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SKY PIRATES – Brian May
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Sky Pirates is an action-adventure film directed by Colin Eggleston, which has been described as ‘the Australian Raiders of the Lost Ark’. John Hargreaves stars as Lt. Dakota Harris, a Royal Air Force Pilot during World War II, who is entrusted by the Australian military with a mysterious object which apparently can be used to travel through time, and which they do not want to fall into the hands of the Nazis. Travelling with several companions, Harris starts on the journey to the United States, intending to the deliver the object to the Americans for safekeeping, but somewhere over the Pacific Ocean their plane is caught in a supernatural storm – apparently caused by the object – which transports them to a parallel dimension filled with the wreckage of military vehicles from numerous different wars. After escaping from this phantom zone, Harris shockingly finds himself being accused of treason by one of his comrades, General Savage (Max Phipps); with the help of a beautiful minister’s daughter, Melanie (Meredith Phillips), Harris must escape from military custody, and uncover the true secret of the object. Read more…
Remembering Brian May, 1934-1997
Composer Brian May died ten years ago today, on April 25, 1997, in his home in Melbourne, Australia, after a short respiratory illness. He was 62.
May was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1934. A classically trained musician and conductor, May studied at the Adelaide Elder Conservatorium and later joined the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), where he served as conductor of the ABC Showband. He made his transition to film scoring in the early 1970s and quickly became a key figure in the Australian New Wave cinema movement, alongside fellow composers such as Peter Best and Bruce Smeaton, through scores like The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975) and Patrick (1978).
May’s most famous contributions to film came at the end of that decade, with his scores for George Miller’s Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981). May’s propulsive, percussive orchestral style that matched those films’ raw, dystopian vision, and when they earned global acclaim and popularity, May became one of the first Australian film composers to enjoy a major international career.
Known for his dramatic orchestration and effective use of tension and rhythm, May was equally adept in the horror, action, and suspense genres. His film credits post-Mad Max include Roadgames (1981), Gallipoli (1981), The Survivor (1981), Turkey Shoot (1982), Cloak & Dagger (1984), Sky Pirates (1986), and Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), among many others. Read more…
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