Billy Budd (1962), Captain Phillips (2013), Volcanoes of the Deep Sea (2003), Dear Frankie (2004), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), The Bedford Incident (1965), Ghost Ship (1943), Operation Disaster (1951) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Seaman movies.
Storyline: H.M.S. Avenger is headed into battle against the French fleet during the Napoleonic Wars, and the dark shadow of two recent mutinies in the English fleet concern Captain Vere (Sir Peter Ustinov). He relies on his cruel and often sadistic Master-at-Arms John Claggert (Robert Ryan) to maintain what he believes to be tenuous order and discipline aboard the ship. When a new seaman, Billy Budd (Terence Stamp), is pressed into service from a passing merchantman, his innocent, happy-go-lucky attitude quickly endears him to his messmates as well as the ship's officers. However, his charismatic naivete seems to bother Claggert, whose perverse depravity makes him resent Billy's good-natured purity, especially after the teenager's promotion to fore-top Captain. The mean-spirited Claggert unfairly plots to put him on report and ultimately perjures himself when he accuses Billy of conspiring to mutiny.—Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)
Plot Keywords: captain, seaman, military officer, assistant, lieutenant, young man, tense ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Captain Phillips is a multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. It is - through director Paul Greengrass's distinctive lens - simultaneously a pulse-pounding thriller, and a complex portrait of the myriad effects of globalization. The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabama's commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (two time Academy Award®-winner Tom Hanks), and the Somali pirate captain, Muse (Barkhad Abdi), who takes him hostage. Phillips and Muse are set on an unstoppable collision course when Muse and his crew target Phillips' unarmed ship; in the ensuing standoff, 145 miles off the Somali coast, both men will find themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their control.
Plot Keywords: navy seal, captain, wife, seaman, hostage, gunman, dark ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: This visually impressive IMAX documentary follows an expedition of oceanographers as they journey into the deep waters of the ocean, searching for new life forms in areas where no life was previously believed to exist. Otherworldly-looking sea creatures and exquisite plant life are discovered, but also underwater volcanoes that may help scientists understand more closely how the universe was actually formed. This short film is narrated by actor Ed Harris.
Plot Keywords: oceanographer, seaman, scientist, geologist, paleontologist, fascinating, spectacular ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...
Plot Keywords: son, mother, impostor, seaman, emotional, heartwarming, greenock, scotland ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Michael O'Hara, against his better judgement, hires on as a crew member of Arthur Bannister's yacht, sailing to San Francisco. They pick up Grisby, Bannister's law partner, en route. Bannister has a wife, Elsa, who seems to like Michael much better than she likes her husband. After they dock in Sausalito, Michael goes along with Grisby's weird plan to fake his (Grisby's) murder so he can disappear untailed. He wants the $5000 Grisby has offered, so he can run off with Elsa. But Grisby turns up actually murdered, and Michael gets blamed for it. Somebody set him up, but it is not clear who or how. Bannister (the actual murderer?) defends Michael in court.
Plot Keywords: seaman, wife, attorney, investigator, cop, femme fatale, dark ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Richard Widmark plays a hardened cold-warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. Sidney Poitier is a reporter given permission to interview the captain during a routine patrol. Poitier gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub in the depths and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to the breaking point. This one's grim tension to the end.—KC Hunt <khunt@eng.morgan.edu>
Plot Keywords: reporter, naval officer, commodore, seaman, captain, tense, chilling ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: No one believes a third mate (Russell Wade) complaining of sadistic treatment by a psychotic captain (Richard Dix).
Plot Keywords: sea captain, seaman, girlfriend, captain, suspenseful, chilling, somber ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The crew of a submarine is trapped on the sea floor when it sinks. How can they be rescued before they run out of air?
Plot Keywords: captain, lieutenant, seaman, medic, diver, tense, patriotic ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Ben Randall is a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. When his crew is killed in an accident and his marriage ends, his commander tells him he wants Randall to go to the US Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer "A" School to train other rescue swimmers. He encounters a guy named Jake who's a little cocky because he was once a swim champion. So Ben puts him through the wringer to see if he can handle it.
Plot Keywords: swimmer, rescue worker, teacher, captain, wife, seaman, suspenseful ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: James Burke, after distinguishing himself as a midshipman in the British merchant marine, rapidly rises to the rank of executive officer, second in command of a ship. A broken foot necessitates that he be put ashore to heal. After his recovery, the very proud Jim - his pride rooted in his competence, which had made him a highly respected and admired naval officer - signs on as the executive officer of the Patna, a rusty tub manned by a third-rate crew overseen by a barbarous captain, that is transporting a group of Moslem pilgrims to Mecca. During a severe storm that causes the unseaworthy ship to founder, Jim abandons ship with the rest of the white crew without even lowering the other lifeboat for the passengers. The fleeing crew are prepared to swear they saw the Patna sink with all its passengers; however, in what Jim believes is a cosmic joke upon himself, it is revealed when they get into port on their lifeboat that the Patma did not sink but had been salvaged by a French vessel. In the ensuing inquiry that he himself sought to do penance for his sins (the ultimate sin for a naval officer being to abandon ship particularly when passengers or crew are still on-board), Jim is admonished after confessing his cowardice, chastised for bringing shame upon those to whom he belongs, the British merchant marine. His chief judge asks him why he did not "bury himself 20 feet deep" rather than seek the inquiry and humiliate himself and all professional British sailors. Jim does succeed in "burying himself 20 feet deep" by becoming a drifter and common laborer in various southeast Asian ports, though he never can completely escape into anonymity. The burden of his sin follows him everywhere. Racked by guilt over abandoning his ship, the proud Jim seeks atonement, a second chance, which comes in the guise of running arms and gunpowder to a tribe of indigenous peoples oppressed by a ruthless and brutal warlord. The warlord knows that the difference between a hero and a coward is not as thick as a piece of paper. What will this mean for Jim, now committed to a heroic path for a people whom he does not even know? The man the natives soon call "Lord Jim" is about to face his destiny, which is relentless and inescapable.—Jon C. Hopwood
Plot Keywords: seaman, trader, captain, war lord, chief, woman, brooding ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In the Mediterranean in 1941 the Italians start using underwater chariots to mine the undersides of allied ships. Explosives expert Lionel Crabbe arrives in Gibraltar to organise defenses, but finds only two British divers available to help him. Even more worrying, it seems likely that the Italians are secretly using neutral Spain across the bay as their key base.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: explosives expert, diver, chief petty officer, lieutenant, seaman, admiral, tense ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Charlie returns to the East End after two years at sea to find his house demolished and wife Maggie gone. Everyone else knows she is now shacked up with married bus driver Bert and a toddler, and they all watch with more than a little interest at the trail of mayhem Charlie leaves as he goes about sorting things out.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: seaman, wife, bus driver, baby, emotional, melodramatic, intense ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Lt. Quinton McHale (Ernest Borgnine) and his navy crew concoct a plot to make some money from horse racing results, but the plan flops and they ring up a $2,000 debt to a troop of Marines. When they try to recoup their losses, their ship runs into a building, which only compounds their debt. Soon McHale and the klutzy Parker (Tim Conway) devise a new idea: They will steal a racehorse and enter it in a race in disguise, hoping to win the prize money.
Plot Keywords: lieutenant, captain, seaman, radio operator, mechanic, cheeky, hilarious ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A Scotsman abruptly breaks off his engagement to pretty Kitty and moves to his uncle's castle in the Scottish highlands. Kitty and her aunt follow Gerald a few weeks later, and discover he has suddenly aged. Some mysterious things happen in a maze made from the hedges adjoining the castle.—Marty McKee <mmckee@wkio.com>
Plot Keywords: seaman, millionaire, brother, niece, duke, strong man, amusing ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Based on the Flannan Isle mystery. A small relief boat approaches a tiny, isolated island where a lighthouse is located. They're to replenish the stocks and replace the crew of 3. After they dock no one greets them. The winch is broken. The lamps are clean and refilled; the table's laid for dinner. There's an upturned chair, 2 sets of yellow oilskins are missing - the 3 men have vanished.—Andy Evans
Plot Keywords: lighthouse keeper, rival, man, seaman, gory, brutal, incredible ...
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