While Lt. Hornblower studies for his promotion examination, he is distracted by the serious supply problems that face his crew.
The Watchmen and San Andreas star leans into a different side of herself to play a hard-hitting new role.
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Title: Horatio Hornblower: The Fire Ship (TV Movie 1998)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Ioan Gruffudd | ... | Acting Lieutenant Horatio Hornblower | |
| Robert Lindsay | ... | Captain Sir Edward Pellew | |
| Denis Lawson | ... | Captain 'Dreadnought' Foster | |
| Ian McNeice | ... | Tapling | |
| Andrew Tiernan | ... | Bunting | |
| Jonathan Coy | ... | Lieutenant Bracegirdle | |
| Ian McElhinney | ... | Captain Hammond | |
| Paul Copley | ... | Matthews | |
 |
Chris Barnes | ... | Finch |
| Sean Gilder | ... | Styles | |
|
|
Simon Sherlock | ... | Oldroyd |
|
|
Colin MacLachlan | ... | Master Bowles |
| Rupert Holliday-Evans | ... | Steward | |
|
|
Frank Boyce | ... | Midshipman Cleveland |
|
|
Peter Corey | ... | HM Consul Duras |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Still serving aboard the HMS Indefatigable, Horatio Hornblower has been promoted to acting Lieutenant. Neutral Spain has concluded a peace treaty with France and the British now have another enemy to face. They soon come across a sunken British supply ship and rescue its Captain, 'Dreadnought' Foster, a man with a reputation for bravery that some consider borders on foolishness. Hornblower is also pleased to learn that Captain Pellew has scheduled him for the next round of Lieutenants exams. Tempers are short with the crew after they are put on half rations due to the lack of supplies. After acquiring more supplies, Hornblower finds himself in charge of a supply ship when it is feared that plague may also be aboard. He soon makes it to Gibraltar, but when the enemy send a fire ship into the harbor, he must act quickly to avert disaster. Written by garykmcd
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Country:
UKRelease Date:
11 April 1999 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Horatio Hornblower: The Fire Ship See more »Filming Locations:
Yalta, Crimea, UkraineCompany Credits
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Tapling: This is without question the most revolting experience of my entire life.
Steward: It has its advantages, sir.
Tapling: None that I can see.
Steward: The man with the hatchet gets to pick the choicest cuts.
Tapling: Indeed... show me.
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Did You Know?
Trivia
The question given at Hornblower's Lieutenant examination, that of what to do in response to a "full a-back", relates to the sails of a ship suddenly flattening against the mast due to a change in wind. The correct answer (which Hornblower clearly does not know) is to put the helm over, haul up the mainstay and spanker sails, and then shift the helm in the opposite direction in order to fill the after-sails with wind in order to regain headway. Once the wind has been recovered, the ship should then brace up the sails and bring the ship's course directly in front of the wind. The maneuver to regain wind after a fall a-back is known as "chapelling", or "Chapel Ship", and would have been something which Hornblower absolutely should have known. See more »Goofs
The real HMS Indefatigable was a 38 gun heavy frigate armed with 24 pounders plus six 42 pounder carronades for a total of 44 guns, razéed from a 64 gun Ardent class ship of the line, whereas it is represented here as a 20 gun post ship. See more »Quotes
[the aristocratic Mr. Tapling is assigned Cook's Mate on the quarantine voyage, and is helping the Steward to butcher a bullock]Tapling: This is without question the most revolting experience of my entire life.
Steward: It has its advantages, sir.
Tapling: None that I can see.
Steward: The man with the hatchet gets to pick the choicest cuts.
Tapling: Indeed... show me.
See more »
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Although I am not anything like a history-buff, I must say that I loved watching Hornblower. Andrew Grieve did an amazing job. He turned, together with the writer, of course, C.S Forester's book into a completely understandable, exiting adventure. Ioan Gruffudd did a fantastic job playing Horatio Hornblower, but let's not forget the other cast members: Robert Lindsay, Sean Gilder, Colin MacLachlan and all the others were outstanding too. Together they made a wonderful story, which, although it happened about 300 years ago, is still incredibly up to date.