Pirates of the Plain

Plot summary

Bobby, who lives on a farm in an unspecified area of Nebraska with his mother, Glenna (Dee Wallace), and grandfather (Charles Napier), is a typical eight-year-old boy with an overactive imagination. Often receiving punishment for his make-believe adventures, Bobby believes his imagination to be a negative trait. When Bobby's grandfather falls and breaks his arm due to an approaching storm, Bobby is left on the farm alone while his mother accompanies his grandfather to the hospital.

During this storm, a "vortex in time" is created and deposits "Captain" Jezebel Jack, a self-centered pirate who was forced to walk the plank on his own ship and sent into the vortex. Jack awakes in a field of wheat, where he finds Bobby, who tends to his wounds after he loses consciousness yet again.

While adapting to the advances of modern technology (such as a television), Jack is told of an old buried treasure map by Bobby, and demands they follow the map. Bobby explains that his grandfather explained to him the story, and that the map is written in some unknown code. Jack says that the map is in "Adventurer's Code", in which he is fluent. The two immediately begin to follow the map, and quickly find the treasure buried under an old tool shed.

Shortly after uncovering the treasure, another vortex in time is opened, and the rest of Jack's mutinied crew is deposited. The crew quickly learn of the treasure, and open attack on Jack and Bobby, who are forced to defend the house and the treasure. After Bobby, who has by now become close friends with Jack, is captured and held in ransom, Jack is forced to hand over what is believed to be the treasure. The boy is released, but Jack is forced to stay with the crew, who are teleported back to their native time.

The crew quickly discover that the treasure they received is a counterfeit: bricks covered in aluminum foil. By the time the crew realize that they've been tricked, Jezebel Jack is able to retreat to the murky water, where he is once again deposited to the Nebraska plains.

Cast

Production

Actor Jim Varney was originally considered for a role, but was ultimately unable to appear in the film due to declining health. Varney had previously worked with Cherry on the Ernest P. Worrell films. This was one of only two films Cherry directed that did not feature Ernest (the other being For Love or Mummy, a Laurel and Hardy tribute). Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa.

The film crew spent months in Africa's veld, constructing a full-size pirate ship and growing wheat on a hundred acres of land to resemble Nebraska, as the script required that the ship sail across waves of grain. The ship was built on a tractor-trailer frame.