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The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)

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The Blue Lagoon
Promotional film poster
Directed byRandal Kleiser
Screenplay byDouglas Day Stewart
Produced byRandal Kleiser
StarringBrooke Shields
Christopher Atkins
Leo McKern
William Daniels
CinematographyNéstor Almendros
Edited byRobert Gordon
Music byBasil Poledouris
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • June 20, 1980 (1980-06-20)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4.5 million
Box office$58,853,106 (U.S. and Canada only)

The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 American romantic adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser. The screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart was based on the novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The film stars Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. The original music score was composed by Basil Poledouris and the cinematography was by Néstor Almendros. The film is a remake of a 1949 film by the same name.

The film tells the story of two young children marooned on a tropical island paradise in the South Pacific. With neither the guidance nor the restrictions of society, emotional feelings and physical changes arise as they reach puberty and fall in love.

Shields was 14 years old at the time of filming and later testified before a U.S. Congressional inquiry that older body doubles were used in some of her nude scenes. Also, throughout the film in frontal shots her breasts were always covered by her long hair or in other ways. It was also stated that Shields's hair was glued to her breasts during many of her topless scenes.[1] The film received a MPAA rating of R.

Plot

In the Victorian period, two young cousins, Richard and Emmeline Lestrange, and a galley cook, Paddy Button (Leo McKern), survive a shipwreck in the South Pacific and reach a lush tropical island. Paddy cares for the small children and forbids them by "law" from going to the other side of the island, as he found evidence of remains of bloody human sacrifices. He also warns them against eating a scarlet berry which is apparently deadly.

Paddy soon dies after a drunken binge, and his body is discovered by Richard and Emmeline. Now alone, the children go to another part of the island and rebuild their home.

Years pass and they both grow into tall, strong, and beautiful teenagers. They live in their hut, spending their days together fishing, swimming, and diving for pearls. Richard and Emmeline (now portrayed by Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields) begin to fall in love, although this is emotionally stressful for them because of their lack of education on human sexuality. Emmeline is frightened after she begins her first menstrual period and is nervous when Richard wants to inspect her for a cut.

Sometime later, their relationship suffers a major blow when a ship appears for the first time in years. Richard's desire to leave comes into conflict with Emmeline's desire to stay, and she does not light the signal fire. As a result, the ship passes by without noticing them. Richard's fury leads him to kick Emmeline out of their hut. They make up for this fight after Emmeline is nearly killed upon stepping on a stonefish and Richard admits to his fear of losing her. Emmeline recovers and after she regains her ability to walk, they go skinny dipping in the lagoon and then swim to shore. Still naked, Richard and Emmeline discover sexual intercourse and then passionate love. They regularly make love from then on while occasionally spending their time together in the nude. Due to their regular sexual encounters, Emmeline becomes pregnant. Richard and Emmeline themselves do not know about the truth of childbirth and human reproduction and assume that the physical changes in Emmeline's body is her getting fat. They are stunned when they feel the baby move inside her and assume it's her stomach causing the movements.

One night, Emmeline gives birth to a baby boy, whom they name Paddy. Frustrated at not knowing how to feed the baby, Emmeline holds him and learns how to feed him as the baby instinctively starts sucking on her breast. The young parents spend their time playing with Paddy as he grows, teaching him how to swim, fish, and build things.

As the family plays, a ship led by Richard's father Arthur (William Daniels), approaches the island and sees the family playing on the shore. As they are covered in mud, Arthur assumes these are natives, not the young couple they have been searching for all these years, and the ship passes.

One day, the young family takes the lifeboat to visit their original homesite. While waiting for Richard, Emmeline and Paddy remain in the boat. Emmeline falls asleep and does not notice when Paddy brings a branch of the scarlet berries into the boat. She awakes as Paddy tosses one of the oars out. The tide was sweeping the boat into the lagoon and Richard swims to her, followed closely by a shark. Emmeline throws the other oar at the shark, striking it and giving Richard time to get into the boat. Though close to shore, they are unable to return or retrieve the oars without risking a shark attack. They paddle with their hands to no avail; the boat is caught in the current and drifts out to sea.

After drifting for days in the boat, Richard and Emmeline awake to find Paddy eating the berries he picked. Realizing that these are poisonous berries, they try to stop him, but he had already swallowed a few. Hopeless, Richard and Emmeline eat the berries as well, lying down to await death. A few hours later, Arthur's ship finds them floating in the boat. Arthur asks, "Are they dead?" and the ship's captain (Alan Hopgood) answers, "No, sir. They're asleep." Although, in the following movie the idea of this is changed a bit.

Cast

Production

The Fiji Crested Iguana became known to herpetologists through The Blue Lagoon

The movie was a passion project of Randal Kleiser, who had long admired the original novel. He hired Douglas Day Stewart, who had written Boy in the Plastic Bubble, to write the script, and met up with Richard Franklin, the Australian director, who was looking for work in Hollywood. This gave him the idea to use an Australian crew, which Franklin helped supervise.[2]

The film was shot in Jamaica and Nanuya Levu, a privately owned island in Fiji.[3] The flora and fauna featured in the film includes an array of animals from multiple continents. As it turned out, the iguanas filmed on Fiji were a species hitherto unknown to science; this was noted by the herpetologist John Gibbons when he watched the film, and after traveling to the island where the iguanas were filmed, he described the Fiji Crested Iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis) in 1981.[4] The blue lagoon scenes were shot in Comino Island, Malta and Champagne Bay, Vanuatu.[citation needed]

In the DVD and Blu-ray Disc versions of this film, it was stated that many of Brooke Shields' nude scenes were in fact done by older body doubles. In addition, the film's stunt coordinator Kathy Troutt was one of the body doubles as well as the dolphin trainer. It was also stated that Brooke Shields had done many of her topless scenes with her hair glued to her breasts.[1][5]

Underwater moving picture photography was performed by Ron & Valerie Taylor.[6]

Reception

Critical Reception

The Blue Lagoon was panned by critics. It currently holds an 11% or Rotten Tomatoes out of 18 reviews. [1] Roger Ebert gave the film 1 1/2 stars out of 4 claiming the movie "made him itch". [2]. Despite this the film has developed a cult following over the years.

Box office

The film was the ninth biggest box office hit of 1980 in North America according to Box Office Mojo, grossing US$58,853,106 in the United States and Canada.[7]

Awards and nominations

Nominee: Academy Award for Best Cinematography - Néstor Almendros
Nominee: Saturn Award - Best Fantasy Film
Nominee: Golden Globe Award, New Star of the Year - Christopher Atkins
Won: Worst Actress (Brooke Shields)
Nominee: Best Major Motion Picture - Family Entertainment
Nominee: Best Young Motion Picture Actor - Christopher Atkins
Nominee: Best Young Motion Picture Actress - Brooke Shields

Versions and adaptations

The Blue Lagoon was based on Henry De Vere Stacpoole's novel by the same name, which first appeared in 1908. The first film adaptation of the book was the British silent 1923 film of that name. There was another British adaptation in the 1949 version. The 1980 version was true to the spirit of the book. It included much more nudity and sex scenes than the 1949 version, though far less nudity and sexual activity than did the book.

The story was eventually continued in the 1991 sequel Return to the Blue Lagoon. This film loosely picks up where The Blue Lagoon left off, except that Richard and Emmeline are found dead in the boat. Their son is rescued. As Paddy's name is unknown to his rescuers, he is renamed Richard after his father.

The movie was briefly parodied in a flashback scene of Top Secret!. Quantum Leap episode 'Leaping of the shrew' guest-starred Brooke Shields, and was about a young man and woman marooned on a desert island.

On December 9, 2011, the cable TV network Lifetime greenlit a "contemporary remake" of the title with the television film Blue Lagoon: The Awakening.[8] It premiered on the channel on June 16, 2012.

Home media releases

DVD and Blu-ray

The Special Edition DVD, with both widescreen and full-screen versions, was released on October 5, 1999. Its special features include the theatrical trailer, the original featurette, a personal photo album by Brooke Shields, audio commentary by Randal Kleiser and Christopher Atkins, and another commentary by Randal Kleiser, Douglas Day Stewart, and Brooke Shields.[9] The film was re-released in 2005 as part of a two pack with its sequel, Return to the Blue Lagoon.[10]

A limited edition Blu-ray Disc of the film was released on December 11, 2012, by Twilight Time. Special features on the Blu-ray include an isolated score track, original trailer, three original teasers, behind the scenes featurette, An Adventure in Filmmaking: The Making of The Blue Lagoon, as well as audio commentary by Randal Kleiser, Douglas Day Stewart, and Brooke Shields and a second commentary by Randal Kleiser and Christopher Atkins.[11][12][13]

Streaming

The 1980 movie was made available for streaming through services such as Amazon Instant Video and Vudu.[14][15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b The Blue Lagoon (DVD special edition). Released October 5, 1999.
  2. ^ Scott Murray, "The Blue Lagoon: Interview with Randal Kleiser", Cinema Papers, June–July 1980 [166-169, 212
  3. ^ McMurran, Kristin (August 11, 1980). "Too Much, Too Young?". People Magazine. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  4. ^ Robert George Sprackland (1992). Giant lizards. Neptune, NJ: T.F.H. Publications. ISBN 0-86622-634-6.
  5. ^ The Blue Lagoon (1980) (Blu-Ray) Retrieved November 21, 2013
  6. ^ Valerie and Ron Taylor join the action in 'THE BLUE LAGOON', Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), November 19, 1980, pages 64 and 65, Retrieved February 17, 2013
  7. ^ 1980 Domestic Grosses
  8. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (December 9, 2011). "Lifetime Greenlights 'Blue Lagoon' Remake". Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  9. ^ 1999 DVD Release
  10. ^ 2005 DVD Double Feature release
  11. ^ The Blue Lagoon Blu-ray
  12. ^ Screen Archives
  13. ^ The Blue Lagoon Blu-ray, Twilight Time, 2012
  14. ^ Amazon.com: The Blue Lagoon
  15. ^ Vudu:The Blue Lagoon
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