Sailing Movies?

[DArcy]

I recently watched Master and Commander for the first time and really enjoyed it.

I will also second Water World, it is Mad Max on the water

There are always the classics, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Sea Wolf, Moby Dick, etc.

Which Mutiny on Bounty? I sailed for a while on the ship from the Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins movie. It was fun watching the movie on board the ship

One that may not really be classified as a sailing movie, more of an erotic thriller with a sailing theme, is Wild Things.

 

[BarryL]

Hey,

DONT watch 'All Is Lost.' It's just terrible.

"Styx" is pretty good but there isn't all that much sailing.

Good luck,
Barry

 

[Terry Cox]

But any recommendations, for things I might watch on Amazon Prime, Youtube, etc., are appreciated!

This one is pretty good:

 

[jviss]

Which Mutiny on Bounty?

Wow, that's a good question. I love both the 1935 and 1962 versions.

 

[Kings Gambit]

The trouble with 'dead calm' is that the sailing footage is not credible for the most part...

One I don't see mentioned is 'Wind".. it's a semi fictional story about the old 12 Meter America's Cup era. It was filmed using some surviving 12 meters in some pretty good breezes. Lightweight plot but actually some of the better 'under sail' footages around.

I must agree about Dead Calm. You have this absurd scene with Nicole Kidman standing, holding to a shroud with her right hand, her left arm extended outboard, the boat sailing at 4 kt, like she's going to reach someone in the water over 5 ft of freeboard and pull him aboard the boat. Hilarious.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I must agree about Dead Calm. You have this absurd scene with Nicole Kidman standing, holding to a shroud with her right hand, her left arm extended outboard, the boat sailing at 4 kt, like she's going to reach someone in the water over 5 ft of freeboard and pull him aboard the boat. Hilarious.

Except the entire movie was never about sailing. Guess some just didn't get it.
Captain Ron, and the docking sequence, port side to using prop walk, best instructional ever filmed. See ya at Ted's!

 

[Joe]

The trouble with 'dead calm' is that the sailing footage is not credible for the most part...

One I don't see mentioned is 'Wind".. it's a semi fictional story about the old 12 Meter America's Cup era. It was filmed using some surviving 12 meters in some pretty good breezes. Lightweight plot but actually some of the better 'under sail' footages around.

See post #5, I provided a link so you can watch on YT.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Getting right down to, it’s tough to produce a sailing story/film to interest us and the general public (GP) movie goer who must attend for the film for it to make money, etc. The sets aboard the boat or ship, such as cabins, etc., are unrealistic (usually far larger than in reality); when filming action scenes on the boat it’s usually not sailing. There’s too much jargon for the GP, but not enough for actual sailors viewing. The basic formula for a movie, “good guys, bad guys”, romance, crises, impossible special effects ( like gigantic sperm whales) make them less interesting to us.

Yes, Wind has the best actual sailing footage, some decent scenes aboard the boat although with a somewhat silly storyline. I’ve watched it many times.

 

[Kings Gambit]

My actual favorite “at sea” movie is Run Silent, Run Deep with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. The scenes below deck are realistic. After a brief tour of the USS Bowfin museum at Pearl Harbor (same class of sub used in filming the movie), I understood more about the film’s sets. Tough to make a good movie with scenes on an actual WWII submarine (as is true with a sailboat). Of course, the plot has to contain some of the above-mentioned elements. Still good; good acting.