The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1976)

After his father dies, a disturbed young boy plots to take revenge on the new man in his mother's life.

Director:

Lewis John Carlino

Writers:

Yukio Mishima (novel), Lewis John Carlino (written for the screen by)

Stars:

Sarah Miles, Kris Kristofferson, Jonathan Kahn

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sarah Miles	...	Anne Osborne
Kris Kristofferson	...	Jim Cameron
Jonathan Kahn	...	Jonathan Osborne
Margo Cunningham	...	Elizabeth Palmer
Earl Rhodes	...	Chief
Paul Tropea	...	Number Two
Gary Lock	...	Number Four
Stephen Black	...	Number Five
Peter Clapham	...	Richard Pettit
Jennifer Tolman	...	Mary Ingram

Storyline

Widowed now for close to four years, Anne Osborne, who now operates the antiques shop formerly owned by her husband David, and their son, Jonathan Osborne, live in a small, English seaside town. Both Anne and Jonathan still miss David even after all these years. Going through puberty, Jonathan uses something he finds in his bedroom to explore the emerging thoughts of sexuality going through his mind. Although Anne knows Jonathan sneaks out of the house early in the morning against her orders, she is unaware that he is attending meetings of a secret society of five boys, who refer to each other only by a cardinal number, their rank within the group as assigned by "The Chief", number one. The Chief is an arrogant, sadistic pseudo-intellectual who needs to show his power and dominance over the other four in whatever means possible. He largely considers them immature as he spouts off his Nietzschean philosophies, centering on that adults create rules that ultimately disrupt the natural ...

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Plot Keywords:

sea | secret society | revenge | directorial debut | sociopath | 

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Taglines:

He gave his soul to the sea and his heart to a woman. Their love will arouse you. The story will disturb you. The ending will startle you.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 February 1977 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Jonathans Rache

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studio Centre, Chertsey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Embassy Pictures, Haworth Productions, Martin Poll-Lewis John Carlino Production

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most movie posters for the film featured a long blurb that read: "He gave his soul to the sea and his heart to a woman. Their love will arouse you. The story will disturb you. The ending will startle you".

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Connections

Referenced in Rewind This! (2013)

User Reviews

Haunting and Unforgettable

This is a very chilling movie based on an even more chilling novel. It does seem to be a cross between "Oedipus Rex" and "Lord of the Flies" as some reviewers have astutely pointed out, but it is actually based on an obscure Japanese novella. The original story had a Japanes protagonist and was set in a Japanese fishing village. The filmmakers don't entirely succeed in transplanting the action to rural England and casting a Kris Kristoferson in the lead role, but an international film never could have gotten made at the time with a Japanese lead, and once they cast Kristoferson, setting the movie in a Japanese fishing village would have drawn the inevitable charges of racism from the perpetually outraged idiots in the "PC" crowd.

Besides the awkwardness of the adaptation is redeemed by some great acting. This is probably Kristoferson's second best role after "Pat Garret and Billy the Kid". Sarah Miles is also very good as the lonely widow. Her sex scenes with Kristoferson are very erotic if very perverse (you see them only through a peephole as her disturbed son watches). The British child actors are also very good for a change, particularly the very disturbed but nevertheless sympathetic son and the truly psychopathic leader of the gang of schoolboys he runs with (who make the "Children of the Damned" look cute and cuddly by comparison). The scene where the gang eviscerates a live cat is almost unbearable to watch. And the final scene on a hill overlooking the sea is chilling, tragic, fatalistic, beautiful, and mythic all at once. This is and haunting and unforgettable movie.