RSSShips At Sea In The Movies & Art plus Three Captain Jacks
14 Jan 2009 2 Comments
in Art, Discussion, Movies
Since water constitutes about 71 percent of the Earth’s surface and is essential to all known forms of life, it is a safe bet to assume that if you are reading this you have access to water on a daily basis and you likely live near a body of water. Given that many of you live near a coast, it is no surprise for me to tell you that man has had and likely will always have a fascination about what lies on the opposite shore.
Long ago Mankind found a way to travel across the seas or what ever body of water they found themselves at. Back then it might have a simple straw boat, or maybe a complex straw boat, like the one below. Or maybe it was
a dugout tree trunk, or a rudimentary raft. Then came boats with oarsmen, sailing craft, steam boats, then motorized vessels, and even boats that could travel below the sea’s surface. Today we have supertankers, nuclear powered submarines, ships so big they are called floating hotels, as well as naval ships that can launch weaponry to attack enemy strongholds on land while hundreds of miles away from any shore.
Sea travel or crossing water is here to stay – be it a daily ferry commute, or a lengthy sea cruise as a vacation. Others earn their livelihood at sea; be it fishing, or transporting cargo. Pleasure boats have gotten bigger and faster. People race sail boats for honor, prestige, and glory. Boats are used in the commission of crimes, or to capture criminals,
like when Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, as undercover vice-cops used a fast boat as part of a mission to bust a drug lord in the Miami Vice movie, or simply just to have a day on the water and get away from it all. And let’s not forget that all countries with a sea coast possess a navy that contains warships. Probably not like those picture below, more likely a tad newer.
We take the sea for granted although we are not unaware of it’s dangers. Storms,
shoals, and sea scavengers also known as pirates who lay waiting in safe harbors before venturing out to sea what the tide has brought them, or to take forcibly from those who have crossed their path.
Yet we embrace the sea. People will continue to challenge the sea while others, standing on whatever shore or coast, know that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, on another shore, someone much like themselves is standing on a beach, or a dock, or a jetty, with the same thoughts.
The seas and waterways across the world are so much a part of our daily lives that we have included them as parts of our leisure time, even when we are nowhere near any body of water. Today there are many examples from the world of art, books and movies about the seafaring life. Even music can be related to the life at or near the sea. A prime example of this is the so-called ‘Surfin’ music. This music was born and grew in Southern California, where surfing (above and below) is a way of life for some.
Over a period of a few years, The Beach Boys song writer Brian Wilson, along with musician Van Dyke Parks, and a couple of others, wrote a song called Sail On Sailor. It was first recorded in 1972, though some say it was 1971 and was then released as a single in 1973. Though it did not achieve much success as a single, it still has its place in the annals of music as well as being a part of this column. From the lyrics:
I sailed an ocean, unsettled ocean
Through restful waters and deep commotion
Often frightened, unenlightened
Sail on, sail on, sailor
With those lyrics as our cue, we’ll look at some examples of being on the water. Some will be pure exhilaration. But not all of them will be pleasant or have happy endings. For many, their lives ended while at sea and their finally resting place was not a plot in a cemetery but somewhere on the bottom of a vast ocean.
American artist Winslow Homer (1836-1910) painted working men at sea as well as seaside vistas. His works are usually darker, and in some way foreboding, possibly due to his method of scale and size. While fully realistic his works are not noted for their detail. Check out Breezing Up (above top), Watching the Breakers (above), and The Herring Net (below). All of these convey both Homer’s fascination with the sea as well as its strength and power.
And speaking of fishing, Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss starred in one of the most famous movies about what could happen when you are at sea. Of course we are referencing Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975)
from the Peter Benchley novel of the same name. Who will ever forget what Scheider as Police Chief Martin Brody said after seeing what they were going to do battle with:
You’re going to need a bigger boat.
Just as memorable if not more so was the chilling and unforgettable monologue by Robert Shaw as Quint as he remembered and spoke of what happened to the U.S.S. Indianapolis on June 29th, 1945. His conclusion: -
I’ll never put on a life-jacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest…
In case you were thinking, those guys were looking for the shark, fishing isn’t all that risky, how about The Perfect Storm (2000)
which starred George Clooney as Captain Billy Tyne
and Mark Wahlberg as Bobby Shatford. These guys went looking for fish. They needed a monster catch.
Instead they ran into a monster storm. They failed to heed the weather warnings. Back in Gloucester, old-time sailor Quentin, after hearing where they were heading for said:
The Flemish Cap? Went there once…’62. Lots of fish…and lots of weather…
Not all sea captains meet the fate of Clooney’s Billy Tyne. We’ve discussed Captain Bligh from Mutiny on the Bounty in another article some time ago, so we will give him a pass this time. Sea captains are a hardy lot. They must be full of courage and they must know how to handle their men. Some are adored by their crews and revered while others are simply hated and reviled. Let’s start with a very recent Captain who was so favorably accepted by the movie going public, that he was given two sequels to the original movie.
Of course this can be none other than Captain Jack Sparrow, of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Sparrow was played memorably by everyone’s favorite buccaneer Johnny Depp.
In a scene with the comely Elizabeth, Jack had this perfect description of what his ship and the life at sea meant to him,
Elizabeth: And you’ll be positively the most fearsome pirates in the Spanish Main.
Jack Sparrow: Not just the Spanish Main, luv. The entire ocean. The entire wo’ld. Wherever we want to go,we’ll go. That’s what a ship is, you know. It’s not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that’s what a ship needs but what a ship is… what the Black Pearl really is… is freedom.
Yes, freedom on the seas, and the freedom of the seas. Worth fighting for wouldn’t you say. In Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Russell Crowe portrays Captain Jack Aubrey. This Jack, unlike Depp’s Jack was a naval commander in the British Royal Navy. But he too was adored by his men.
This movie was set during the Napoleonic Wars. Crowe pushes his ship and his men to their limits in pursuit of a powerful French warship around the horn of South America.
His rallying cry to his men:
England is under threat of invasion, and though we be on the far side of the world,this ship is our home. This ship *is* England.
On another ship, in another war, the good guys and the bad guys are not clearly defined. The Caine Mutiny (1954) from the Herman Wouk novel is the story of a US Naval Captain who showed signs of mental instability that could jeopardize the ship. He is relieved of command by a subordinate officer who will then face a court martial for mutiny.
Captain Phillip Francis Queeg was played by Humprey Bogart. Queeg was part dictator, part captain, and part supreme egotist. Speaking to Lt. Stephen Maryk (the late Van Johnson) who would later take command, Queeg said:
Mr. Maryk, you may tell the crew for me that there are four ways of doing things aboard my ship: The right way, the wrong way, the Navy way, and my way. They do things my way, and we’ll get along.
Maybe Queeg was a megalomaniac. He also said:
Aboard my ship, excellent performance is standard, standard performance is sub-standard, and sub-standard performance is not permitted to exist – that, I warn you.
So the case went to a court martial. Maryk was defended by Lt. Barney Greenwald who was portrayed by Jose Ferrar in a brilliant performance. Greenwald did his job. He torpedoed the hapless Queeg in the courtroom, and Maryk was acquitted. But Greenwald was not happy about getting his client off. In a powerful concluding scene at a party celebrating Maryk’s acquittal, Greenwald faces Lt Tom Keefer who was played by Fred MacMurray
I wanna drink a toast to you, Mr. Keefer. From the beginning you hated the Navy. And then you thought up this whole idea and you managed to keep your skirts nice and starched and clean, even in the court martial. Steve Maryk will always be remembered as a mutineer.
But you, you’ll publish your novel, you’ll make a million bucks, you’ll marry a big movie star, and for the rest of your life you’ll live with your conscience, if you have any. Here’s to the real author of the Caine mutiny. Here’s to you, Mr. Keefer. [Splashes wine in Keefer's face] If you wanna do anything about it, I’ll be outside. I’m a lot drunker than you are – so it’ll be a fair fight.
But sometimes a story on the high seas is not about the navy, or history, or even a mindless predator like a shark. Sometimes it is about the most dangerous of all species. Man.
Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman, and Billy Zane played the leads in Dead Calm (1989). This was, in no uncertain terms, a thriller on the high seas. Neill and Kidman play a married couple who sail off into the Pacific Ocean to try and forget about a tragic accident. In some dead calm waters, they come upon a mysterious yacht with Zane as the sole survivor. Of course they had no way of knowing that later they would have to fight for their lives
as the man who they helped, Hughie, was a homicidal maniac. This movie had a couple of memorable tag-lines:
High Seas – Deep Terror & In the middle of nowhere, there is nowhere to hide!
How about one more – one more movie, one more famous ship, and one more Jack.
Can you guess what I am referring to? I alluded to this way above in the 3rd paragraph when I mentioned ships so big they are called floating hotels. Yes, it can be no other then Titanic (1997) directed by James Cameron. To those of you who guessed Aquaman, I’m sorry that is incorrect.
The Titanic only sailed once. Its maiden voyage was its last voyage. Though this is the story of an ill-fated ship,
it is also a classic love story between Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater. The movie’s tag-line was:
A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets
There is a wonderful exchange between Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack, and Kate Winslet’s Rose which perfectly encapsulates their attraction:
Jack: Where to, Miss?
Rose: To the stars.
Later, in their last moments, there’s a memorable line by Rose, as she’s letting go of Jack’s hand as he has already perished,
I’ll never let go, Jack. I promise.
Since the movie begins with an elderly woman, who was a survivor of the Titanic, reminiscing, or should I say still struggling, years and years later, to come to terms with what occurred that fateful night,
we know what is going to happen over the next two plus hours of the movie. Her words are unforgettable, and a fitting way to close this article which I have chosen to call Three Jacks.
Fifteen-hundred people went into the sea, when Titanic sank from under us. There were twenty boats floating nearby… and only one came back. One. Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six… out of fifteen-hundred. Afterward, the seven-hundred people in the boats had nothing to do but wait… wait to die… wait to live… wait for an absolution… that would never come.
Thanks for reading.
Jan 17, 2009 @ 17:40:52
Good article! It’s good to know that gravour idol maniacs have a good taste in other categories too. H. Bogart is my all time favourite, mostly because of his noire films but the one you have choosed is also a masterpiece. I think that nowadays actors can’t be compared to old masters – Eastwood, Peck, Bogart, Cagney etc.
Jan 17, 2009 @ 20:13:19
Thanks for the comments . Glad to hear you’re a Bogie man. Me too.
jmm