In a future where the polar ice-caps have melted and Earth is almost entirely submerged, a mutated mariner fights starvation and outlaw "smokers," and reluctantly helps a woman and a young girl try to find dry land.
The polar ice caps have melted, and the earth is covered by water. The remaining people travel the seas, in search of survival. Several different societies exist. The Mariner falls from his customary and solitary existence into having to care for a woman and a young girl while being pursued by the evil forces of the Deacon.Written by
Robbie Smith <robsmith@u.washington.edu>
Jeanne Tripplehorn couldn't bear to go near a swimming pool for months after completing the lengthy shoot. See more »
Goofs
The map tattooed on Enola's back show the latitude and longitude of Dryland. In the absence of any orbiting GPS satellites, the only way to calculate one's longitude is to know the time at some standard longitude (such as the Greenwich Meridian) when it is local noon at one's current position. Since the world is now covered (almost) entirely by water, there are no standard geographical features against which to measure longitude, and no character in the film possesses any sort of clock. Nevertheless, the characters seem to have no difficulty using the map to find Dryland. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Narrator:
The future... The polar ice caps have melted, covering the earth with water. Those who survived have adapted, to a new world.
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Crazy Credits
The Earth in the Universal logo zooms into the Mariner's boat, with the ice caps melting and causing the world to be flooded. See more »
Alternate Versions
For the first airing on ABC which restored footage cut from the film, we see Helen and Enola standing atop the cliff watching the Mariner depart before the films end credits. As they are standing there they uncover a plaque which tells us that they are at the peak of Mt. Everest. This scene was not shown in the re-broadcast. See more »
This is an unpopular movie, and I don't see why it is so. Admittedly, it is unbelievable, but so are James Bond films. There was enough action in this one to keep thriller buffs going all the way through. Costner did a good job portraying a lonely vagabond in a crazy, violent world. Dennis Hopper, as usual, was an effective villain; he kept me laughing all the way with his insane antics, and his stupid henchmen. I have to wonder, however, if the full nude shot of the girl was really the actress I had been watching. With clothes on, she didn't look all that well endowed. Not a bad movie, really.
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This is an unpopular movie, and I don't see why it is so. Admittedly, it is unbelievable, but so are James Bond films. There was enough action in this one to keep thriller buffs going all the way through. Costner did a good job portraying a lonely vagabond in a crazy, violent world. Dennis Hopper, as usual, was an effective villain; he kept me laughing all the way with his insane antics, and his stupid henchmen. I have to wonder, however, if the full nude shot of the girl was really the actress I had been watching. With clothes on, she didn't look all that well endowed. Not a bad movie, really.