Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) Wife's First Time Watching! Movie Reaction!!
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- Опубліковано 19 лют 2022
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
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This movie is filled with amazing moments! What are some other great naval battle movies!?
Thank you all for the support!
Dame the defiant, ( alex Guinness) captain horatio hornblower ( Gregory peck , Christopher Lee) or sink the Bismarck, battle of the river plate, but there are more great ones
One of the best war movies of all time, The Cruel Sea. Made by people who were actually there.
Oh the sequel to 300 . 300 rise of an empire had lots of naval battles. Ben hur had one and Cleopatra.
Not sure about movies but within the same naval setting I highly recommend the show 'Black Sails'. It's an incredible period epic that I would describe as visualised literature. For me the most underrated and one of the greatest shows ever made with easily the best storytelling.
Different eras but Crimson Tide is an underrated gem.
The characters in this film are so incredible. A hidden masterpiece that deserved so much more praise than it got; one of Russell Crowes best performances.
So 10 academy awards (2 wins) and boatloads of awards and nominations elsewhere isn't enough? It didn't help it came out around the time of Lord of the Rings - Return of the King, but still got plenty of deserved recognition and praises. It's probably my favourite film and I watch it every year or so and still get something new from it every time. I bought the books not long after seeing it.
The BEST Russell Crowe movie!
I suppose the fact that it flopped in the North American market has something to do with it, although it did manage to make a modest profit with the worldwide gross factored in. To me, this movie was much more entertaining than any of TLOTR movies.
@@Ray.Norrish Timing killed it. Return of the King was an undeniable force. Chicago got lucky winning best picture against The Two Towers. Academy wasn't going to reward a Part 2 movie. (all of the Return of the King awards were also recognizing the entire trilogy) Two Towers was easily the best movie that year in my opinion. If Master and Commander was released for that prior year, I bet it would have raked in most of the awards it was nominated for. I wished it could have gotten the love it deserved.
probably the most accurate depiction of life at sea in the 1800s. fantastic movie that doesn't get enough recognition.
It's kind of complicated but the reason the crew didn't like Hollum aside from the bad luck they associate with him is like Jack said, they don't want a friend, they want a leader. The scene where everyone stops singing when Hollum joins is due to his attempt at fraternization, it's not really a proper thing. The officers and crew remain separate. Jack and his officers/midshipmen eat and drink apart from the crew. Jack will be courteous and magnanimous to his men but they understand he is also their leader and he's not afraid to dole out punishment. The Doctor may have pointed out that Hollum had a nice voice but you can see by Jack's expression he did not approve.
The world of the 18th century was very classist and they did not mix. They would be polite, the upper classes may be magnanimous and the lower being politely subservient but everyone knew their place and didn't, for the most part, stray from that.
Alot of rank and file guys also would not like that he's timid and seemingly afraid of them, as well as the classism. A timid officer could get you killed with inaction or fail to stand up for you. There's a scene later where the one armed ensign leads men two or three times older than him into a boarding action, and the men don't question it, the sailors respect the bravery and leadership.
Poor Holly wasn't cut out for it.
Just as big a problem is that a lot of the people didn't want to be there, not all were even British. Drafted into the navy, dumped onto a ship for years..."fair" and unwavering adherence to rules is the only way you could keep a situation like that from collapsing. I'll bet none of them wanted a "leader," as Jack said...you just have to find a balance between forcing them to do what you want them to do (getting someone to perform the loading maneuvers with a cannon while under fire!) without pushing it so far that they snap. Saying that they "wanted" anything was just to make them feel justified. Of course, that was Britain as an imperial power all over...
Everyone today has a sentimentalist/idealist view of social relations between people and take the "anti bully" stance. Yet the world especially of that period in history was harsh and feudal socially and was feudal between nations. People who can't muster a voice for themselves don't last long in a world of that reality and the people of that time were majority not like him. Sentimental people of today in relative life security feel for him and disgust those around him, but in a time and era of survival like that it was people like the rest of them that were the standard of human personality.
I love this movie. How they show us the "microcosm" on a ship in the times of the napolenic wars is a masterpiece.
The Age of Wooden Ships & Iron Men.
@@frankgesuele6298 I love this ^^^^^
Trivia: Captain Jack Aubrey wasn't a real person, but he is based on a real ship's captain from that era, Lord Thomas Cochrane, who was an insanely gifted naval officer, who almost never lost an engagement, even with the odds drastically against him. The French nicknamed him The Sea Wolf. The Admiralty in England hated him, and gave him just a small schooner to command in the Mediterranean against the entire French navy, but that didn't stop him from bagging 53 enemy ships, many much larger than his.
(After the war, he left for Chile and helped them build their navy-one time taking like six forts in one night with one ship!-then went to Brazil and did the same there, carrying on his amazing naval skills. He literally once sailed into an enemy port with one ship under a false flag to reconnoiter, and when they figured out it was him they just surrendered the whole port to him rather than fight him, based solely on his reputation!)
I saw this at the cinema when it opened. I’d never witnessed such visceral, “you’re in the middle of it all” battle scenes before, with just the right amount of humor laced throughout to lighten the mood. And the game of cat & mouse between the ships’ captains kept you guessing right until the very end. Outstanding film, I wish they had continued the story though..
Much like saving Private Ryan is the zenith of modern warfare films, this is the best “age of ships” film.
I will always be a little regretful that this wasn’t a bigger hit, as we could have one or two more of these films, but maybe it’s fitting that we only got this singular gem.
It was jaw dropping at the theater...and the soundtrack!!
I remember loving it at the cinema too. It felt like the canon balls were racing past underneath my feet!
@@PeterEvansPeteTakesPictures EXACTLY!
The young actor playing the young gentleman who lost his arm also played Octavian in the fantastic tv-series Rome, which would make for a great reaction. There are only two seasons, and 10-ish episodes each. Mostly told through the perspective of two Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, with season one's backstory focusing on Julius Caesar, and the second on Octavian and the power struggle between him and Marc Anthony. Great cast and performances all around. Quite a violent story obviously, but well worth a watch.. :)
Yes
Such a fantastic show, and possibly my favorite of HBO’s catalogue. I think they’d love it.
Upvote this person! Such an amazing series.
Yep, one of the best series HBO ever produced. Cheers! to HBO for that. HOWEVER, it was intended to last five seasons but HBO cancelled it prior to the completion of season 2. This forced the writers to cram the content of seasons 3-5 into the last episodes of season 2. BOOOOOO!!! to HBO for depriving us of those last three seasons that the Rome creators intended to give us.
For what would have happened in later seasons there is always the award winning BBC drama _I Claudius_ from the 1970s. The budgets are much lower but it is every bit as gripping.
One of my favorite films ever. The performances, the costumes, the set, the cinematography, the CGI and sound design. The Writing!! The Writing By God!!
"Take away the men's grog? Mutiny I wager!"
It's so good you don't even think about CGI being used.
One of my favorite films ever as well. I watched the making of this and was very impressed about how very much they strove to make it realistic, including filming on an actual ship in actual fog. And the reason there were so many kids was that in real life, that was the case, one reason being because they ate less food than a whole crew of adults, so the ship's food rations could last long enough.
My God, that's penmanship!
They managed to really capture the spirit of the books without really using much directly from them. The only real departure is casting a classically handsome dude as the doctor but hey I guess they need to make a movie, and Paul B does a great job.
Mr. Blakeney, the young man who loses his arm, is one of my all-time favorite supporting characters in film. Such a great movie!
Goes from a young naive kid to a brave competent officer and leader.
Often missed by viewers as it's only said once, but he's actually Lord Blakeney!
17:37 In the novel, chapter 7, it's a Pudding. Supposedly, a pudding called "Floating Island" made from bread, jam and jelly with a side of cream. A popular English pudding from the 18th century.
'Jelly' is British English for Jello 'Jam' is British English for Jelly..
Though it was sad, I greatly respect the filmmakers support for the basis of the crew's superstition by having the wind come up after the ceremony for the guy that thought he was cursed.
Though it would be scoffed at today, those superstitions arose from such random incidents back then.
Fun fact. The particular book this film is based on is actually about the Surprise chasing the United States Ship Norfolk during the war of 1812, but was changed to have them fight the French to appeal to the US audience. I love this film, one of the most accurate depictions of Napoleonic Military life available.
And the reason she was still American built was the Americans used their native Red Oak for their frigates, which was a lot tougher than the Old World variety.
I knew about that. I know the US box office is important to a movie, but it's kind of sad that the American audience is so sensitive as to be unable to enjoy a movie because the "enemy" is an American ship. I guess no one cares if the French are offended. lol
@@clash5j I doubt the French would be offended.
@@cassu6 That's kind of my point, which perhaps I didn't explain so well. The producers knew the French could not care less if the enemy ship was French. The French know it's just entertainment. So, why are Americans (and I'm one) so easily offended to the point that they wouldn't go to a film because the enemy and losers are American? We seriously need to get over ourselves.
@@reverance_pavane Live Oak.
My favourite movie of all time, I love the courage, stoicism, honour and sense of duty that depicted in the film. Qualities that are sadly lacking in modern society.
The reason why the Doctor doesn’t act like he’s part of the crew and has a more civilian appeal is because he is a civilian. It was very common at the time for navies around the world to hire professional surgeons/doctors for their ships. The fact alone that he is widely respected by the crew despite not even being in the Navy gives credit to his medical skill and service.
As for the reason why the Royal Navy had many young boys on their ships was for two purposes. To act as ammo-carriers and ship-assistants for tasks that require nimble and small figure and officers-in-training. During the time, it was essential for Naval Officers to start their military careers at a young age, since hands-on experience is far superior than being in a classroom. They would “learn” through service under the guidance of the ship they’re assigned to until they graduate and receive their commission. Most of the non-officer boys were mostly orphans or runaways taken in by the navy, and most of them would spend the rest of their lives serving. Back in the day, Naval service wasn’t just a job, it was a life.
Well most upper class kids joined the navy or army as officers were 2nd or 3rd born sons, so they wouldn't have inherited their parents money or social position, so they had to make their own fortunes and careers, until the Napoleonic war happened military careers were looked down upon by polite society
Another big reason is the author of the stories uses the doctor as a audience stand in so the characters have a reason to explain what would be common knowledge for them.
It isn’t “just a job” these days either. Trust me on that.
We still give direct commission to doctors, nurses, lawyers, clergymen and I am 80% certain to engineers in all the US military branches except the Marine Corps.
Actually, these child "midshipmen" are for the most part sons of fellow captains and commanders who aspire to follow in their father's footsteps. They can't serve under their own fathers so they are petitioned to serve on other ships, usually under officers who are well respected among their peers.
Captain Aubrey had a reputation as a very thorough instructor in mathematics and navigation, which go hand in hand. It was also risky because Jack was extremely bold and these children ran the risk of death or being maimed in battle. However, they achieved opportunities for rapid advancement because of the certitude of battle under his command.
Late to the party, but worthwhile to note: the book which Captain Aubry gives the recovering Midshipman Blakeny, is the story of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. The legendary Nelson was the greatest English sea captain ever to sail--think his destruction of the combined French and Spanish fleet at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and his memorial, Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square in London. Nelson lost an arm in battle in 1797 and continued a glorious career.
Sailors - especially competitive sailors - really liked this movie when it came out. I was probably the first mention in a movie of ‘the weather gage’ (or gauge) in naval battles - so critical but never before illustrated. In those days and with those ships (that couldn’t ‘point’ high into the wind) the ‘upwind’ (following) boat had such a huge advantage. It could control the engagement - distance, angles, everything. This had never even been mentioned regarding naval battles until this movie. On-line sailing forums went nuts because finally, there was a naval movie that not only mentioned it, but showed just how important the ship’s relative position to the wind was, for battle. Great, intelligently presented movie.
Funny because there's zero relation to anything "naval" in modern sailing. I was in the Navy and a small part of my job was giving course recommendations in combat and I can tell you, I don't know shit about wind or sails. Diesel engine go brrrrrrrrrr.
about KNOTS from wikipedia: Until the mid-19th century, vessel speed at sea was measured using a chip log. This consisted of a wooden panel, attached by line to a reel, and weighted on one edge to float perpendicularly to the water surface and thus present substantial resistance to the water moving around it. The chip log was cast over the stern of the moving vessel and the line allowed to pay out.[6] Knots tied at a distance of 47 feet 3 inches (14.4018 m) from each other, passed through a sailor's fingers, while another sailor used a 30-second sand-glass (28-second sand-glass is the currently accepted timing) to time the operation.[7] The knot count would be reported and used in the sailing master's dead reckoning and navigation. This method gives a value for the knot of 20.25 in/s, or 1.85166 km/h. The difference from the modern definition is less than 0.02%.
Just gonna throw in that it’s the equivalent of 1.15 mph, for all us ignorant Americans😉
1 nautical mile (knot per hr) is approximately 2000 yards.
Which is different from a statue mile (land mile), which is shorter.
Used in 'dead reckoning'.
He should have talk to you before wasting time typing, nice dude.
@@wildith9168 copy and paste bro. zero effort.
they were also using a lead line to measure the depth. A lead weight at the end of measured rope is wirled and let go marking what mark is closest to the water when you feel it hit the bottom. The weight itself has a hollow opening on the bottom to try to get an idea what the seabed is like. "sand and broken shell". If it comes up with nothing you can presume its sand. The method is still taught in the Navy though it's not really used anymore.
Gladiator next is a must.
"Jack! You have debauched my sloth!" That's a line from the books. Which should be read, as they're incredible. I love this movie to bits. Doubtless you are quite rightly now being bombarded by historical trivia so I'll just say that the books that take place both on land and at sea are genuine masterpieces of historical fiction. They feel alive. Aubrey who is a cunning and fiercely intelligent Captain by sea is almost hapless naïve fool on land, just waiting to hand his hard earned fortune to the nearest Nigerian prince scheme. Maturin, who can never quite get to grips with naval terminology, is in fact an intelligence agent on land and in his way quite cold-blooded with dealing with his opposite numbers in Napoleon's intelligence service. Both are utterly unlike but grow to have the closest friendship, sparked by their love of music. Speaking of which there is some beautiful music in this movie. Boccherini and Corelli informs the cello and violin pieces but I will have eternal love for this film for introducing me to Vaughan Williams, whose piece 'A Theme on Fantasia by Thomas Tallis' plays during the montage where the ship survives the storm and the sailors grieve for their lost crewmate. I still choke up a bit on hearing it. Thank you for reacting to this one!
Ah, someone else who's read the books! Everything Peter said is correct. The books aren't all solo sea voyages like this one, some are about intrigue on land, some have Aubrey and his ship as part of larger fleet actions, sometimes they're invading somewhere or other and Maturin usually has some plant or critter he's interested in. There's a lot of granular detail about how sailing ships work but it's easy to skim if it's all Greek to you, as it is to me, and all the stuff below decks about how the men live and relate to one another is brilliantly sketched - Aubrey's command is frequently compared to that of other men, usually Aubrey comes off better for a variety of reasons. The series of books takes place over many years, both guys raise hell with various women on shore, eventually get married and have kids, the kids grow up, etc. You get to know just about every member of the crew as they raise in ranks, transfer away, have families of their own, all that sort of thing. I'd read enough of the books so that by the time this movie came out I could have given considerable background on every character in it. Words cannot express how well they cast this movie - I pretty much instantly was able to call out everyone by name whether they were actually identified explicitly in the movie or not.
Patrick O'Brian said late in life that if he'd known how successful the books would become he would have started them earlier in history as at a certain point he started running out of Napoleonic wars and apparently if you accurately plot out on a calendar where they go and how long they take to travel and everything there are a couple years that last like twenty months each, but nobody with any sense begrudges him that. It took him a few books to really figure out what he could do with them so I tend to recommend anyone interested in giving them a try to pick up one of the later ones and see how they like that, then go back and start from the beginning - the first couple are more like history homework than the rip-snorting adventures that O'Brian would routinely turn out. The best thing about this movie is the ending - O'Brian got really good at setting up a perfect book-length series of events and satisfactorily bringing them to a conclusion, then upending it all with a last minute 'cliff-hanger' like the one this move ends with which sets the next book off in its own direction. I was lucky enough to be able to go to a book store and pick up the next few whenever I was ready - it must have been hell waiting years between them!
As you requested, Sir... ua-cam.com/video/qIhZbvlCjY0/v-deo.html
My girlfriend and I have occasionally cracked each other up over the years just by blurting out that sloth line.
I personally like the book where Maturing rescue Audrey from the French Prison. Also, Audrey seams to always be one step a head of debtor's Prison while on land Yes I also have read the books also along with C F Forester Herratio Hornblower Books.
One of my favorites is called "Desolation Island" - I think, I'm too lazy to go look it up. Aubrey, Maturin and the guys are involved in a long, running gun battle in scary-sounding high seas in the southern latitudes. There's a mutiny at sea, Aubrey and what's left of his crew have to rebuild their ship while it's still in the middle of the damn' ocean - a MUCH more dire situation than you see at the beginning of this movie, although along the same lines - and they end up shipwrecked. It's one of the most nail-bitey of the series, I think.
I adored the Hornblowers when I first read them but I find it hard to return to them since I read all the Aubrey/Maturin books. Through no fault of Forester's they seem a bit slight by comparison. I do recommend them to others as a gateway drug.
The intellectual abilities, talents, & the courage of our ancestors always amazes me.
Funfact: this movie features 2 Jarvises: James D'Arcy played the person Jarvis, Chauffeur and Butler to Howard Stark in the MCU Series AGENT CARTER. and obviously Paul Bettany played the VOICE of Tony Starks JARVIS AI before becoming Vision
"They're gonna shoot her in the butt?"
Yes. it's called a raking. The battle hull is only reinforced along the sides. Raking a ship from astern allows cannon balls and grape shot to punch through an enemy's gun decks almost unimpeded, killing everything in their path.
It was a tactic that ultimately decided the lopsided victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Collingwood's Royal Sovereign raked the Spanish Santa Ana then Admiral Nelson's Victory raked the French Bucentaure.
Also, in Patrick O'Brian's books, Dr. Maturin is an exceptional spy.
The detail in this film is incredible. It just feels extremely authentic. It's a Napoleonic Das Boot! such a shame we never got a sequel.
Patrick O'Brian based many of the action sequences and story lines in the books on actual Royal Navy ships logs. (loosely of course). The film did an amazing job bringing the series to life. I strongly recommend the audiobooks to anyone that even somewhat enjoyed the film.
Yes... it was expensive to make and didn't do well at the box office. But it has to be the best war film set in the Age of Sail.
I guess we will have to settle for the Perquel they are making.
@@ariochivIf I had to guess, the film didn’t do well at the box office was due to it being released around the same time as the final Lord of the Rings film and due to the release of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie earlier in the year. The marketing for it wasn’t great and many probably didn’t like the idea of a movie like Pirates of the Caribbean being released around the same time.
@@ThunderForce2000 I think it was mainly that the studio didn't really support it with proper marketing.
This film was directed by Peter Weir. He’s an exceptional talent. You should put a lot of his films on your list like Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously, Dead Poets Society, Witness, The Mosquito Coast, Fearless, and The Truman Show.
Witness is a must see in my book. All reactors eventually get round to watching The Truman Show, but Witness is so unfairly neglected.
Regarding the kids seen onboard the HMS Surprise in the movie. It was common practice in the 18th and 19th century (in the royal navy atleast) for naval officers to start their careers at a very young age. Admiral Horatio Nelson for instance joined the navy as a midshipman when he was 12 years old and got his fist command at age 20.
Masterpiece. The ship used in the film was a movie replica built in 1970 & was later re-named the "HMS Surprise" after _Master & Commander._ You can walk aboard her at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, where she's docked. If you dig this classic, the original _Star Trek_ movies await you.
Oh yeah, “Hornblower in space”.
Especially Star Trek II.
Star Trek 2 The Wrath Of Khan, definitely.
@@georgemorley1029 gene roddenberry was influenced by the horatio hornblower character when he created james t. kirk and jean-luc picard.
this is the perfect movie! not one bad moment. score was great , acting was great , story was fantastic.
In old school naval warfare, it wasn't the cannon balls that killed you. It was the splinters the size of your arm that did
Well if you were lucky it was the ball ;)
@@nemo99nemo83 That would have made Nelson's secretary lucky; he was near enough biscected by a cannonball at Trafalgar.
This is one of my favorite movies, really liked your reaction!
The sequence with the ostracized crew member killing himself, and the weather turning the next day is actually kind of instructive on how superstition works (and, actually, how people form firmly held false beliefs about things).
There's a thing in statistics called "regression toward the mean". When there is some unusual state of affairs (like a very long windless period in the movie), at each moment as it goes on, the likelihood that the next moment will be closer to the mean (the more normal state) is increased.
Also, when an undesirable state of affairs persists, or gets worse, the longer it goes on, the more people will try out different interventions. Eventually, some intervention will seem to work, because the regression towards the mean eventually happens, and it is not unlikely that it happens, by coincidence, soon after a drastic intervention, when interventions get more drastic as the longer the unusual state goes on.
People then fall into the common "post hoc ergo propter hoc" fallacy - "after this, because of this". They attribute the change of affairs to the latest intervention.
This is how people come to believe in curses and countering them, and in lucky items or habbits, or, say homeopathy, or crystal healing, and a slew of other beliefs.
I'm a bit of a science nerd, so while I empathized with the young man who was driven to suicide by this false belief, the whole sequence felt very authentic and believable. Sad, but believable.
31:10 Literally one of the most epic and amazing fight sequences. I love the chaos of both crews trying to attack and defend the Acheron. Still gives me chills.
Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany also starred together in A Beautiful Mind (2001). A very good film about John Nash.
Great movie, it's a shame they didn't make any more from the series, and although Captain Aubrey is fictitious he was based on a real RN Captain called Thomas Cochrane, he's well worth reading up on.
The SEA WOLF!
Ah yes the Mad Englishman. Who actually ended his career in disgrace after being involved in a money scam.
@@Fatherofheroesandheroines
He was also a brilliant tactician in maritime warfare.
They didn't make a sequel because the film unfortunately didn't do well at the box office.
@@Fatherofheroesandheroines No, that was his *first* career as an RN officer. Then he ended his *second* career as a freebooter for the South American navies, by stealing a ton of cash and a frigate from the Brazilians and sodding off back to Blighty with it. The Greek thing wasn't much to write about, but then he had his *third* career, being his *second* stint as an RN officer, this time an Admiral, with his honours and titles restored and retired as a national treasure.
Hell of a story, but a bad-tempered and argumentative swine who just couldn't keep out of fights, by land and sea.
He was arguably much better off shoved out to sea on a frigate to go and fight the French, at which he excelled.
This is easily one of my favourite movies ever. It's a style of filmmaking that isn't really done anymore. The fact that they are so accurate with what life was like just makes it more fascinating. I've watched it more times than I can count and it keeps me captivated from start to finish. It may have been a bigger success had it not come out when it did. They're planning on a prequel but without Crowe and Bettany it won't be near as good. They are brilliant and their friendship feels lived in. A younger cast with more CGI just can't come close to the intensity of this movie.
9:32 The significance of the book that Russell Crowe’s Capt. Jack gives to Mr Blakeney (Max Pirkis) is that it’s Lord Nelson’s Commentaries. Lord Horatio Nelson was a English Vice-Admiral, Duke, Viscount and National hero, who also lost his arm in battle. Many miss the hidden message of giving this book in particular to a Midshipman who also just lost his arm.
14:25 12 knots is magnificently fast, in the context. Most other ships top out at around 8-10, but Lucky Jack knows how to work the best out of the Surprise.
The bloke with the hold fast tattoo is actually pretty accurate. Sailors were superstitious, and some believed that if they had messages like that written on their hands, they'd be able to hold on to rigging or whatever they didn't want to let go of.
One had for yourself, one hand for the ship
One of the best Star Trek movies. Kirk and McCoy are portrayed really well.
Real shame about Spock, though…😢
lmao
Shifts on ships are known as 'watches'.
The 24 hours were divided into 5 four hour watches and 2 two hour watches. The Latter had the effect of swapping the crew over so that the same people were not always on duty at the same time. The watches were named :
the Afternoon Watch was from noon to 16:00 (4 p.m.)
the First Dog Watch (2 hours) was from 16:00 (4 p.m. to 18:00 (6 p.m.)
The Last Dog Watch (2 hours) was from 18:00 (6 p.m.) to 20:00 (8 p.m.)
The First Watch was from 20:00 (8 p.m.) to midnight
The Middle Watch was from midnight to 04:00 (4 a.m.)
The Morning Watch was from 04:00 (4 a.m.) to 08:00 (8 a.m.)
The Forenoon Watch was from 08:00 (8 a.m.) to noon
During these watches the bell was rung each half hour with the number of rings being increased by one each time. So half hour into the watch was one bell, one hour in was two bells 1.5 hours 3 bells etc. with the watch ending at eight bells (except the First Dog watch which ended at four bells).
Great explanation of the watches and bell system!
Also interesting as that the naval day began at noon instead of midnight.
Sailors were paid by lunar months (28 days) which meant, to the envy of landlubbers, that they were paid 13 times a year instead of 12.
Thank you for the watches information.
This is all a great explanation. As a fun fact, the clock tower of Mahan Hall at the US Naval Academy actually follows this bell system and rings every half hour up to 8 bells every four hours.
Highly recommend A Beautiful Mind, also starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany (the doctor).
I went to see this with my group of friends and 2 of them ended up joining the Royal Navy. An inspiring film that made me glad I wasn't born during that time as it must have been hell
Thank you to your two friends for their service.
I remember on my first watching that when the doctor was shot, my heart just sank. It's not just that he's a likable character, but the lack of a doctor onboard would be a nightmarish scenario in these times, let alone today.
I don't know if somebody else has touched on it, but the "kids" are called midshipmen - because they lived and slept in the middle of the ship.
They were officers-in-training, so adult crewmen were expected to do whatever midshipmen ordered from them, even if the middie in question is 11 (that's as young as they got, the regular crewmen would recruit even younger). Many of these boys were second and third-sons of noble families, i.e, the poor little sods who will watch their older brothers inherit everything so they had to make their own names, and though the Navy was never as nepotistic as the Army, their familial connections ensured they were assigned to the best ships with the most experienced captains and officers to tutor them.
Midshipmen gained practical, first-hand knowledge in several crucial fields: Navigation, signaling, disciplining and leading men, mathematics, combat with blades and firearms, managing resources, etc. Naval academies taught theoretical knowledge like logistics, sure, but they were rare and exclusive and they were only ever considered supplementary to real experience.
After three years as a middie (six years at sea total - so assuming you started your career at 11, you would probably be about high-school age), you qualify for examination to lieutenant. You sit before three captains from different ships who grill you on several questions with no standardization, so you never know what they might ask you about (but always about navigation, discipline and seamanship). If you succeed then great, you are promoted to the rank of _passed lieutenant_, but to become a real officer you need to be recommended by another officer as a promising candidate (gaining a "commission"). If you had political connections or you were at war when large numbers of ships and men might be lost in battle, you might get that commission in a year or two; if you were of common stock or served in peacetime, good luck getting it. If you fail, you go back to your ship with your tail between your legs and you cannot apply again for an examination for another six months. Ideally you want a commission before you hit 20, because you might become a Captain of your own ship before you are too old... assuming you remain healthy and whole, of course.
This all sounds harsh and extreme, but this is why the British were the undisputed kings of nautical warfare for centuries. It is an artificial culture raised from the ground up to shape young boys into the greatest sailors in the world.
I saw this multiple times in theaters. Such a spectacular movie and one of my favorite soundtracks. Great reaction! Thank you.
This is one of two excellent movies from Peter Weir that surprisingly received such little recognition. The other is “Fearless” with Jeff Bridges.
Such a great movie. I love it when philosophy sneaks into a movie even though Hollywood clearly doesn't want it there.
Being a sailor back then was insane. No radar, no modern sensors to aid navigation. Insane!
And children were taught the naval craft from an early age. That's why they already embarked and accompanied the Navy in real battles.
Other times.
One of the best movies ever made.
Love this film! I think it's become overlooked and underrated.
Another ship film, though a bit different, is 'The Bounty' starring Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day Lewis and Liam Neeson.
I like The Bounty too! It's not a film version of Mutiny on the Bounty.
glad you mentioned the Bounty . Brilliant film .
Love this movie, and I especially appreciate how Russel Crow learned how to pretend to play the violin enough to make it passable instead of how most movies with pretend playing makes me cringe.
It was so fun to watch this again and watch your reactions. Samantha's face showed so much stress! Thanks for recording this.
That was a real reaction guys. So many don't engage fully with the material they're reacting to but you gave it the attention it truly deserves. Well done.
One of the all time greats by a phenomenal Australian director.
I highly recommend his best film Gallipoli.
This is the best book series ever written. I'll die on that hill everyday. If you like to read at all you should give it a shot. The first one is called Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.
great reaction.
The movie is a masterpiece and very accurate, and the O'Brian books are EXTREMELY accurate (and super researched - compiled with the help of numerous naval historians and from hundreds of actual historical log books and battle logs from past naval skirmishes). The O'Brian books are great, but before reading, familiarize yourself with age of sail/british naval terminology. The author makes a VERY authentic setting/story/dialogue, so there is no coddling; you have to figure the terminology out on your own, and he does not hold back from speaking with all the complexities that experts of the time would. but the authenticity really makes the stories feel super real, if you can adapt to the language of the time/setting. the culture of the european age is well described, not just naval culture but also social and military cultures, on land and water, for those times (as well as social tensions and politics). but seriously, it's not a read for casual readers; educate yourself before starting or you'll regret it and not enjoy what is a truly masterful series of novels.
Peter Weir is one of the most highly rated directors of the modern era and this is his masterpiece.
18:50 That is called impressment. It's half way between slavery and being drafted. The separation between enlisted and officers was 99% absolute. As an enlisted man you could if you took to the life, became a skilled sailor and with a bit of luck make a decent living on a ship, with the right Captain. If a Captain captured a ship as a prize you got a share dependant on your rank. A few Captains in British history took enough prizes to make their crew pretty well off.
The rarest of beasts: a truly intelligent mega-budget spectacular. Artistry without pretension. Scale without bloat. Smart period dialogue instead of florid, writerly speechifying (I’m looking at you, Gladiator). I love this movie.
In those days it was not how many guns your ship had, but how many trained crewman you had to operate them. At Trafalgar the French and Spanish often had better ships but not enough well-trained crewmen to realize their potential. The battle of the Nile is an even better example.
Having read the entire series of books , I love the inclusion of all the detail in this film . The books being so detailed only true fanatics can read them. Wish they would make another of these films.
The kid that lost the arm, Max Pirkis, also stars in HBO's two season series ROME (2005), a mini-series I would highly recommend for you two to watch. It is highly entertaining tv-show to watch, and I can guarantee you would love it :D
I agree!
Far from being historically accurate but very good indeed.
The Captain and the Dr were in another movie together, A Beautiful Mind. This was a great movie, the end comes and I just want to keep watching.
"That Hold Fast guy is just crushing all of their spirits"
He's crushing all of his lines too
This movie came out while I was in the Navy and as wildly different as the Navy was then vs. now, I was surprised at a few things that seemed to be precursors to my job. I was an Electronic Warfare Technician (EW). No media has ever sung the song of this great rating, so it would take me too long to explain it. But one part of our job was preparing the ship for every kind of defense or deception possible. Everything to do with war, that wasn't a direct shot at the enemy.
The ship in this movie employed a few types of deception that I could see modern correlations to, including pretending to not be a warship, using lighting at night to trick the enemy, maneuvering, etc.
One of the best movies ever made. The verisimilitude is spot on. The acting is top notch. This will always stand up to time. P.S. The making of this movie is well worth the watch.
It's a shame a sequel with the original film's cast wasn't made. Crowe and Bettany were willing to sign up, but noting developed. Peter Weir was dedicated to accuracy in the details, language, and action, but he was disappointed by tepid public reception, but I know M&C has gained new and loyal viewership since its release. Based on 2 of the 20 novels in the Aubrey-Maturin series penned by Patrick O'Brian.
Just an amazing film that really transports you. Great performances all around and a smart script to boot.
Have you had the chance to read any of the novels this is based on? Patrick O'Brian wrote some 16 of them, I think. I've only got ahold of two, this one, and 'The Maritius Command," both were excellent. Dr. Maturin has more to him than meets the eye...though he is a horrific lubber, not to be trusted at sea.
This is one of the greatest movies ever made. And it is a absolute shame it was never given the sequel(s) it so richly deserved.
Schmitt, Mrs. Schmitt, that "scene" with Blakeney and the Doctor, I honestly cried when he was in pain. I won't go into more detail.
I love this film. It's such a shame we never got a sequel 😔
At least it avoids the competition between original and sequel - everyone can be on the same side...
Pretty common in many countries navies of that era to have young boys serving as midshipmen and powder monkeys.
I doubt very much a better or more accurate 18th century naval warfare movie has ever been made......it's dramatic, true to life, superbly filmed, with a terrific cast and a fantastically good storyline......the movie is so correct and accurate that small clips from it are used at the national Museum of the Royal Navy to illustrate life in Napoleonic-era warships..........I've worked for over 30 years on the RN's historic warships in Portsmouth and I absolutely LOVE this movie.......
"I understand the training, but shouldn't they save some of the stuff."
The Navy didn't provide enough powder for practice. Captain Aubrey is spending his own money to make his crew better.
I've been around Cape Horn before, in a steel ship, that was 1000 ft. long,100,000 tons displacement, and, nuclear powered. Those guys had balls of solid rock, to sail those waters in ships that were so tiny, fragile, with nothing but the wind to power them!
For anyone who is into this genre and has not seen the series Black Sails, do yourself a favour and go watch it. A true masterpiece that is severely overlooked. IMO the greatest story told through the medium of TV.
I’ve been on the “Surprise”, it’s docked in San Diego you can pay to take a tour of it very fun & worth the money & it doesn’t cost much. You can sit right where they all had dinner where the “lesser of two Weevils” joke was made😂
Really ignites the imagination and had me thinking how it must have been on a ship back then , great film and great reaction.
Loosely based on the tactics of Thomas Cochrane, who had an insane career in the navy almost unstoppable.
This movie is very authentic. The singing scene , officers are forbidden from hanging out with the men and that we old have been very odd for him to be singing with them.
Cochrane was the first Chief commander of navy in Chile very tight to the independence of Chile against the Spanish armada
This is the closest thing we'll ever get to a Cochrane biopic. Though Cochrane's life is so insane you couldn't make it into one movie.
@Jon A. Scholt there's a great UA-cam video on his life its about an hour from what I remember
Great reaction team..the Australian director Peter Weir is amazing, he did dead poets society and the Truman show, if you love this war movie he also directed Mel Gibson in Gallipoli ..great earlier film from him and worth a reaction..
I watched Gallipoli on UA-cam and it's good but a sad ending.
Such great characters, acting, sets, costumes, action, writing, sound... Among the best of the best for sure. It's very exciting that a prequel is in the works, probably can't measure up to such a high-water mark but I'd still love to see 10 more movies in this series.
They show the crew scrubbing the deck on their hands and knees. I always wondered what they were doing. Only recently did I really read into it.
They used "holystones" (named because they had to kneel like in church) to scrub the deck with sand and sea water. The basic premise was part of an overall push for cleanliness on the ship to prevent sailors from getting sick.
There are a lot of false explanations for what it was, what it accomplished, etc. But in truth, it was an utter waste of time. It was a practice abandoned by most, long before they stopped using wooden ships. But for some reason the British Navy clung onto it far longer than anyone, and the U.S. Navy idiotically brought it back in the 20th century.
They eventually realized you didn't have to scrub wooden decks for hours a day to keep them clean. They could clean them once a month or even less often and be fine.
Great choice👍
right away you recognized Billy Boyd, who indeed played Pippen in LOTR! it took me a few times to recognize him, and i geeked out when i did!
and this movie was absolutely amazing, and so underrated. I think this movie came as close to what conditions were really like of life on a ship back in those times.
child labor laws didn't exist then, not until the Great Depression more than 100 years later. so, boys learned at an early age a trade until adulthood.
And Merry was just off-camera.
(Dominic Monaghan travelled to Mexico to join his LOR friend on the film set)
These boys were midshipmen. It's not exactly about child labor laws, these children were essentially going to school at sea to learn all sorts of things about navigation, astronomy, legal codes, strategy, and discipline. It's where the expression "learning the ropes" comes from. Unlike in the British Army, you could not simply purchase a commission to be an officer, you first had to pass an exam to move from Midshipman to Lieutenant, and that took years of training to get to that point. The average age of midshipmen was between 16 and 17 years old, however, there were documented cases of boys as young as 9 entering as midshipmen.
This movie definitely deserves multiple viewings. Tons of little details that you barely see or just fly over your head (due to lack of context / historical knowledge) the first time.
Samantha - you asked why they are towing the little boats, after they have gone to general quarters (beat to quarters). The boats hang on davits inboard, along the side of the ship. Normally that's OK, but when you may receive cannon fire - and there's time to do so, they will lower the boats empty, and tow them astern. This prevents the boats being hit by cannon fire, thus creating a huge shrapnel problem as they blow apart.
Thank you for the explanation!
The boats didnt hang on davits, they use the mast to lift them into the water.
Putting the boats in the morning into water and tow them is normal morning routine. The crew lives in front of the main mast (officers and midshipmen behind the mast), thats also the space the boats take on deck. So they tow the boats to A get more space on deck and B to keep the boats wet (if they dry out they start to leak).
They dont create a huge shrapnel problem if they stayed on deck, because A most of the crew is on the gun deck below and B they are to thin to create much dangerous splinters. A 18pdr ball only punches a hole in it with a few small almost harmles splinters, the deadly splinters come from the much thicker hull.
In line with the naval theme, I recommend you guys watch the series Black Sails. Best written story I've ever watched.
"One must always choose the lesser of two weevils"
One of my most favorite lines in the entire movie.
Thanks for the reaction. Love this movie.
I feel like Jack is yelling at ME! when he delivers his line to Stephen, "I have no time for your damned hobbies, Sir!"
I too have seen this many years ago and can't remember what happened only that is a truly amazing movie full of excitement and special touching moments. Makes you feel like you are back in that time experiencing what it was really like to be on a ship. Wonderful! Wonderful!
Absolutely one of my favourite movies, and weirdly rewatchable. It's one of those I can put on pretty much any time.
12:50 You can see the reflection of the telescope/spyglass being used by the enemy captain.
13:10 "Extra sails" - studding sails or stunsails (pronounced stuns'l) - used when you need every breath of wind and therefore speed. You really need a large crew to use these as the risk of damage by squalls is greatly increased so you need to be able to pull them in quickly. it's an excellent touch in the movie.
You needed not just a large crew but an experienced captain with an elite crew the risk of using that much sail and putting that much stress on every part of a 50 or even 100 year old ship was only for the desperate or the brave.
@@ianjardine7324 Agree about the crew and captain but the ship age? Few ships, then or now, last much beyond 20 to 30 years. In the days of sail, sadly many sank or ran aground during storms
In this crazy world it’s enjoyable to see a normal couple watching a movie together
It's a crime against humanity that we didn't get at least one more film from this series, vastly underrated movie.
"Dear God. Can I please have more of these excellent naval stories at the cinema?"
Following week another twenty Pirates of the Caribbean movies are announced.
"You had one job, God! One job!"
Oh man, can't wait to watch. One of the all-time great underrated classics. Its reputation will only grow with time.
I watched the Making of....for this movie here on UA-cam a while back. If it's still here, it's definitely worth the watch. One of the reasons the movie looks so good and legit was because it was legit. The crew had to go thru a very extensive training period, learning everything there is to know about sailing a ship that size.
Agree. The 2 DVD pack bonus on this movie is the best I have ever watched.
That was "Pippin". He was filming this movie when he wasn't needed in Lord of the Rings.
As a retired US Sailor I love one shot in this movie, which shows why Sailors and Marines call the toilet a "HEAD". When you questioned if it was snow, you see a man at the HEAD of the ship with his pants down, using the HEAD. The reason they HEAD is at the HEAD of sailing ships is because the wind is always coming from an angle off the stern of the ship. This wind will blow the waist and smell away from the ship, where if they went off the rear of the ship, the waste and smell would be blown toward the ship.
About the Knot. The way to measure ships speed before mechanical means, was to throw a sea anchor off the stern and measure how much rope is pulled out in a minute. They put knots in the rope at specific spacing and count the knots to tell how much rope has been pulled out. I suspect the term KNOT origin was the counting of the spacing knots.
A "sea anchor" is kind of an underwater parachute, not a big heavy thing made of metal.
@@paintedjaguar I guess I should have explained what a sea anchor is for readers who would not know.
If you think that cutting the man adrift was an unpleasant look into the horrors of war then you should perhaps check out the film _The Cruel Sea_ which has a similar infamous scene. Set during the Battle of the Atlantic it gives the reciprocal view of the film _Das Boot_ from the perspective of the British sailors.
“There are some men in the water just there…”
“Well, there’s a U-boat right underneath them!”
The kids were from families with enough money and standing to send them to naval school. They are officers above most on the ship, who are of "regular stock"
Judging by there accents and the way the speak to each other. Upper class they are no doubt. So enough money to send them they have too much of.
Yes, the class hierarchy was so extreme back then that simply 'coming from superior stock' was considered sufficient proof that you were qualified at 12 or 13 to lead hardened sailors decades older than you into battle.
Of course, the flip-side to this entitlement was you were also expected to do your duty and prove your superior blood by, for example, getting your arm amputated from battle wounds at 12 or 13.
However, in that era, there were also very young boys from lower classes who were conscripted and sent into these naval battles to serve, usually, as 'powder monkeys' - their job was to run back and forth below decks carrying fresh powder to the guns. It was often hell.
(The youngest sailor at the historic Battle of Trafalgar, where Nelson routed Napoleon's fleet, was only 8 years old)
It is based on a book series (20 books total, 1969-2000) by Patrick O'Brian.
It’s a crime they never made a sequel to this.