The Pirate Movie turns 30 years old today

The Pirate Movie starring Christopher Atkins and Kristy MacNichol was released on August 6, 1982, which is 30 years ago today. Many people consider this movie a cheesy knockoff of the play Pirates of Penzance.  However, while it’s incredibly cheesy,  it’s more accurate to say that it’s a spoof of the Penzance play.  It did not set the box office on fire, but HBO would play it continuously throughout the 80s causing it to have a cult following.

Here’s a newspaper ad of the movie from the day it was released on Aug 6.

Not only did this movie spoof pirate movies, it also spoofed musicals like Grease and even had some Star Wars jokes.  It seemed like the cast had a really good time making it and most of the songs were very well written.

Check out the awesomely 80s trailer:

I am a big fan of musicals and this was a great one.  The soundtrack is truly one for the ages.  I still listen to (and workout out to) songs on this album.  The songs on the album included some of the more famous Penzance songs like Modern Major-General and Pirate King, but also featured newly written songs specifically for the movie.

Some of my favorite songs in the movie include:

Pumpin’ and Blowin’ by Kristy McNichol (very much a late ’70s-early 80s tune)

The Modern Major-General Song

I am a Pirate King

The very Grease-like final number Happy Endings:

Tagged: anniversary, movies, pirates, pop culture, reviews A humor blog that talks about pop culture from our past as well as the present. Topics include vintage and current movies, books, comics and video games as well as soda, fast food and technology. Cavalcade of Awesome