Kurt Russell plays the boozy sailor of the title as a mixture of Long John Silver, his own Snake Plissken from Escape from New York and Bogart's skipper from The African Queen in this uneasy, though commercially very successful comedy which takes a while to find its sea-legs.

There are just enough funny moments to keep most audiences happy, though, in a colourful romp which runs like a waterbound sideshoot from What About Bob? Little Martin Short looks less than comfortable in his straight man role, as the head of the family who hire the rapscallion Ron more or less by accident, but Russell, his sense of direction as wayward as his eye patch, has a whale of a time in the title role.

Paul Anka, once a famous pop star (remember his hit song Diana? ) has a supporting role as Donaldson.