowbeard, Pirates, and The Pirate Movie, Nate And Hayes would fail to find an audience and the pirate genre wouldn't have a true comeback till 2003's Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl. Oddly enough, Pirates Of The Caribbean seems like it heavily borrowed from Nate And Hayes.

Tommy Lee Jones may seem an odd choice to play Bully, who was based on a real life pirate. But Jones is actually pretty good. As is O'Keefe, another odd casting choice considering that he is best known as Danny Noonan in Caddyshack. Phipps is also good as the sleazy Pease.

Not a lot of people have heard of this, but in my opinion, it is probably the best pirate film ever.

It's available on dvd.