Movie: 'The Finest Hours'

Looking forward to it. I understand that the story is pretty accurate. The only minor things were that Webber was married, that Miriam didn't know about any of it until Webber came back home and that they found Chatham from the lighthouse at the harbor, not car headlights. Niggles.

It's Disney ... I'm amazed they got as much of the basic story right as they did.

My major nit was that the forward section of the Pendleton did NOT go down like a rock when the ship fractured. Minor Pendleton nitpicks were wooden lifeboats (they would have been steel, from the wartime loadout) and orange lifejackets.

Still, a good movie, and one that didn't rely on a lot of fake explosions and thousands of rounds of ammunition to get the audience to gasp.

I read the book several months ago (which means my senile brain has forgotten some of the details). I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It's interesting to compare the special effects with those in "The Perfect Storm." The latter look pretty tame and fakey by comparison.

My biggest complaint was that the Coast Guard characters were so obviously Hollywoodized. Bernie did not look the least bit like Chris Pine. The photos in the book establish that these guys weren't eye candy; they were thoroughly ordinary looking people, who did some extraordinary things that night.

Oh - and the photos of the boat pulling up to the pier after the rescue establish that the survivors from the tanker were not standing on the deck; nobody except the crew is visible in the pictures. How all those survivers crammed their way into the modest below-deck space is a mystery.

I read a couple of reviews online. One gave the movie a generally favorable review with one big reservation: he said the 3D effects were awful. He recommend that people either see it in 2D or wait for the DVD. My wife and I went to a 2D showing. I've studiously avoided 3D since the day I tossed my cookies during "Avatar."

I saw the 2D also. I don't toss cookies at 3D, but after the first 5 minutes my brain ceases to notice 3D effects so it's a waste of money to me.

I assume the Pendleton was in ballast? It's hard to sink a tanker with 33 or so separate compartments. Even half a tanker. I thought the waves crossing the bar were way overdone, but...it's Hollywood. 

They showed a mythical compartment under the main deck that went right to the point of the break. Actually once you go much forward of the aft superstructure there is only cargo under that deck steel. I also wanted to know who was who in the crew. I assume the Chief Engineer was the main character and the guys who wanted to launch the boats were unlicensed deck. Engineers ARE officers, so there shouldn't have been that much debate over who was in charge. But I can see it developing that way. The forward house would have had the Master, all the Mates, the Radio Officer and the ABs and Ordinary on watch. Off watch ABs would have been aft.

In my experience, a merchant marine crew would have done a lot more swearing and less praying

I don't know when life jackets became orange. It was before my time in the mid 60s. 

Fred

Oh, and I don't remember the details of a T-2 steering engine, but I am certain you don't need the front half of the ship to move the rudder. I don't know what they were doing with that big beam. Hollywood.