I wish I’d seen All Is Lost on tv so I could have shut it off or at least changed the channel. I saw it in Providence, Rhode Island on a rainy weekday afternoon. When I came out of the Theater, the parking meter that I had fed with quarters had a large sign on it as did the others up and down the street, loudly proclaiming “NO PARKING, EMERGENCY TOW ZONE” that public works had put up while I was inside watching that horrid film. A meter maid had also passed by as I suffered through that poor excuse for a movie and placed a $100 ticket under my windshield wiper. I still had 30 minutes left as I called the local gendarmes to rectify the injustice. They refused and I went to court months later with my numerous copies of photographic evidence. I waited hours to present my case before the judge. He cut my soliloquy short, stating that it was unconstitutional for the ticket to be issued and instructed the clerk to cancel the fine. I asked if I could show him the photographs that I had prepared and printed ( shades of 27 eight by ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one…remember Alice? )using the entire contents my three color ink supply? He strongly suggested that I accept his innocent decree and move on with my stack of pretty pictures. Boy I hate that movie.
I dislike Shogun intensely. Every time the author had the opportunity to make a mistake, he did, in all of his novels. What first turned me off was when the mate said to the captain during the opening storm, "The ship is floundering." when he should have said foundering. It called the rest of his research into question. Tai Pan has the same sort of errors, but I don't know whether it was put on the screen.
Master and Commander is pretty good. I especially liked the effects, such as the creaking of the rudder when they were dining in the cabin. The gudgeons and pintles above the waterline should have been greased but that would have sacrificed the effect.
i was technical advisor on a movie and I tried to get Joaquim Phoenix to row the way a waterman would have. He ignored me. I do not believe the movie was ever released in the US.
You forgot Moana! The best sailing movie ever. 😎 my wife tries to tell me there is another meaning to the movie but I always argue if she didn’t learn to sail or wayfind there is no purpose to the movie.
Waterworld - oh my. The only thing I thought of while watching that would be how nice it would be to no longer where a life preserver! Gills would be so sweet. But, too far fetched for me
Wind is one of my favorites, but for practical filming purposes, the actors are often shown “helming” from the leeward side (so the actual sailing crew can helm from windward as they should)
I have seen Knife In The Water twice and rate it right up there with not only and excellent sailing movie but a psychological thriller as well. Riddle of the Sands with Michael York had some good sailing scenes as well. interesting side to the book and movie is that Erskine Childers, the author of the book, was executed for using the same method of smuggling arms. Should have learned from his book that wouldn't work! Truthfully, I find most "Sailing Movies" have sailing as a secondary plot device rather than actually germane to the story. There were some good sailing scenes in the comedy "Summer Rental" In the big sailing scenes John Candy renovates a boat that had been turned into a restaurant and wins the Regatta that had previously been won by the Richard Crenna character like 20 times in a row. Movies like Captain and Commander have a lot of sailing but its all ships, not Small Craft!
Don’t forget Moana- i remember watching w my kids and suddenly realizing these Disney did their research on polynesian canoes n navigation- and captured the joys n fears of sailing too. Refreshing after all the impossible boats animated by non sailors in other kid flics.
I identify best with Riddle Of The Sands---I studied the area when I was there on a merchant ship many years ago .I sailed our old gaff rigged ketch through the Bahamas without most electronics, including GPS. but of course went north of Bimmini by not correctly estimating the current! Weather was mostly good, but trying to tack into Nassau at night was frustrating. The Dove was inspiring at my age.
Not a sailing movie but we like the scenes from Top Gun: Maverick when Penny is teaching Maverick the ropes. Reminiscent of when Skipper took me out for the first time on a Sunfish :)
Kent, and my first time aboard a Trapeze (one design class in Norway 1969) and on the Trapeze thinking Columus was right, the world is flat and I'm about to fall off it - so cool at 13 years old.
Top Gun Maveric - great scene! but you know there had to be three instructors just inside the hatch praying things didn't go wrong! In my head anyway...
I have little sailing experience, and none offshore, but I didn't think All is Lost was a bad movie. The movie isn't about sailing, it just happens to take place on a boat at sea. It's about a man contemplating the end of his life which we know he had been doing since before he stepped on to his boat for his final voyage. The end just came a lot faster than he anticipated. The film could have been shot on a mountain, in the jungle, or in battle. The ocean was the setting, not the subject. I do get why it might bother some sailors though.
There are some nice documentary films about sailing. I recently watched the Wizard of Zenda (Buddy Melges Documentary) at a local sailing club. Also, Manry at Sea, In the Wake of a Dream is another very good film that should be on all small boat sailor's lists.
The blatant blunder I see most often is the sailboat/ship moving along smartly with no wind whatsoever. Sometimes you can see the propeller wake clearly, other times the vessel is probably ly being towed.
Kent L. I have not seen all of these movies but I do notice inaccurate scenes and statements all of the time. Especially on the news. That being said, the documentary The Last Sailors was very interesting.
It's been close to 30 years when I had purchased & read the book "The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst" by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall. The basic premise, of sailing around the world in a race sponsored by a British newspaper, was enough for tales of adventure on the high seas by the people who had entered this race to make an interesting motion picture. But the story within that story remains one of the most tragic tales of all.
I did not see the Hollywood adaption of the Crowhust story, but I do have my DVD copy of "Deep Water", an excellent docu-movie about the race, as told by the actual people who raced around the world on their sailboats as well as the children and widow of Donald Crowhurst. You come away from it with great sympathy for the Crowhurst family and as well as for Crowhurst himself, who had backed himself so deep into a corner mentally, that he felt his only way out was by suicide. And I came away impressed by his fellow sailors, who had great empathy for Crowhurst, once they found out the truth.
I wish I’d seen All Is Lost on tv so I could have shut it off or at least changed the channel. I saw it in Providence, Rhode Island on a rainy weekday afternoon. When I came out of the Theater, the parking meter that I had fed with quarters had a large sign on it as did the others up and down the street, loudly proclaiming “NO PARKING, EMERGENCY TOW ZONE” that public works had put up while I was inside watching that horrid film. A meter maid had also passed by as I suffered through that poor excuse for a movie and placed a $100 ticket under my windshield wiper. I still had 30 minutes left as I called the local gendarmes to rectify the injustice. They refused and I went to court months later with my numerous copies of photographic evidence. I waited hours to present my case before the judge. He cut my soliloquy short, stating that it was unconstitutional for the ticket to be issued and instructed the clerk to cancel the fine. I asked if I could show him the photographs that I had prepared and printed ( shades of 27 eight by ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one…remember Alice? )using the entire contents my three color ink supply? He strongly suggested that I accept his innocent decree and move on with my stack of pretty pictures. Boy I hate that movie.
Ha! Double whammy.
I dislike Shogun intensely. Every time the author had the opportunity to make a mistake, he did, in all of his novels. What first turned me off was when the mate said to the captain during the opening storm, "The ship is floundering." when he should have said foundering. It called the rest of his research into question. Tai Pan has the same sort of errors, but I don't know whether it was put on the screen.
Master and Commander is pretty good. I especially liked the effects, such as the creaking of the rudder when they were dining in the cabin. The gudgeons and pintles above the waterline should have been greased but that would have sacrificed the effect.
i was technical advisor on a movie and I tried to get Joaquim Phoenix to row the way a waterman would have. He ignored me. I do not believe the movie was ever released in the US.
My wife and I both work in movies and TV.
Enjoyed the heck out of Wind.
Very interesting!
You forgot Moana! The best sailing movie ever. 😎 my wife tries to tell me there is another meaning to the movie but I always argue if she didn’t learn to sail or wayfind there is no purpose to the movie.
The Dove (1974). Robin Lee Graham.
Honorable mention to “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1999)
Second honorable mention to “Waterworld” (1995).
Waterworld - oh my. The only thing I thought of while watching that would be how nice it would be to no longer where a life preserver! Gills would be so sweet. But, too far fetched for me
Wind is one of my favorites, but for practical filming purposes, the actors are often shown “helming” from the leeward side (so the actual sailing crew can helm from windward as they should)
You beat us to it, some beautiful filming.
Many of my favorite times at the helm are sitting on the lee side!
I have seen Knife In The Water twice and rate it right up there with not only and excellent sailing movie but a psychological thriller as well. Riddle of the Sands with Michael York had some good sailing scenes as well. interesting side to the book and movie is that Erskine Childers, the author of the book, was executed for using the same method of smuggling arms. Should have learned from his book that wouldn't work! Truthfully, I find most "Sailing Movies" have sailing as a secondary plot device rather than actually germane to the story. There were some good sailing scenes in the comedy "Summer Rental" In the big sailing scenes John Candy renovates a boat that had been turned into a restaurant and wins the Regatta that had previously been won by the Richard Crenna character like 20 times in a row. Movies like Captain and Commander have a lot of sailing but its all ships, not Small Craft!
Scully's catch of the day! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znoRNXBBfOc
Morning Light about a young crew on the TransPac is a great sailing movie. Shows the commitment of some crewmembers and the beauty of sailing.
Don’t forget Moana- i remember watching w my kids and suddenly realizing these Disney did their research on polynesian canoes n navigation- and captured the joys n fears of sailing too. Refreshing after all the impossible boats animated by non sailors in other kid flics.
I identify best with Riddle Of The Sands---I studied the area when I was there on a merchant ship many years ago .I sailed our old gaff rigged ketch through the Bahamas without most electronics, including GPS. but of course went north of Bimmini by not correctly estimating the current! Weather was mostly good, but trying to tack into Nassau at night was frustrating. The Dove was inspiring at my age.
Not a sailing movie but we like the scenes from Top Gun: Maverick when Penny is teaching Maverick the ropes. Reminiscent of when Skipper took me out for the first time on a Sunfish :)
Kent, and my first time aboard a Trapeze (one design class in Norway 1969) and on the Trapeze thinking Columus was right, the world is flat and I'm about to fall off it - so cool at 13 years old.
Top Gun Maveric - great scene! but you know there had to be three instructors just inside the hatch praying things didn't go wrong! In my head anyway...
I have little sailing experience, and none offshore, but I didn't think All is Lost was a bad movie. The movie isn't about sailing, it just happens to take place on a boat at sea. It's about a man contemplating the end of his life which we know he had been doing since before he stepped on to his boat for his final voyage. The end just came a lot faster than he anticipated. The film could have been shot on a mountain, in the jungle, or in battle. The ocean was the setting, not the subject. I do get why it might bother some sailors though.
There are some nice documentary films about sailing. I recently watched the Wizard of Zenda (Buddy Melges Documentary) at a local sailing club. Also, Manry at Sea, In the Wake of a Dream is another very good film that should be on all small boat sailor's lists.
The blatant blunder I see most often is the sailboat/ship moving along smartly with no wind whatsoever. Sometimes you can see the propeller wake clearly, other times the vessel is probably ly being towed.
Here's another one of the best... Sailor, Sufi, Spy: about the life of Bob Darr.
https://vimeo.com/414110479
It will blow your mind.
Kent L. I have not seen all of these movies but I do notice inaccurate scenes and statements all of the time. Especially on the news. That being said, the documentary The Last Sailors was very interesting.
It's been close to 30 years when I had purchased & read the book "The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst" by Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall. The basic premise, of sailing around the world in a race sponsored by a British newspaper, was enough for tales of adventure on the high seas by the people who had entered this race to make an interesting motion picture. But the story within that story remains one of the most tragic tales of all.
I did not see the Hollywood adaption of the Crowhust story, but I do have my DVD copy of "Deep Water", an excellent docu-movie about the race, as told by the actual people who raced around the world on their sailboats as well as the children and widow of Donald Crowhurst. You come away from it with great sympathy for the Crowhurst family and as well as for Crowhurst himself, who had backed himself so deep into a corner mentally, that he felt his only way out was by suicide. And I came away impressed by his fellow sailors, who had great empathy for Crowhurst, once they found out the truth.