White Squall (1996)

it is far to be original. or one of great films. it is decent. and, maybe, for a part of its public, useful, touching and a form of lesson about life with few pink ingredients. it could be a good occasion to discover few actors at young age or Jeff Bridges in a bitter role but, in same measure, to remind old fashion values and few cultural references, the spirit of teenagers and a good guide who transforms theirs in men. it reminds many other films about the same theme but the manner is almost a virtue. because it is a right work, with not the best end but the tension, the drops of soap opera, the pieces from the epics about the man against nature, the importance of duty and the metamorphose in contact with a great challenge are the solid good points.

Few of the principals of this story remain today. A year after the sinking, a book was written by one of the crew, called "The Last Voyage of the Albatross." The book provide little information, but was timely. The movie was made 30 years after the event, but early on gets into weepy over-dramatization. By the time of the ship's capsizing, too much is taken away from the tragedy by the tedious script. A good film or book would follow the career of Chris Sheldon, whose misfortune at sea was not limited to being skipper of the Albatross. Such a book could also follow the life of Alice Strahan Sheldon and her experience as a member of the Girl Scout Mariner program.

This could have been a very good movie. "To Sir with Love" meets a disaster movie! :-) But something with the timing and pacing is not right. The movie is too long - or rather: it has not got enough action to fill up more than two hours. Someone should have tightened it up.Also, I cannot really decide if I like the Captain or not. He was quite irresponsible and sometimes too hard. As when he forced the boy who was afraid of heights to climb the mast in front of all the other boys, and when he expelled a boy "only" for using a harpoon on a dolphin. It would have been funnier if one could have admired the Captain whole-heartedly! I do not think that the boys developed enough either - and that is the "point" with this kind of super teacher-versus-wild kids movie. At least you were not allowed to see enough of this development, or the result of it.Another problem was that several of the boys looked a lot alike so that it was difficult to keep them apart. (Or maybe it is a sign of my getting old, that I think that all young people look the same! :-) ) I also think it would have been enough if only two or three of the boys had been presented in detail, with their respective characters, backgrounds, personal problems, and development. The rest of them could all have been small bit parts, "foil". Now there was too much to remember about them, and trying to keep them apart, in just a feature film. If it had been a long TV series it would have been different - then you would have had time to take it all in.Still, this movie is quite good enough to watch at home with your older children/teenagers on a rainy day!

I have heard about this movie long time ago, but I have never got a chance to watch it. I finally did it tonight. Even thought it was released in 1995, that was 13 years ago! wow, those actors surely have grown older by now, but it is a timeless classic. So many things happened during that trip, I don't know which is real, which is dramatized. They are all good.The sound effect is very good, I felt as if I was right there on the boat riding the big waves, hearing the sea pranging against the boat. The sceneries are beautiful. The music was good, but it was not impressive. When I was watching the production note on the DVD, I thought that the music sounds a little familiar to music of the pirates of the Caribbean, and indeed, it was the same composer. If he composed a better score for this movie, it could have made this movie even better, such as the scenes for the last moment of Alice and Gil.Even though it is more than 2 hours long, it is worth of the time. The white squall scene was very intense. However, the ending felt a little affectation, especially when the guy rang the bell. Also, Jason Marsden was already 20 at that time, but in the movie, he was supposed to be 15. I don't know how old the other characters were at that time. The actors were probably all older than the ages of the real life boys who were on. this trip.