White Squall (1996)
Director: Ridley Scott
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Based on a real-life memoir, this nautical rites-of-passage story set in 1960 sees a crew of teenage boys on a school ship maturing rapidly under the hard-but-fair tutelage of 'Skipper' Sheldon (Bridges). They gain valuable lessons in character, responsibility and individual integrity as the 'Albatross' sails from the Caribbean into a ferocious hurricane that will fatefully test the mettle of all on board. Although the early sequences win no prizes for originality, Scott bathes his handsome young charges in plenty of tropical sun and draws a convincing partnership between brooding old hand Sheldon and his ship's doctor spouse (an impressively natural Goodall), which gives the material an emotional core later to prove deceptively potent. It is, however, the 'white squall' sequence that stands way above anything else in the movie, detailing with you-are-there intensity the vessel's helpless plight as she's buffeted by a series of enormous waves and the Skipper battles to keep her upright. This particular landlubber felt like jelly for the rest of the day, notwithstanding the hokey courtroom showdown that closes the picture.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Ridley Scott
Producer: Mimi Polk, Rocky Lang
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Caroline Goodall, Scott Wolf, John Savage, Jeremy Sisto, Ryan Phillippe, David Lascher, Balthazar Getty full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Duration: 129 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
The essential guide to the London Film Festival
Get the inside track on the all the films and events you'll want to catch at the Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival
Terence Davies: interview
Wally Hammond talks to visionary British director Terence Davies about his deeply personal and long-awaited new documentary ‘Of Time and the City’
A Bond a day: No. 10 'The Spy Who Loved Me'
Time Out revisits the 21 Bond movies day by day to celebrate the release of 'Quantum of Solace'
W.
Read our early review of Oliver Stone's George W Bush biopic, 'W.', playing at this year's London Film Festival
Ten friendly ghost movies
To celebrate the release of 'Ghost Town' in which Ricky Gervais plays a New York dentist who can see dead people, Time Out counts down ten great friendly ghost movies.







What do you think?
Post your review now