White Squall (1996)

Teenage boys discover discipline and camaraderie on an ill-fated sailing voyage.

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Charles Gieg Jr. (book), Felix Sutton (book)

Stars:

Jeff Bridges, Caroline Goodall, John Savage

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Bridges	...	Sheldon 'Skipper'
Caroline Goodall	...	Dr. Alice Sheldon
John Savage	...	McCrea
Scott Wolf	...	Chuck Gieg
Jeremy Sisto	...	Frank Beaumont
Ryan Phillippe	...	Gil Martin
David Lascher	...	Robert March
Eric Michael Cole	...	Dean Preston
Jason Marsden	...	Shay Jennings
David Selby	...	Francis Beaumont
Julio Oscar Mechoso	...	Girard Pascal (as Julio Mechoso)
Zeljko Ivanek	...	Sanders
Balthazar Getty	...	Tod Johnstone
Ethan Embry	...	Tracy Lapchick
Jordan Clarke	...	Charles Gieg

Storyline

A true story about a group of American teenage boys who crew a school sailing ship to gain experience, discipline, or whatever their parents feel they lack. The voyage is a true adventure for them all but it has its downs as well as ups.

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Plot Keywords:

sail | squall | storm | male bonding | acrophobia | 

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Taglines:

The Adventure Of a Lifetime Turns Into the Ultimate Challenge of Survival!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and a traumatic shipwreck

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Danish Spanish

Release Date:

2 February 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

White Squall - Reißende Strömung

Filming Locations:

Beaufort, South Carolina, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$38,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,908,514, 4 February 1996

Gross USA:

$10,292,300

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,292,300

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hollywood Pictures, Largo Entertainment, Scott Free Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The real life Tod Johnstone has a small role in the film where he plays his own father.

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Goofs

In the scene where the Albatross comes across the Cuban Military Patrol Ship, electronics on the Cuban ship, most notably the Radar System, weren't available in the configuration seen in the early 1960s.

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Quotes

Chuck: The Albatross wasn't just a ship or a school, it was something that we made, something that's inside of us. That's who you are Skipper, what you gave us you carried us, now let us carry this together. Let us carry this together.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Screamers/Richard III/Bed of Roses/Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored/Angels and Insects (1996)

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Soundtracks

I WANNA WALK YOU HOME
Written by Fats Domino (as Antoine Domino)
Performed by Fats Domino
Courtesy of EMI Records
Under license from CEMA Special Markets

User Reviews

Not one of Ridley Scott's best, but it deserved better

With masterpieces like Alien, Blade Runner and the underrated, but superb, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, I am quite a big Ridley Scott fan. White Squall is something of a let down in comparison, but it certainly deserved more than a measly $10 million US gross at the box office. As you would expect from a Scott film it boasts his trademark lavish production quality and stunning photography. The sequences at sea at some of the most spectacular ever filmed as Scott revels in the rolling waves and lurching ship, convey the ferociousness at sea, even in fairly calm conditions like no other film I can recall. The story however is less successful and is essentially (and unusually unoriginal for a Scott movie) a Dead Poets' Society at sea, as a motley crew of young boys, played by a talented and convincing set youngsters, do a lot of growing during the course of the voyage under the watchful eye of an Ahab-esque but eventually sympathetic Jeff Bridges. The final scene most definitely resembles that of Dead Poets' Society. (Captain. My Captain). However the film as a whole never bores and makes for compulsive viewing at times particularly the superb storm of the title, that is both moving as well technical tour de force.