At the Movies: Ships & Boats

A number of years ago now, I published a post here about movies involving trains which led, I thought, to a good conversation. I've decided to do it again, but this time change the mode of transportation to watercraft: ships and boats. I'll list several of my favorite movies in which ships or boats are featured prominently, discuss a bit about the movie, and include therefrom a clip or three. I'm asking that readers feel free to list their favorite "ships and boats" movie(s) below in the comments. Let's get started.

My favorite "ships and boats" movie is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It's a 2003 movie produced and directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. Crowe and Bettany play Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin, the two main characters in a series of novels by Patrick O'Brian set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. In the movie, Aubrey is the captain of HMS Surprise, a frigate on patrol in the South Atlantic off the coast of South America in 1805 with orders to capture the French privateer Acheron, which has been sinking British commercial ships.

Early on he is surprised by Acheron twice—his ship suffering significant damage on the first occasion and sneaking away the second time by some clever subterfuge. Much later he is able to achieve his mission and capture the Acheron with subterfuge again playing a role. In between, we see a lot of what daily life was like aboard a warship during the Napoleonic Wars: manning and operating the ship, eating, surviving the elements, and living together in close quarters. It's a well-made movie in just about every area—great direction and cinematography, good acting from both the stars and the supporting players, and realistic in the details of both the war fighting and the operation of a sailing ship, at least according to this landlubber.

Now on to a few clips from this movie. First, Aubrey can't help but make a bad pun at the expense of Dr. Maturin during an officer's dinner. (1:07)

The Surprise is in the middle of a storm and is at risk of foundering when one of its topgallant masts falls overboard with a man clinging to it. Aubrey is forced to cut the rigging loose to save the ship at the expense of the man overboard. (5:54)

One of the midshipmen, Hollom, is unable to gain the respect of the crew, prompting insubordination against him that Aubrey must punish. This leads to a dispute between Aubrey & Maturin in which their differences are aired. Aubrey is a realist who understands what it takes to keep order aboard a ship. His worldview is probably similar to the one that Thomas Sowell describes as the constrained vision. His friend Maturin makes arguments closer to those Sowell describes as the unconstrained view. (2:41)

Because the Acheron is bigger and stronger than the Surprise, Aubrey trains the gun crews to fire their rounds more quickly to have a chance against the larger vessel. (1:17)

As I noted earlier, there are three encounters between the Surprise and the Acheron. Here is a portion of the first encounter. (3:11)

Eventually, Aubrey can take the upper hand in his dealings with the Acheron. By pretending to be a whaler, he is able to gain the advantage, bring the fight to the Acheron and achieve victory. This scene is the start of that surprise attack on the Acheron. (3:08)

Ok, I'm just about to the end of my Master and Commander stuff. Just two more short clips: Aubrey (violin) and Maturin (cello) play musical instruments and occasionally find enjoyment playing together in the Captain's quarters. (1:42)

It's not entirely true to say there are no women in this movie, but it's almost true. The video below spoofs this, calling itself "The Women's Cut." In one scene, the Surprise anchors somewhere off the coast of Brazil and trades with the natives. I imagine other women in the boats come out to greet the Surprise, but Aubrey does notice one young lady in particular. (Note that although the clip is listed as one minute thirteen seconds in length, the rest is just credits outside of 0:15-0:32, when the Brazilian girl and her interplay with Jack Aubrey are shown.)

My second favorite "ships and boats movie" is The Enemy Below. It's a 1957 movie produced and directed by Dick Powell and starring Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens. It tells the story of a running battle between a U.S. Navy destroyer escort (DE) and a German U-boat somewhere in the South Atlantic during World War II.

There, the aforementioned destroyer escort USS Haynes and a German U-boat encounter one another. The two vessels play a game of cat and mouse wherein both have opportunities to break off the engagement, but neither can nor does. Both vessels are eventually abandoned, with the surviving crews then rescued by a U.S. warship. It's a well-done movie with plenty of attention to detail. The stars (Mitchum and Jurgens) are well-suited and excellent in their roles.

In this first scene, the crew of the USS Haynes races to battle stations. (1:39)

The Haynes is able to avoid a torpedo attack. (1:39)

The Haynes runs a series of depth charges on the U-boat, and a sailor is injured while adjusting the settings. (2:55)

The U-boat successfully torpedoes the DE. Captain Murrell (Mitchum) issues the abandon ship order, but not before setting a trap, hoping it will bring the U-boat to the surface where he can attack it. (6:47)

The Haynes rams the surfaced U-boat, putting both vessels out of action. (4:01)

It turns out that The Enemy Below is now in the public domain, so I might as well post the entire movie here.

So, my first two films have virtually no women in them. Well, the one does have a girl in it, and she's cute, but she's only on screen for 10 seconds or so. So this, my number 3 "ships and boats movie," will include women (and that's a promise). The movie is To Have and Have Not. It's a Warner Bros. movie from 1944, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. It's the first pairing of these two. Though that's probably the most notable fact about it, To Have and Have Not is a commendable movie in its own right.

The movie has at least some faint—though sometimes not so faint—echoes to Casablanca. Just like Casablanca, Bogey's an American expat in a French colony (Martinique this time) under Vichy control during the middle of World War II. He's somewhat ambivalent about the current political situation. And like Casablanca, he's got a small business (fishing chartering), though it is much less financially successful than Rick's Café.

In this scene, Bogart (Harry "Steve" Morgan) has taken his client out fishing but looks to be losing money in the process. (4:23)

A gun battle between anti-Vichy and Vichy forces takes place in the hotel bar where Steve and Slim (Bacall) are staying. They're caught in the crossfire, resulting in the death of Steve's chartering client just as he was about to pay Steve the money he was due. This sends the pair to the Vichy police station, where the police chief sees fit to take the money Steve has in his wallet. On the way back from the police station, Steve explains the political situation on the island to her, and she figures out a way to put some money in her own pocket. (2:53)

This next clip is the most famous scene in the movie. I'll let it speak for itself. (3:17)

Steve eventually decides to take up hotel owner Frenchie's (an anti-Vichy guy) plea to use his boat to transport a French resistance member to Martinique. In the process the resistance member is shot in the arm and is hidden in the basement of the hotel. There, Steve removes the bullet. (On a side note, the woman playing the resistance fighter's wife [Dolores Moran] was originally to be Ann Sheridan until the role was later shrunk down.) (4:43)

I'm gonna skip ahead to the end of the movie with Steve, Slim and Eddie (Walter Brennan) leaving Martinique—probably a step or two in front of the gendarmerie. By the way, the bar piano player is prolific songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, who is also making his movie debut. (0:57)

So, that's it. I think I'll stop there. Those are my three favorite "ships and boats movies." Feel free to chime in with your favorite on-theme movie, or post a video from a favorite scene involving a ship or boat.