What's the least accurate TV/film portrayal of sailing/boats that you've seen?

Must say I've always envied Dexter when he manages unobserved to dump bodies overboard from his boat. Whenever I do anything I'd rather keep quiet (running over the dinghy, one leg on the boat one on the receding pntoon etc......) there's usually a crowd of anchored boats or yotties on the sailing club veranda taking an unhealthy interest in what I'm doing.
 
George Clooney's (Cohen brothers') Burn After Reading features the most gorgeous classic yacht (anyone know the details?) seen from both outside and inside. The interior is as gorgeous as the exterior, but about 10x the size.
 
Grehan said:
The interior is as gorgeous as the exterior, but about 10x the size.
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Isn't that always the way with boats on TV and Film? I was watching CSI Miami the other night where a murder took place on a 30 something foot SeaRay. The murder victim was lying spread out on the floor in a pool of blood with acres of space all around.
 
Don't think it's just sailing. I have a feeling that with filming, most technical details get binned in favour of plot. Or it's just too difficult to do it properly.

The film of True Blue, about the 87 Oxford boat race mutiny (rowing) is a case in point. There's a point in the book where Topolski gets a crew together, and it all works and the boat flies. It's when he starts to think that he might win. In the film, the rowing would disgrace a novice J13 crew - too shonky for words. I suppose to actually teach the actors to row properly would have taken too long.
 
Nigel 1,

sacrilege ! May you always beam down in a red shirt !

-Rather good parody actually...

Keen Ed,

too right it's not just sailing; 'Top Gun' is highly regarded, the thing mainly admired by people like me is the level of co-operation the makers were given by the US Navy; unthinkable with the MOD I'm sorry to say.

In fact it shows dummy inert Sidewinder missiles being loaded for the final battle, 'Goose' the RIO tapping a TV screen fuel guage as if the needle is stuck on a dial, Tom Cruise saying " I can't reach the ( ejection seat ) handle ! " when on the Tomcat there's a handle between one's legs for exactly this reason, and the film is widely regarded as a comedy within military aircraft circles.:rolleyes:
 
Seajet said:
I think most of the film culprits have been mentioned, but I remember reading a Robert Ludlum book going into lots of detail on spying techniques, then at the end the hero buys a yacht; " as he winched the berthing lines bar taut " ! That went out of the window, and I suspected I may need other instruction on how to deal with the KGB... :rolleyes:
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he may have trained in the med, you do that there......

best go and get the book back!
 
Elessar said:
he may have trained in the med, you do that there......

best go and get the book back!
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Elessar,

a, it wasn't set in the Med,

b, surely even there one doesn't actually winch lines bar taut, why would you unless on a boat belonging to someone you really dislike ?!

c, I wouldn't be seen dead with a Ludlum book nowadays...
 
In the last Bond film, 007 was on a sailing boat in Venice. However to get the shot of him sailing a Spirit 54 in the very middle of Venice Grand Canal, the mast was unstepped to get the hull under a bridge and then re-stepped for the shot.

TudorSailor
 
Seajet said:
Elessar,

a, it wasn't set in the Med,

b, surely even there one doesn't actually winch lines bar taut, why would you unless on a boat belonging to someone you really dislike ?!

c, I wouldn't be seen dead with a Ludlum book nowadays...
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Fair enough for a and c :)

but yes you do do that there - well maybe bar taught is an exaggerantion but you need them winch it tight not pull it tight if the boat is any size. Mobos gain 2 aft winches for the purpose.
 
tudorsailor said:
In the last Bond film, 007 was on a sailing boat in Venice. However to get the shot of him sailing a Spirit 54 in the very middle of Venice Grand Canal, the mast was unstepped to get the hull under a bridge and then re-stepped for the shot.

TudorSailor
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Maybe 'Q' set the yacht up with quick-shifting water ballast that throws it on its side?

Probably to throw Miss Goodnight into the nearest berth as she steps out of the shower. :rolleyes:
 
dancrane said:
Maybe 'Q' set the yacht up with quick-shifting water ballast that throws it on its side?

Probably to throw Miss Goodnight into the nearest berth as she steps out of the shower. :rolleyes:
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Dan,

good idea ! I always thought the French enthusiasm for water ballast and canting keels a bit dubious, but in the scenario above it makes perfect sense and a worthwhile investment !
 
I am surpised after reading through no-one has mentioned 'Adrift'.... sheet film.... still I can imagine it happening to some of the crews that leave our marina(Charter fleet)..

Master & Commander...outstanding film!!!
 
I like Hornblower. Very good cast and thoroughly researched scripts. Though they couldn't go far wrong with C.S. Forester.

Although, the footage of distant warships under sail, pounding each other with broadsides, being dismasted and foundering, do let realism down. But that's not a huge problem when the episodes are so effectively character-driven. Perhaps that's the point here...

...if we, who believe we know better than lubberly scenery-builders and non-sailing writers, pick holes in the scenes they set, then their principle work of presenting an unfolding human drama, must be flawed. The better the script & acting, the less we focus on details.
 
Has anyone mentioned Wind yet? Still don't know what a whimper is.


Try Ron Disney's Morning Light for realism.
 
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