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Hollywood's Ten Best Sailing Movies

By Kathleen Brooks


Whether it's the contrast of pounding surf against a clear blue sky, or watching man fight and win a battle with the challenges of a furious sea, we all like to sit safely at home and watch maritime nature unfold. If you ask ten people to name their ten favorite sailing movies, you will end up with a list of 100 movies with a marine theme.

One genre of nautical flicks is those with a military theme. One such specimen is 2003's, "Master and Commander, " starring Russel Crowe. Here, we see Crowe as the British captain pushing his ship and his crew to their limits in pursuit of a French warship during the Napoleonic Wars. Nominated for six Academy Awards and starring Klaus Wennemann, Jurgen Prochnow, and Herbert Gronemeyer, "Das Boot, " released in 1981, was mesmerizing viewers, both in English or in the original German with English subtitles.

Accidental misadventures are also popular. "White Squall" told the tale of a group of teenage boys on their maiden voyage. They got more than they bargained for by fighting for their lives in the storm of a lifetime. "Adrift, " on the other hand, is an equally harrowing story about a group of 30-somethings who manage to strand themselves off their boat when they dipped into the sea to cool off. Unfortunately, whoever drew up the chore rota for the day forgot to delegate someone to make sure they could get back on the boat. Now who was going to feed the crying baby on board?

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie franchise, starring Johnny Depp, is one of the most successful series' of maritime movies. These films were produced by the architect of numerous hit crime series', Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, not to mention hit films, "Top Gun, " "The Rock, " and "Con Air, " among many others.

Aging fishermen never seem to lose their appeal as leading characters. Ernest Hemingway's fishy tale, "The Old Man and the Sea, " has been released twice, four decades apart. Both films starred eminent actors Spencer Tracy (1958) and Anthony Quinn (1999) in the starring role. It has also been made into an animated cartoon lasting 20 minutes.

People who enjoy the sensation of their hearts pulsating in their throats will enjoy 2013's, "All is Lost, " a harrowing tale with no dialogue starring Robert Redford. Coping with the aftermath of crashing into a shipping container during a raging storm, Redford has no time for friendly chit chat.

Similar to "All is Lost, " "Dead Calm" offers viewers a similar heart-in-throat sensation, but for completely different reasons. In this tale, a grieving couple on a romantic voyage are cruising along happily until they take on psychopathic shipwrecked sailor, Billy Zane.

The sea provides a stage for all types of stories, from war films, to romance and psychological thrillers. Pirate movies are in a genre all their own. Sometimes, the most dramatic stories take place with a small handful of characters, making them perfectly suitable for the claustrophobic confines of a seagoing vessel. The combination of confined spaces and minimal casts enables the director to fully develop the characters of the individuals and the way in which they interact with one another.




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