Alright, it looks like there's a lot of misunderstandings with what was said in the video. 1. At the start we admit that we've been told many times this movie is inaccurate, thats not us judging the movie, we havent even seen it yet at that point. Its just us stating this knowledge so people will stop telling us that. 2. Spoiler alert, after the movie in the post discussion, we said on camera that we enjoyed this movie even if its inaccurate, especially because we dont know what is inaccurate.
Unneeded. The story is fictional... However what is portrayed is quite accurate in terms of procedure, style and actually loosely features several true events in history. While i am here... 1) Simone's explanation on compass bearings is accurate. 2) Old Royal Navy Grog was 1 part rum, 3 parts water, with lime and cinnamon (Or another spice). The Lime and Rum preserves the water and kills any bacteria, so were often mixed early. Lime is also to prevent scurvy and the cinnamon is purely for additional flavour. It's not a nice tasting drink but is still drunk to this day by people. The Royal Navy banned the tradition of Rum allowance in the late 80's. However, unlike other Navy's... they did not ban alcohol... instead they made it law that EVERY Royal Navy vessel must have a Bar that serves ANY alcohol for sailors that are off duty... so they basically replaced the Rum allowance with a "Any Type of alcohol you like allowance" lol. 3) It's a awesome film that even historians praise for it's time period portrayals.
A fun fact about the books, Patrick O'Brian didn't initially know how many books he would write and set the first book later than he would have if he had known how many he would end up writing. As a result he packed about 5-6 years worth of in universe chronology into the period between June and Decemner of 1813. Also while the characters are fictional, Jack Aubrey is loosely based on Lord Thomas Cochrane.
@@roguenine9LUWhile guarded, O'Brian denied any connection to Cochrane. O'Brian did say an inspiration was Captain Edward Pellew (who was also used in Hornblower) and O'Brian clearly knew a great deal of the detail of Pellew and his life. A mix of both is probably accurate.
Was this comment supposed to be on this video? I remember this being on the Braveheart video which would make a lot more sense. Nobody talks about this movie being inaccurate (it is, in fact, *ridiculously* accurate in how it portrays the times, even if the events didn't happen) and you guys don't mention ahead of time that you've been told it's inaccurate. But you did on the Braveheart video.
The fact that this never garnished a series of films (based on the Jack Aubrey series of books) is an absolute crime. This is perhaps the single greatest "Age of Sail" movie ever put to screen and it is by *far* one of the most accurate in terms of History and how we know and believe how life was aboard these sailing vessels. They're also actually *on* a real ship for most of the filming, so it adds to everything this classic of a film has to offer.
I concur. :-( I know Peter Weir probably doesn't do sequels anyway, but if he were to direct any other installments adapting the Aubrey-Maturin series, that would've been wonderful.
From the distance with the imperfect telescope lenses of the time it would work. But you have to be really blinded by greed not to notice lowered topgallant spars
One of the most technically accurate films I’ve ever seen. Usually this kind of stuff would bore me, but they manage to make the jargon and routines involved with sailing super exciting.
I remember that one of the biggest changes they made was the nationality of the enemy ship. It was actually an American privateer working for the French.
When this came out, there were a ton of compliments on sailing forums I happened to belong to - and most particularly that this was a movie involving naval battles that finally, for perhaps the first time ever, acknowledged the importance of having the ‘weather gage’ - being the upwind ship - and therefore controlling the battle, including controlling distances, angles, etc, and the vulnerability of the downwind ship’s rudder.
@@TheJabbate1 Well, in the book this is based on, it's an American privateer working for the US, because it's set in 1812, and the Yankees decided to try and steal Canada while the British were otherwise occupied in Europe.
@@TheJabbate1 Book is set to 1812 , when England was so delusional it was thinking it can beat Russia and USA at same time . Napoleonic wars were going on 1803-15 , coalitions ware all messed up who was fighting who , and where , it was real hard to know whom to shoot at .
Yeah, one thing you get from the books is the sheer level of knowledge these people had about their trade: Lieutenants ahd to know the length and type of every kind of rope on the ship, the exact sequence of orders to manoeuvre etc., and they could basically read what was going on with another ship by how smoothly they executed orders and controlled their sails, like reading body language. The film does a great job of communicating that without giving a for-dummies explanation every time.
One of my favorite parts is when Aubrey gives the Midshipman who just lost an arm the book on Nelson, the hero of the British Navy, who also had a missing arm. It shows what kind of man and what kind of leader he is. Awesome.
Maturin is as much a main character in the books as Aubrey. He’s a doctor, but also a spy. He’s the illegitimate son of an Irish aristocrat who grows up in Catalonia. His motives are hatred of Napoleon for putting down the revolution and for Catalonian independence.
I’m so glad you guys watched this. It is shamefully under represented on react channels and now I’m excited for more people to do it because you guys seem to be in trendsetters. And, as always, this was such a lovely video!
This film was released just before the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was totally underestimated, by the public, by the critics and by the oscars, because of a really bad chosen release. It is certainly one of the best films on the theme, if not the best.
And it's so annoying because the LotR trilogy was snubbed at the Oscars the previous two years, so they had to give best motion picture to Return of the King. As much as I love LotR, Master&Commander deserved more recognition.
@@vanyadolly The first two LOTR movies weren't snubbed. Both were nominated for Best Picture and had tough competition. ROTK is often considered the best of the trilogy anyway. But even if it didn't win, there were still more than two nominees.
@@jp3813 Part of the problem was Fellowship and Two Towers weren't going to win. The Academy was waiting for Return to award the trilogy as a whole, which screwed Master and Commander. If this movie came out the year before, it would have totally won. Chicago beat Two Towers. Really? 2002 (2003 Oscars) was so weak I through they would be forced to give the award to LOTR. M&C would have totally smoke Chago and won. Could have helped with the box office, maybe helped more of the book series to be made. Such bad timing. What could have been.....
They chose the whaling ship as a disguise because whale oil was an incredibly valuable prize and they made the smoke not to look damaged but to indicate that they were cooking oil (to show that they had cargo).
It also would discourage them from firing on the whaler for fear of setting a fire or damaging the cargo. Wailing ships would stay at sea for over a year sometimes two years and could be carrying a packed hull of oil. It was a fortune.
This movie has been praised by many historians on its accuracy, so what you are seeing is very much how life was back then. What I really like is how they fit in character development and drama, without sacrificing any of that accuracy. The characters become memorable, you care for them, and you begin to root for them iver the shot time the movie lasts. It's definitely a show of fine writing, production and directing mixed with fantastic historical investigation, and some wonderful casting. Such an underrated movie.
I am still not over the fact that they made the antagonist ship French, because American audiences might not like it being American, though it's type is clearly American :-D
@@misterknister18 "Clearly" is doing a lot of work there. The type would likely only be clearly American to Age of Sail buffs. I saw this movie in theatres and didn't know the ship was supposed to be American until much later.
@@misterknister18 It's an American built ship that was sold to the French. Fairly common for the era, because American ships were very high quality and the US was friendly to the French. It's 1805. It's a French ship. Because it's a standalone movie, it simply makes more sense for it to be set in the Napoleonic Wars than the War of 1812.
I think one of the things I love most about this story is how is just kind of picks up in the middle, and doesn't necessarily end - we're just there for part of the voyage
@@neptunusrex5195 That's great! Thanks for the Latin. I'm brought to wonder if there's a name for a story like the Coen brothers' "The Big Lebowski" where the protagonist is uninvolved in the wider story. Or trying to be uninvolved anyway.
This movie is based on Thomas Cochrane, one of the most impressive sea captains ever to live, he made the fake flag trick a thing, he captured over 50 ships using inferior vessel. Even Napolion recognized his greatness and gave him the nickname le Loup des Mers (the Sea Wolf)
26:25 Grog is watered down navy rum mixed with lemon/lime. Named after Edward Vernon, who introduced it into the royal navy. He was known to wear a coat made of grogam cloth. Other sailors gave him the nickname "old grog". If you want to make some Grog, buy a bottle of Pussers rum. They use the original British navy method of producing rum 👍🏻
Further info: They gave a rum ration to the men in the Navy, but some of them used to hoard it and get drunk once a week or whatever, so they started diluting it because it will spoil quickly when diluted so they had to drink it the same day. Grog is 4 parts water to 1 part rum. They started putting lime juice in it to combat scurvy - hence the British being called "limeys".
@Rob Finlay further, further info: Sailors believed that gunpowder doused in grog that had too much water added would not cumbust. Where as grog at 50% alcohol would combust. If it did ignite, the grog was “proved,” giving rise to the term proof. If it didn't, the purser, the man responsible for supplying the men with their daily ration of grog, also known as the "pusser", where the aforementioned rum gets its name, might find himself tossed overboard
Grog had Lime/Lemon in it, cause it was also the only way to convince Sailors to intake some fruit juice. It was to avoid Scurvy,its a disease you get after a few months of not having any vitamin C in your systeme, wich when you spent MONTHS at sea, was quite frequent actually.
One of my favorite movies. The attention to detail is so good and I think the filmmakers respected the audience enough to not hand-hold us or shy away from using some terminology that we're just not used to in a movie. At the same time, even if you know nothing about navies in the 1800's, they round out the movie by creating some amazing characters that feel more fleshed out than some tv shows can manage in a season.
Well the Acheron is based on the USS Constitution, but was changed from American to French because they thought American audiences couldn't handle being the antagonists. That's not very respectful, but it's one of the very few historical inaccuracies.
@@zarwil I know, I guess "historically authentic" would be the correct term. Like the Acheron, the USS Constitution had a new type of hull made up of different types of oak that was highly resistant to cannon fire. They even say that it was built in America in the movie, but don't explain why the French have it.
Simone nailed it about Paul Bettany’s character being a spy. In the book series (20 books) he is an intelligence officer as well as a doctor and Jack Aubrey’s friend. He also has an opium addiction
There's a line where Aubrey says Surprise is not a private yacht. Ironically, he will later command a privateer owned by the Doctor and used for his intelligence work.
More accurately, in the series, the fighting naturalist/ intelligence agent/naval surgeon Stephen Maturin goes through an opium addiction, as well as getting addicted to cocaine for a time, and smoking tobacco. Good as this movie is, the books by Patrick O'Brien are even better, among the most excellent historical fiction ever written. Characters, dialogue, descriptions of settings, situations; every element of storytelling is superior.
Well, he's too good-looking to play the real Steven Maturin. And rather than leaping across to the enemy ship, the real Maturin would have required a 40-man working party and a bosun's chair to get him across, and he would get ducked in the ocean twice on the way!
So glad you reacted to this! My favorite character is Blakeney. The slightly frustrating thing is that it's really easy to miss some of the nuances about him and his position, because the clues in the film are very brief and hard to interpret if you're unclear about how the class system in Britain worked at the time. At one point the Captain calls him Lord Blakeney. And the doctor mentions that the Captain was friends with Blakeney's father. I think the idea is that his father died, probably in the Navy, and was a British Lord ... making the young son Lord himself. But he IS young and is probably, like many noble-born British at the time, sent to the Navy as a child with the idea of him making his career in the Navy. He's already an officer, because of his class position. The bonus of course is that he happens to be a super intelligent, brave, and competent young person -- almost a prodigy. So his position given by class is actually deserved in his case. The contrast with Hollum is telling too. Hollum probably once was like Blakeney, even if he wasn't a Lord he was, as Simone and George mentioned, probably upper class. He may have even started young too. But he's just not very good at being an officer. And that again is what makes Blakeney so lovable. He's nice to everyone, even the officer who's kind of a screwup. And Blakeney never "lords it" over others. He's just a terrific character!
I would say the young Lord Blakeney was more than likely a second son. The heir to the title would remain to learn how to manage the estate and the subsequent sons would have had to make their way in the world which usually meant Navy, Army, Priesthood or marry into money. Meaning you find a rich merchant with a daughter who wants to raise his family's social status. You get financial stability and he gets to show off his classy son in law and his grandchildren would then be peers.
Hollum should have become a glergyman, the life of a pastoral vicar would have suited him. For the aristocracy in the UK the career choices were the Military Army or Navy Politic's or the Church. Young men like Blakeney were the exception not the rule, as Officers in the Navy or Army were drawn from a limited part of the population, though the Navy was a lot stricter on who they promoted, still unsuitable and incompetent officers slipped through, just because of sheer number of vacancies in the Royal Navy of the period.
Although Crowe was doubtless the star, it seemed like Blakeney was the audience's POV and teller of the tale. Would love to see a sequel with Blakeney now in the role of M&C, set at the dawn of steam and armor plate.
He was definitely talking about his shirt. They had to make sure they got all of the cloth out of his wound, and to make sure of that, they compare the patch he pulled out to the hole in his shirt to make sure its a perfect match.
I've heard some people describe the Weevil joke as cringy, but I thought it was really funny. The absolute last thing anyone expected from Russell Crowe's character (or from the movie) was a Dad Joke, but that's the power of rum for you.
I personally loved the music playing scenes, and how Captain didn't want an animal named after him. Instead just a bush that was "prickly and hard to eradicate" 😂
"The lesser of two weevie-ls." The greatest dad joke, both real and fictional. LMAO one of my all time fave films and the one novel i own and have read.
Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany learned their instruments for this film and are actually playing them in their scenes together. Crowe said it was the most difficult thing he has done to prepare for a role.
They are not actually playing the instruments, they learned to pretend to play, wich they did almost correct. Playing Boccherini on the Cello/Violine isnt something you just learned in a few weeks.
2:22: Movie won for Best Sound Editing, so for Simone to notice the sound so quick is impressive. Also won for Best Cinematography plus nominated for 8 other Oscars. They lowered the smaller boats into the water to protect them from getting damaged. If they stay up high on the ship, they will surely get hit during combat. Fun Fact: Paul Bettany's character was almost played by Heath Ledger. He was in major consideration for the role.
The small boats, being made of frailer wood would be a major hazard during a battle. The most dangerous thing aboard these ships that killed the greatest number of men was wood splinters flying all over the place. Small boats would literally explode into flying fragments.
Another reason to lower the boats in the morning was to keep them "wet" (that what "put him in a long boat till hes sober" in Drunken Sailor refers to), so the wood doesnt dry out and warp, and also to give the crew space on deck.
There's a number of reasons to put the small craft in the water, as people have noted. It also saves time if you have a need for a small boat during and after the battle.
A real shame since the book series is so well developed. Each one is a completely different adventure with different intrigues and strong explorations of Aubrey and Maturin's friendship and even rivalry at times. Some books even mostly take place on land. I really don't understand why Hollywood didn't take advantage of such source material, an already created historical fiction universe.
@@zatoichi1 Perhaps because it is such a fully developed universe, Hollywood "creative geniuses" can't interject their own half-baked ideas into it. And also, it would be incredibly expensive to do them justice, whether live or CGI.
I think you were totally correct this film is so personal. The technicalities seem quite real. I really feel like a Navy man at this time watching his film.
Fun fact, the guy holding the mirror during the operation at 33:00 was sitting down on a low chair during that scene so he wouldn't bash his head and tower over everyone else in the scene, he's 7 foot 2. He nearly knocked himself out a few times during filming, bashing his head into things cause of the extremely low deck ceilings (it was filmed on an actual replica ship)
This is actually one of the finest and most historically accurate naval films ever made about this period. The little kids you see on board were a real thing: officers and sailors used to start as young as 9 year old. Sometimes, the powder monkeys (those young kids seen carrying gunpowder) were even younger. Also, the characters in this film are so incredible. A hidden masterpiece that deserved so much more praise than it got and it's one of Russell Crowes best performances.
@@flyingmonkeydeathsquadronc968 In the novel that the movie is based on the ship is American and given a fictional name. The ship in the book is based on the USS Constitution.
I'd like to point out that one of the oscars this movie snatched away from Return of the King was for audio editing. The sound in this film is so damned good.
When the Surprise got hit for the first time, you can hear the cannonballs whistling past. I saw this in the cinema when it came out, and I remember physically ducking at that point!
The Aubery/Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brien are a delight and were well translated to the big screen. Such a shame they didn't continue the full series of films.
@@chrisnielsen9885 The basic plot is from the 10th book The Far Side of the World though they changed it from the War of 1812 to the Napoleonic wars. Various incidents were drawn from a few other books.
@@bengilbert7655 Correct. The Acheron in the O'Brian novel is an American ship which the British Navy is hunting. Changing the ship and time period so that the enemy was French was a wise plot-change by Hollywood, in my opinion, considering the primary intended audience (Americans). And @Chris Nielsen? If you enjoyed the first book, you will continue to enjoy the next 19!
9:44 Using a Silver coin or copper coin as a skull plate makes perfect sense, because both metals are antibacterial in nature. I just never really was put in a position as a ship's surgeon, and these guys had to be clever. I imagine that copper nails had a secondary use as well.
This film is a masterpiece and had a successful box office, but its release was unfortunately timed. The first Pirates of the Caribbean film also released in 2003, which occupied the same "nautical" category and drew a lot more attention from audiences. And at the 2004 Oscars, although it received 10 nominations, it competed against The Return of the King in 8 categories, which famously won everything it was nominated for. In the end, Master and Commander won the Oscars for Sound Editing and Cinematography. Well deserved.
The box office was not successful, it’s the main reason there are no sequels. They intended for it to be a series of films. But the box office didn’t do good, so they canceled plans for a sequels. Sucks cuz Russell Crowe was all in, even trying to get fans to ask for a sequel a couple of years ago.
It’s unfortunate that having two nautical films in the same year is regarded as crowded, yet here we are now with 10+ comic book superhero movies this year and people flock to all of them. I want more seafaring films.
After twenty years they’ve announced the prequel to Master and Commander is in early production. Why a prequel, probably because Crowe has timed out along the role
@@zarwil the film barely broke even over the years. But when it opened it did very bad number and they were shocked how it was considered a flop. Because like I said they had hoped to make this into a series of films and Russell Crowe was on board for it. The film grossed 212mil on a 150mil budget. Keep in mind rule of thumb is you double the cost for marketing and promotion of the film. So the actual cost of the film was around 200-300mil.
Although a fictional account, this is one of the most historically accurate films made about this era. As a former sailor, this is one my favorite films.
I am so glad a friend who had read the books dragged me along to watch this on the big screen, because I would never have selected it on my own. But damn, it's such a gem!
For those who wonder, I was standard practice to drop your boats and take them in tow when making ready for battle, because the boats where stored on deck, where any hit with a cannonball would turn them into a source of vast amounts of very fast moving wooden splinters. Thus making it extremely dangerous for the crew to keep them there during battle.
I love you guys. This movie is so unassumingly amazing and not what mainstream movie goers would be into but it’s SO good. I love that you loved it. Thanks for continuously being awesome.
George is right that life was hard on land in those times, but not everybody crammed on the small Surprise was a volunteer. Many of the hands were ""pressed", by roving, officially-sanctioned Press Gangs, into years-long service - essentially kidnapped, or "Shanghaied", or forcefully and abruptly "drafted" - hauled out of a tavern, or jail, or just off the street, and shoved onto a ship to ""do your duty" to King and country. For I don't know how long; could easily be until you were killed in action, or by disease, or bad leadership, but definitely as long as the voyage lasted. I suppose there were some situations or conditions that excused one, but I have no idea what they might have been. That's all I can give y'all about impressment.
Old Royal Navy Grog was 1 part rum, 3 parts water, with lime and cinnamon (Or another spice). The Lime and Rum preserves the water and kills any bacteria, so were often mixed early. Lime is also to prevent scurvy and the cinnamon is purely for additional flavour. Also Simone's explanation of compass bearings is accurate. From a Limey 😉
For once a movie took the musical aspect seriously. Music is such a key part of Jack and Stephen's relationship, it was so important that both actors did more than just mime. Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany actually learned how to play their instruments, and practiced three hours a night for several months to get it right - and it really shows in how comfortable they are moving with their instruments.
That's one of the things I really enjoyed about the books, the importance of home grown music in the life of the people. In fact, the very first scene of the whole series begins with Maturin reprimanding Aubrey for being out of time while they're in the audience of a recital. And then (as men sometimes do) they become fast friends from the very next day. Incidentally, when they play the cello and violin like guitars in the final scene, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that that is how Boccerini, the composer, instructs the musicians to play that movement of the piece (Night Music on the Streets of Madrid), and it was not some bow to pop-culture.
Re: The Hollom. Didn't put it together the first time I saw it, but in retrospect it seems that Aubrey didn't fully realize how poorly Hollom was performing in part because Hollom's fellow midshipmen often covered for him (like calling beat to quarters and letting Hollom take the credit). This seems evident when Aubrey doesn't even recall Hollom's correct age, and seems surprised that Hollom didn't immediately correct the crewman's insult (leading to Aubrey harshly criticizing Hollom in private). Later, in his eulogy, Aubrey talks of Hollom being failed by his fellows and definitely feels his own lapse in that regard. The crew wouldn't resent Hollom just because he came from the upper classes - most midshipmen did. It was SOP in that class-centric society.
The character of Jack Aubrey (also the character of Horatio Hornblower) was loosely based on a real-life British captain, Thomas Cochrane, who earned the nickname of the Sea-Wolf. The tactic Aubrey used to disguise the HMS Surprize as a whaling ship to lure a much larger opponent was done many time by Cochrane. For all the exploits written about Aubrey in the novels, they don' compare to the stuff Cochrane pulled during his time as Captain in the British Navy.
Saw this in theaters at 13 years old. Darn cool to see on the big screen. Plus, after A Beautiful Mind it's fun to see Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany together again.
Such a FANTASTIC and yet overlooked movie. It flew under the radar when it was originally released but anyone who sees it immediately realizes what a top notch film it is. The characters are so intriguing and well-written, it's an exciting story, magnificent music, gorgeous cinematography and historically accurate rather than just Hollywoodized anachronistic action. It's nearly flawless and endlessly rewatchable.
Robert liston was a surgeon who was quick enough to be able to amputate a leg in 2 and a half minutes. He believed that the quicker it was done the better chance the patient had. Napoleon's surgeon was also known to be extremely quick especially for arm amputations.
So glad you guys are doing this movie! It’s a masterpiece and unmatched in its accurate depiction of how a ship like this was manned and operated. The cinematography is amazing and the acting is top notch. Check out the making of the film! The actors were put through a “boot camp” to learn how to sail and operate a navy war ship, and the the leads actually had to learn to play the cello and violin. The attention to detail is beyond impressive!
22:17 - very good. In the book series the doctor was one of the top spies in the British service. Jack was the only one of his friends that knew, and they each saved the others lives repeatedly.
20:00 The music is Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Tallis; in my opinion, an extraordinarily beautiful and haunting piece. Very appropriate for that point of the movie.
George at 2:53 -- "I cannot imagine being crammed up with that many people in such a small space for so long." George, if you and Simone haven't already seen it, you really should also watch "Das Boot" (1981).
"Oh, amputation! Suddenly my tooth ache from last week doesn't seem so bad." And right there, I was laughing and clapping at the same time. And trepanning (cutting a circular hole on top of the skull) goes back to farming stone age, not just Roman era. People survived it, 'cause skulls have been found in Denmark that shows healing at the edges.
In comparison of prevalence of trepanned skulls found to non trepanned skulls, you would much less likely to meet someone that is Red haired today than you would meet someone who had been trepanned in the stone age.
When he cuts away the wreckage one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever created is playing. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Talis by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The sound design is just 👍🏾 I remember back in the day when ever CNET it was testing speakers for television setups, this is the film they would always put on. And rightfully so like you can hear the difference you can hear the care that was put into the audio.
Peter Weir is such an underrated director. Besides this movie and the Truman Show, his earlier Australian movies are worth checking out as well as Witness and Fearless.
I have immense respect for him. I don't think I've ever seen a bad film by Weir. And I've noticed many people have a hard time believing the man who directed the likes of The Truman Show in 1998 later directed Master and Commander just five years later in 2003. Two films with completely different themes, storylines, esthetics, tonal approaches, settings, camera work and sound work, and they're both excellent even 25 and 20 years later, each of them for different reasons, and both regarded as modern classics.
There is a reason old doctors used to be called "Sawbones" - also, burning hot pitch (tar) was used to cauterize and seal wounds after a limb was removed. The movie is based off a couple of books by Patrick O'Brian who based the books off actual ships logs from the time period.
The smoke wasn't to imply that "Syren" was damaged, but to sell its cover as a whaling vessel. Also, and super important, is that "Surprise" did *not* fight under a false flag; the first order of business was to raise their true colors before engaging
What's rare about this is how much the characters earn their sense of optimism. They dare a world they don't really know yet, pay a high price, and appreciate whatever they happen to get from the experience. And it's true to the spirit of a lot of real people in history. Not exactly explorers by this time, but still having that energy despite their military mission.
They lower the smaller boats during a general quarters so they have something to rely on if the ship sinks. You don't want the rafts to go down with the ship.
It's main reason is to remove a source of wooden shrapnel. Secondary to that is also to preserve the life boats if possible. Although, generally the aim was not to sink the other ship, but to capture it.
I knew you all would get a lot out of the friendships in this. Your reactions are my favorites because you all always recognize subtext in character relationships. Really makes the reactions so much more enjoyable when a reaction channel doesn’t sit there and occasionally say “cool visual” “whoa weird hat” the whole video. Per Simone’s comment about the crisp audio: When this movie came out on DVD, you couldn’t find a tech or big box store that didn’t use this movie in their Home Theater display room. A great moment you catch on rewatch (or first watch with an eagle-eye) is that when Blakeney flips through the book on Lord Nelson, the portrait of Nelson shows his sleeve hooked onto the front of his coat as he had lost his arm in battle a few years before the film takes place. Regarding the awkward moment when Mr. Hollom is singing: Officers and unenlisted/standard crew were NOT to fraternize in a social context, so singing one of the crew’s shanties with them was a big no-no. A good moment to show how naive, albeit harmless, and therefore tragic, Hollom is. The Surprise flies their colors so that the ambush is legal. Even in the middle of the ocean, navies followed at least some rules.
The fake boat decoy scene was based on a tactic by lord Thomas Cochrane, who Jack Aubrey is based on. He was a brilliant and devious sailor, known to the French as Loups de mers or The Sea Wolf.
Captain Aubrey's ship the HMS Surprise is moored in the Maritime Museum of San Diego in San Diego Bay. It looks so much smaller in person, but is a beautiful ship. Can see pics of it if you google. Have been to it many times. This is one of my favorites, from the story to humor to the realistic lifestyle and combat portrayed, acting and music. So glad you enjoyed it.
@@formatique_arschlochOf course it's a replica. The USS Constitution is the only warship of that era that is still sailed. But it IS the ship used in this movie. (When it wasn't a scale model or CGI.)
When my brother insisted I watch this film years ago I was like "ugh...a historial war film?" but I ended up loving it so much. This is a really great film!
If you're into this sort of movies I fully recommend the Hornblower series. Not to forget the Gregory Peck movie Hornblower. One of my favourite actors of all time.
I have read the entire book collection 5 times. Its all that good and better. In one the Dr actually brings abord an entire bee colony. The colonies container is hit by a shell and bursts open in Jacks Cabbin. As the Dr and Jack are leaving to go on deck they send in the Cook and Bonden in to recollect the bees and they are afraid to enter but the Dr tells them Hop to it its just a little pain if you make them mad, so don't, just be gentle. Then as they get on deck He says to Jack "I find it quite curios that your average English seamen, A stout and Brave man, willing to stand fast in the line of battle and brave shot and shell and splintering wood is so afraid of a little bug". LMAO I highly recommend them. The Auther did a great job sticking as close as possible to History and to make them as accurate as posable.
YAY! MY FAVORITE MOVIE. YOU GUYS ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST REACTORS ON RUclips. JOINING NOW. edit: I legitimately believe that this movie will one day be ranked alongside the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, and other great war films. It just had the misfortune to come out at around the same time as Pirates of the Caribbean. (2003) BUT! I heard that there is now a prequel series in pre-production.
Wha-what-don't toy with me sir! Is this true? Is there truly a prequel series? From the books? Where delicious period-accurate puddings feature more than pirates? If so - glee!
Same year as LOTR Return of the King too. One of the Harry Potters. It was just a bad year for a historical drama. Even one as absolutely brilliant as this one. I'm glad it seems to have gotten more respect in recent years though.
George referencing HBO's incredible "Rome" series when he spots Max Pirkis (young Octavian) just makes me love him that little bit more. Would dearly love to see you guys react to that show 😊
@@slowerthinker If you can work your vpn, I, Claudious is being re-run on the BBC at the moment. First 3 episodes are up as of today. Rome was excellent. RIP Ray Stevenson, aka Titus Pullo.
Fun Fact: The climactic battle of the film is based on the a real life action of British Commander Thomas Cochrane and his small brig of 54 men against a much larger Spanish Frigate and its 319 men in 1801. Like Lucky Jack in the film, Cochrane pretended to be an American Ship by raising the American Flag as he closed in before raising the British flag and fired at close range. Killing the Spanish captain at first volley. The Spanish tried firing back but their guns were mounted too high and their volley harmlessly flew overhead. Only after several volleys did Cochrane raid the ship with all his men who then cut down the Spanish flag from the mast. The remaining Spanish crew thought this meant their officers had surrendered the ship to the British then laid down their arms in surrender as well. The battle ended with 14 dead and 41 wounded Spanish seamen while the rest of the 261 were captured along with their ship. The British on the other hand only lost 3 men and 9 wounded. A real life David and Goliath story
I am really glad they made a realistic scene with the boy who was in charge of the crew under deck! Who jumped into Battle with NO FEAR but trained very well to do battle like a grown up!!! VERY COOL!
I love this movie and I'm so glad you two watched it. At the time this came out I found most sailing movies to be rather boring, and this one so intrigued me. Definitely a favorite of mine! One detail some may miss - After Mr. Blakeney has his arm amputated, and Capt. Jack gives him the book about Lord Nelson, They zoom in on the cover to show that Lord Nelson also only has one arm. A warming encouragement from Capt. Jack to Mr. Blakeney that he can still accomplish great things with a missing appendage.
I love this movie sooo much. We watched it in cinema, when I was in school yet, and pale face of poor "Jonah", fading in the dark of water, was kinda carved in my memories for years later. Amasing piece of art. So underrated.
What got my admiration for this film was not the attention to detail, but the fact that Russell Crowe learned to play the violin for the film. He also had the crew of his ship play rugby together, so they could bond and work better as a team.
Such an amazing movie so glad you reacted to it! To answer an earlier question before engaging with the enemy by the rules of war they have to raise there true flag(colours)
I love that there are so many sayings and idioms that we get from the Age of Sail. Learn the ropes, show your true colors, long shot, tide over, taken aback, liking the cut of someone's jib, pipe down, toe the line, down in the doldrums, batten down the hatches, three sheets to the wind, high and dry, rock the boat, dead in the water, loose cannon, a shot across the bow. There's just so many of them!
This movie is amazing, both in scope and in attention to detail. Just a side note, the music at 20:30 is one of the most moving pieces of music ever written. It is the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It is perfectly used for the moment of abandoning a crewmember.
The use of Fantasia on a Theme in this movie is the best and most appropriate use of this (overused) piece of music in all cinema history. It perfectly captures the sense of melancholy, duty, and awe of being an Englishman on a lone battleship serving his country in the 1800s. As an aside, it's also one of my most favorite pieces of classical music ever written. I think Ralph Vaughan Williams is very underrated and underappreciated and belongs in the pantheon of the greatest composers and Fantasia is absolute showcase and proof of that. The whole piece ebbs and flows and takes many twists and turns. The emotional journey it takes over its course is just breathtaking and kind of mirrors the drama in this movie, and Peter Weir is just brilliant in incorporating this very English composition to score this very English story of pride and duty. It really touched up the movie with an epic sheen.
You mentioned the creaking and sounds early on. This was one of the first movies I used to test out my home theater, the soundscape is one of the best I have heard, battles or just the creaking etc. Watching this movie with a good surround sound set up, and subwoofer with good LFE is fantastic. Whoever did the audio for this movie should have won an award.
O, you two have no idea my excitement, to see this upload! Sincerely one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces I've ever witnessed. Special great thanks to whomever encouraged this reaction.
This movie really hits, and I definitely cry every time I watch it. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Also, Stephen *is* a spy, but for the Brits and it doesn’t come up til later books.
@@VilleHalonen Is that a spoiler? I have to be honest, I haven't read the books. I've heard described as being something very obvious. Analogous to knowing Bruce Wayne is Batman. Either way, removed.
@@Wrencher_86 Ah, I don’t know! Now that I think about, I’ve heard it also although I still haven’t read the books. So maybe it comes up in his character introduction and I’m just overly cautious. Thanks for being cool about it!
@@VilleHalonen Begin reading the books, amigo, and you'll see that not much one could tell someone about them could spoil the experience of actually embarking on the voyage with Aubrey and Maturin.
At 4:43 Simone asked the question, "Why did they lose the smaller boats?" When they "beat to quarters" (meaning clear the ship for action), they remove the ships boats from the deck, where they are stored when not in use, and tow them behind the ship. Just about everything on those ships was made of wood, and most of the battle wounds would be from the wood splinters that sprayed about like shrapnel when the ship was hit by enemy cannonballs. (It is a wood splinter the doctor pulls out of the Captain's neck after the battle.) The ship's boats were made of light planking and would throw a huge amount of splinters if hit, so trailing them behind the ship during battle was a way of removing a potentially dangerous source of splinters during battle.
Love your reactions and this film is such a gem so much historical detail of navel warfare and based on the novels by Patrick O'brien. In the novels Stephen Maturin is indeed a spy aswell as the ships physician
32:50 A Soviet doctor did the same thing in Antarctica. He was the only medic of the group, but he developed appendicitis. He had the cut his own appendix out. The son a gun did it successfully as well. He lived.
Mr. Hollum was obviously not cut out for the task. Officers were always aristocrats, and they got their assignments based on politics and connections, rather than merit. As an aristocrat, and probably the younger son of some Lord, Hollum was probably forced by his father to join the navy to "toughen up". We tend to forget that British aristocracy was in fact an ancient warrior culture with it's own set of honour codes. As late as WW1, sons of lords was expected to lead soldiers in the front lines and they suffered disproportionally high casualty rates. Hollum might have been a great doctor or pursued some other higher education if his father had let him choose his own path.
@@JH-lo9ut Not really in the Royal Navy from what I have learned. Unlike the army, you can't really bribe or buy a rank in the Royal Navy. They would need to actually know what's going on, so they need to start from the rank of midshipman to learn it, which can be seen in the movie when the Captain is teaching the kids. The Captain in the movie is also not from a aristocratic background if I remembered correctly and started from a midshipman. Mr Hollum is a midshipman, which is kinda like cadets in the modern sense, but they would be actually be on a warship to learn everything needed for naval warfare. Like what you would see for the other midshipman, they are actually teens. At the end they will need to pass the test in order to be an actual officer, but Mr Hollum failed twice and still remained in this rank up to 30. If he really got his assignments based on connections, he won't still be a midshipman at 30. The family would use the connection to get him out of here, so either he is really bad to a point even his family can't help him or his background is not good enough get past that or both. Actually the amputated kid is an aristocrat, as I remember Captain Aubery called him Lord XXX instead of Mr XXX like what he usually did. There's some other youtube videos talked about the historic background of the video. You might want to check it out.
@@JH-lo9ut Okay so that's not how the Royal Navy, or the US Navy for that matter, worked. Unlike the British Army, where you could purchase a commission as an officer up to the rank of Colonel in the Infantry or Cavalry, the Royal Navy required all future officers to start at the rank of Midshipman. These boys usually came from upper middle class families or as the later born children of the lower ranks of the aristocracy. Since they weren't the first born they would not receive the same level of inheritance and as a result, becoming a naval officer could elevate a person's standing in society. Midshipman, named for where their sleeping quarters were located on the ship (amidships= the middle of the ship), started out between the ages of 12-17, though there are documented cases of boys as young as 9. These boys would spend years training alongside the crew of adult sailors to learn everything about sailing. It is literally where the phrase "learn the ropes" comes from, because they would have to learn what every single rope and sail on the ship was used for. They would learn navigation, astronomy, trigonometry, timekeeping, leadership, gunnery, log keeping, naval tactics, and how to maintain good order and discipline on a ship. Once these boys had spent enough time, when the Captain of the ship felt they were ready they would have to take an exam back in England to be eligible to graduate to the rank of Lieutenant. There was no money or influence that could be used to gain the position of Lieutenant without passing that exam. The most that a family could do, would be to influence a Captain to agree to take on their son as a Midshipman, after that it was up to him. The key difference on why you could purchase a commission in the Army but not in the Navy is for one reason: ships of war are extremely expensive. If an Army officer was bad, the men would desert. That's bad because you lose the manpower. However, Sailors could not just leave, so their only way to desert was to mutiny, which not only ensures the loss of available sailors and officers, but it also meant the loss of supplies, weapons, and an entire warship. As a result, strict discipline was maintained on board at all times, because the threat of mutiny was one that they simply could not afford.
16:55 what's really cool is that its actually inspired by a real event. Thomas Cochrane, who the character Aubrey draws a lot of inspiration from, pulled this off in a sloop with only 14 guns while being chased by a much larger frigate. Except he fixed a lantern to a barrel instead of a raft and fooled the other ship. 36:47 Cochrane also used false flags successfully too :D
This movie was nominated for 11 academy awards. It is undoubtedly a masterpiece of film and storytelling. It simply had the misfortune of coming out the same year as LotR: Return of the King.
Russell Crowe has been asked about it, and said he would do a sequel in a heartbeat, but since it barely turned a profit, it will likely never happen. Pirates of the Caribbean, which came out the same year, earned three times as much at the box office on a smaller budget, so that's why that movie got sequels and this one didn't.
Killick is low-key my favorite character in the movie, the way he just grumbles and eye-rolls his way through the whole story. A perfect example of how to do a comic relief character right. Another Peter Weir movie you guys should definitely check out is Witness with Harrison Ford, it's really good.
From your questions about spies… in the Patrick O’Brian books, Stephen Maturin, the doctor, is one of England’s most valuable spies, (he speaks fluent French, Irish, Catalan (Spanish), and Portuguese?and being a renowned doctor and naturalist helps hide his covert actions), but it is not mentioned here except his vague comment “ the French have their spies as do we…”. This movie is pieced together from several of the books in the series.
"Criminally underrated" I do not know anyone who underrates this film, certainly not in a manner indicative of criminality. 10 academy award noms, 2 wins 8 british academy award noms, 4 wins dozens of other noms, numerous top 10 lists & critics society award noms. Stop being such a drama queen this film is loved & admired by a huge swath of serious movie lovers & critics
Underrated and underappreciated by the general public is what I'm sure he meant. The fact my own son (19), daughter (13), and nieces (13, 18, 21) hadn't even heard of it til I showed them blew my mind.
@@clevelandcbi the general public knows nothing, so that doesn't matter...most of the general public did not see it, so they can't rate it all, let alone underrate it in a criminal manner. among the vast majority of those who saw it, it remains highly thought of. the op is just being melodramatic.
Hi Simone & George, so glad you enjoyed watching this film. As for the sailors, in many cases not so much a career choice, rather than an imposed one. Pressgangs were very active replenishing losses, not a good idea to get drunk in or around a pub. As you could wake up as part of a crew on board ship, already at sea with your family unaware of your whereabouts.
Alright, it looks like there's a lot of misunderstandings with what was said in the video.
1. At the start we admit that we've been told many times this movie is inaccurate, thats not us judging the movie, we havent even seen it yet at that point. Its just us stating this knowledge so people will stop telling us that.
2. Spoiler alert, after the movie in the post discussion, we said on camera that we enjoyed this movie even if its inaccurate, especially because we dont know what is inaccurate.
Unneeded.
The story is fictional... However what is portrayed is quite accurate in terms of procedure, style and actually loosely features several true events in history.
While i am here...
1) Simone's explanation on compass bearings is accurate.
2) Old Royal Navy Grog was 1 part rum, 3 parts water, with lime and cinnamon (Or another spice). The Lime and Rum preserves the water and kills any bacteria, so were often mixed early. Lime is also to prevent scurvy and the cinnamon is purely for additional flavour. It's not a nice tasting drink but is still drunk to this day by people. The Royal Navy banned the tradition of Rum allowance in the late 80's. However, unlike other Navy's... they did not ban alcohol... instead they made it law that EVERY Royal Navy vessel must have a Bar that serves ANY alcohol for sailors that are off duty... so they basically replaced the Rum allowance with a "Any Type of alcohol you like allowance" lol.
3) It's a awesome film that even historians praise for it's time period portrayals.
A fun fact about the books, Patrick O'Brian didn't initially know how many books he would write and set the first book later than he would have if he had known how many he would end up writing. As a result he packed about 5-6 years worth of in universe chronology into the period between June and Decemner of 1813.
Also while the characters are fictional, Jack Aubrey is loosely based on Lord Thomas Cochrane.
@@roguenine9LUWhile guarded, O'Brian denied any connection to Cochrane. O'Brian did say an inspiration was Captain Edward Pellew (who was also used in Hornblower) and O'Brian clearly knew a great deal of the detail of Pellew and his life. A mix of both is probably accurate.
Was this comment supposed to be on this video? I remember this being on the Braveheart video which would make a lot more sense. Nobody talks about this movie being inaccurate (it is, in fact, *ridiculously* accurate in how it portrays the times, even if the events didn't happen) and you guys don't mention ahead of time that you've been told it's inaccurate. But you did on the Braveheart video.
I will never watch you two again. You bore me.
The fact that this never garnished a series of films (based on the Jack Aubrey series of books) is an absolute crime. This is perhaps the single greatest "Age of Sail" movie ever put to screen and it is by *far* one of the most accurate in terms of History and how we know and believe how life was aboard these sailing vessels. They're also actually *on* a real ship for most of the filming, so it adds to everything this classic of a film has to offer.
I would have loved it! Especially to get more of Maturin's storyline.
Instead we got 6 Pirates of Caribbean sequels (the first one was fun enough).
I concur. :-( I know Peter Weir probably doesn't do sequels anyway, but if he were to direct any other installments adapting the Aubrey-Maturin series, that would've been wonderful.
From the distance with the imperfect telescope lenses of the time it would work.
But you have to be really blinded by greed not to notice lowered topgallant spars
Yup, thanks to the novelist, this movie is very historically authentic.
One of the most technically accurate films I’ve ever seen. Usually this kind of stuff would bore me, but they manage to make the jargon and routines involved with sailing super exciting.
I remember that one of the biggest changes they made was the nationality of the enemy ship. It was actually an American privateer working for the French.
When this came out, there were a ton of compliments on sailing forums I happened to belong to - and most particularly that this was a movie involving naval battles that finally, for perhaps the first time ever, acknowledged the importance of having the ‘weather gage’ - being the upwind ship - and therefore controlling the battle, including controlling distances, angles, etc, and the vulnerability of the downwind ship’s rudder.
@@TheJabbate1 Well, in the book this is based on, it's an American privateer working for the US, because it's set in 1812, and the Yankees decided to try and steal Canada while the British were otherwise occupied in Europe.
@@TheJabbate1 Book is set to 1812 , when England was so delusional it was thinking it can beat Russia and USA at same time .
Napoleonic wars were going on 1803-15 , coalitions ware all messed up who was fighting who , and where , it was real hard to know whom to shoot at .
Yeah, one thing you get from the books is the sheer level of knowledge these people had about their trade: Lieutenants ahd to know the length and type of every kind of rope on the ship, the exact sequence of orders to manoeuvre etc., and they could basically read what was going on with another ship by how smoothly they executed orders and controlled their sails, like reading body language. The film does a great job of communicating that without giving a for-dummies explanation every time.
One of my favorite parts is when Aubrey gives the Midshipman who just lost an arm the book on Nelson, the hero of the British Navy, who also had a missing arm. It shows what kind of man and what kind of leader he is. Awesome.
"I'm going to guess Paul is a spy" first reactor to ever pick that up without reading the books.
wait what? paul is a spy?
@@kube410 Yeah. In the novels Paul is recruited by the British to spy on France. In one Novel Aubrey rescues him from a French prison.
@@christopherplummer1299 oooh that kind of spy.. i was afraid he was spying for the french haha thanks for the answer
@@kube410 No problem
Maturin is as much a main character in the books as Aubrey. He’s a doctor, but also a spy. He’s the illegitimate son of an Irish aristocrat who grows up in Catalonia. His motives are hatred of Napoleon for putting down the revolution and for Catalonian independence.
I’m so glad you guys watched this. It is shamefully under represented on react channels and now I’m excited for more people to do it because you guys seem to be in trendsetters. And, as always, this was such a lovely video!
One of my favorite period pieces and one of my favorite naval movies
This film was released just before the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was totally underestimated, by the public, by the critics and by the oscars, because of a really bad chosen release. It is certainly one of the best films on the theme, if not the best.
And it's so annoying because the LotR trilogy was snubbed at the Oscars the previous two years, so they had to give best motion picture to Return of the King. As much as I love LotR, Master&Commander deserved more recognition.
What? Critics loved it. Ebert gave it 4/4
It was pretty recognized by critics. It was nominated for best picture. Just lost to ROTK. Would have won most other years
@@vanyadolly The first two LOTR movies weren't snubbed. Both were nominated for Best Picture and had tough competition. ROTK is often considered the best of the trilogy anyway. But even if it didn't win, there were still more than two nominees.
@@jp3813 Part of the problem was Fellowship and Two Towers weren't going to win. The Academy was waiting for Return to award the trilogy as a whole, which screwed Master and Commander. If this movie came out the year before, it would have totally won. Chicago beat Two Towers. Really? 2002 (2003 Oscars) was so weak I through they would be forced to give the award to LOTR. M&C would have totally smoke Chago and won. Could have helped with the box office, maybe helped more of the book series to be made. Such bad timing. What could have been.....
They chose the whaling ship as a disguise because whale oil was an incredibly valuable prize and they made the smoke not to look damaged but to indicate that they were cooking oil (to show that they had cargo).
Yes, everyone was preying on other ships. Privateers were basically state sanctioned pirates.
It also would discourage them from firing on the whaler for fear of setting a fire or damaging the cargo. Wailing ships would stay at sea for over a year sometimes two years and could be carrying a packed hull of oil. It was a fortune.
We're whalers on the Moon!
Good to know.
This movie has been praised by many historians on its accuracy, so what you are seeing is very much how life was back then. What I really like is how they fit in character development and drama, without sacrificing any of that accuracy. The characters become memorable, you care for them, and you begin to root for them iver the shot time the movie lasts. It's definitely a show of fine writing, production and directing mixed with fantastic historical investigation, and some wonderful casting. Such an underrated movie.
A good deal of the dialogue is taken exactly from the Patrick O`Brian books, so if you really liked the film then read the books
This film had History Buff waxing lyrical about the sheer attention to historical detail and accuracy they put in while still making it a great story.
I love that channel.
I am still not over the fact that they made the antagonist ship French, because American audiences might not like it being American, though it's type is clearly American :-D
@@misterknister18 "Clearly" is doing a lot of work there. The type would likely only be clearly American to Age of Sail buffs. I saw this movie in theatres and didn't know the ship was supposed to be American until much later.
Same here. Had zero clue. I'm betting that goes for the vast majority.
@@misterknister18 It's an American built ship that was sold to the French. Fairly common for the era, because American ships were very high quality and the US was friendly to the French. It's 1805. It's a French ship. Because it's a standalone movie, it simply makes more sense for it to be set in the Napoleonic Wars than the War of 1812.
I think one of the things I love most about this story is how is just kind of picks up in the middle, and doesn't necessarily end - we're just there for part of the voyage
Yup, just a slice of life on the seas during the war...
Yes, the maturity of that choice, too
That has always been my favorite part of this movie.
Makes it feel more realistic, I think it's a good choice.
@@neptunusrex5195 That's great! Thanks for the Latin. I'm brought to wonder if there's a name for a story like the Coen brothers' "The Big Lebowski" where the protagonist is uninvolved in the wider story. Or trying to be uninvolved anyway.
This movie is based on Thomas Cochrane, one of the most impressive sea captains ever to live, he made the fake flag trick a thing, he captured over 50 ships using inferior vessel. Even Napolion recognized his greatness and gave him the nickname le Loup des Mers (the Sea Wolf)
26:25 Grog is watered down navy rum mixed with lemon/lime. Named after Edward Vernon, who introduced it into the royal navy. He was known to wear a coat made of grogam cloth. Other sailors gave him the nickname "old grog". If you want to make some Grog, buy a bottle of Pussers rum. They use the original British navy method of producing rum 👍🏻
Further info: They gave a rum ration to the men in the Navy, but some of them used to hoard it and get drunk once a week or whatever, so they started diluting it because it will spoil quickly when diluted so they had to drink it the same day. Grog is 4 parts water to 1 part rum. They started putting lime juice in it to combat scurvy - hence the British being called "limeys".
@Rob Finlay further, further info: Sailors believed that gunpowder doused in grog that had too much water added would not cumbust. Where as grog at 50% alcohol would combust. If it did ignite, the grog was “proved,” giving rise to the term proof. If it didn't, the purser, the man responsible for supplying the men with their daily ration of grog, also known as the "pusser", where the aforementioned rum gets its name, might find himself tossed overboard
As an old RN Sailor who has taken many a toast with Rum..'Splice The Main Brace' ⚓
Grog had Lime/Lemon in it, cause it was also the only way to convince Sailors to intake some fruit juice.
It was to avoid Scurvy,its a disease you get after a few months of not having any vitamin C in your systeme, wich when you spent MONTHS at sea, was quite frequent actually.
@@robfinlay8058 My Dad who was stationed in England in WW II -- A B-24 Bomb Group used to call English "Limeys"!
It's funny because Paul Bettany's character is a spy in the books but he works for British naval intelligence
One of my favorite movies. The attention to detail is so good and I think the filmmakers respected the audience enough to not hand-hold us or shy away from using some terminology that we're just not used to in a movie. At the same time, even if you know nothing about navies in the 1800's, they round out the movie by creating some amazing characters that feel more fleshed out than some tv shows can manage in a season.
Well the Acheron is based on the USS Constitution, but was changed from American to French because they thought American audiences couldn't handle being the antagonists. That's not very respectful, but it's one of the very few historical inaccuracies.
@@Quallenkrauler It's not historically accurate in the canonical sense, since the story and characters are fictional.
@@zarwil I know, I guess "historically authentic" would be the correct term. Like the Acheron, the USS Constitution had a new type of hull made up of different types of oak that was highly resistant to cannon fire. They even say that it was built in America in the movie, but don't explain why the French have it.
The filmmakers respected fans of the book enough to be as accurate as the novel are.
Simone nailed it about Paul Bettany’s character being a spy. In the book series (20 books) he is an intelligence officer as well as a doctor and Jack Aubrey’s friend. He also has an opium addiction
And the south south west thing too, she was bang on
But not an enemy spy. The spy mentioned in the beginning was about spies in England getting information about the ships destination and route.
There's a line where Aubrey says Surprise is not a private yacht. Ironically, he will later command a privateer owned by the Doctor and used for his intelligence work.
More accurately, in the series, the fighting naturalist/ intelligence agent/naval surgeon Stephen Maturin goes through an opium addiction, as well as getting addicted to cocaine for a time, and smoking tobacco. Good as this movie is, the books by Patrick O'Brien are even better, among the most excellent historical fiction ever written. Characters, dialogue, descriptions of settings, situations; every element of storytelling is superior.
Well, he's too good-looking to play the real Steven Maturin. And rather than leaping across to the enemy ship, the real Maturin would have required a 40-man working party and a bosun's chair to get him across, and he would get ducked in the ocean twice on the way!
So glad you reacted to this!
My favorite character is Blakeney. The slightly frustrating thing is that it's really easy to miss some of the nuances about him and his position, because the clues in the film are very brief and hard to interpret if you're unclear about how the class system in Britain worked at the time. At one point the Captain calls him Lord Blakeney. And the doctor mentions that the Captain was friends with Blakeney's father. I think the idea is that his father died, probably in the Navy, and was a British Lord ... making the young son Lord himself. But he IS young and is probably, like many noble-born British at the time, sent to the Navy as a child with the idea of him making his career in the Navy. He's already an officer, because of his class position. The bonus of course is that he happens to be a super intelligent, brave, and competent young person -- almost a prodigy. So his position given by class is actually deserved in his case.
The contrast with Hollum is telling too. Hollum probably once was like Blakeney, even if he wasn't a Lord he was, as Simone and George mentioned, probably upper class. He may have even started young too. But he's just not very good at being an officer. And that again is what makes Blakeney so lovable. He's nice to everyone, even the officer who's kind of a screwup. And Blakeney never "lords it" over others. He's just a terrific character!
I would say the young Lord Blakeney was more than likely a second son. The heir to the title would remain to learn how to manage the estate and the subsequent sons would have had to make their way in the world which usually meant Navy, Army, Priesthood or marry into money. Meaning you find a rich merchant with a daughter who wants to raise his family's social status. You get financial stability and he gets to show off his classy son in law and his grandchildren would then be peers.
@@ronweber1402 I agree. If he’s a second son and still has the title of Lord, his father is either a duke or marquess.
Hollum should have become a glergyman, the life of a pastoral vicar would have suited him. For the aristocracy in the UK the career choices were the Military Army or Navy Politic's or the Church. Young men like Blakeney were the exception not the rule, as Officers in the Navy or Army were drawn from a limited part of the population, though the Navy was a lot stricter on who they promoted, still unsuitable and incompetent officers slipped through, just because of sheer number of vacancies in the Royal Navy of the period.
@@thomasmain5986 I suspect Mr. Hollum was pressured by his father to do something "real men" did rather than follow his own path.
Although Crowe was doubtless the star, it seemed like Blakeney was the audience's POV and teller of the tale. Would love to see a sequel with Blakeney now in the role of M&C, set at the dawn of steam and armor plate.
He was definitely talking about his shirt. They had to make sure they got all of the cloth out of his wound, and to make sure of that, they compare the patch he pulled out to the hole in his shirt to make sure its a perfect match.
@@the98themperoroftheholybri33
The absolute Britishness of it got me.
@@the98themperoroftheholybri33 Definitely.
13:39 I'm so glad you guys had such a strong reaction to that bit. It's honestly my favorite part of the whole movie.
19:00 Simone is correct.
I've heard some people describe the Weevil joke as cringy, but I thought it was really funny. The absolute last thing anyone expected from Russell Crowe's character (or from the movie) was a Dad Joke, but that's the power of rum for you.
meh...lots of better lines, funnier lines & better parts than that in this amazing film.
I personally loved the music playing scenes, and how Captain didn't want an animal named after him. Instead just a bush that was "prickly and hard to eradicate" 😂
@@clevelandcbi
yep the "prickly" line was 10 times better
As a weather nerd, I very much appreciated Simone knowing that.
"The lesser of two weevie-ls." The greatest dad joke, both real and fictional. LMAO one of my all time fave films and the one novel i own and have read.
Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany learned their instruments for this film and are actually playing them in their scenes together. Crowe said it was the most difficult thing he has done to prepare for a role.
They are not actually playing the instruments, they learned to pretend to play, wich they did almost correct.
Playing Boccherini on the Cello/Violine isnt something you just learned in a few weeks.
@@wolf310ii Somewhere I saw an interview with Crowe and he said "well, I did a pretty good job of sawing on the strings."
As a history teacher I find this the most brutal yet beautiful period of history
2:22: Movie won for Best Sound Editing, so for Simone to notice the sound so quick is impressive. Also won for Best Cinematography plus nominated for 8 other Oscars. They lowered the smaller boats into the water to protect them from getting damaged. If they stay up high on the ship, they will surely get hit during combat. Fun Fact: Paul Bettany's character was almost played by Heath Ledger. He was in major consideration for the role.
If not for Lord of the RIngs, this movie would have probably won even more. It was a bit of bad luck to compete with such a masterpiece.
The purpose was also to reduce the amount of potentially deadly splinters flying around the deck.
The small boats, being made of frailer wood would be a major hazard during a battle. The most dangerous thing aboard these ships that killed the greatest number of men was wood splinters flying all over the place. Small boats would literally explode into flying fragments.
Another reason to lower the boats in the morning was to keep them "wet" (that what "put him in a long boat till hes sober" in Drunken Sailor refers to), so the wood doesnt dry out and warp, and also to give the crew space on deck.
There's a number of reasons to put the small craft in the water, as people have noted. It also saves time if you have a need for a small boat during and after the battle.
This is a criminally underrated movie, and it's a shame it never became a series. It's always great to see reactions to it ❤
A real shame since the book series is so well developed. Each one is a completely different adventure with different intrigues and strong explorations of Aubrey and Maturin's friendship and even rivalry at times. Some books even mostly take place on land. I really don't understand why Hollywood didn't take advantage of such source material, an already created historical fiction universe.
@@zatoichi1 Perhaps because it is such a fully developed universe, Hollywood "creative geniuses" can't interject their own half-baked ideas into it. And also, it would be incredibly expensive to do them justice, whether live or CGI.
I think you were totally correct this film is so personal. The technicalities seem quite real. I really feel like a Navy man at this time watching his film.
Fun fact, the guy holding the mirror during the operation at 33:00 was sitting down on a low chair during that scene so he wouldn't bash his head and tower over everyone else in the scene, he's 7 foot 2. He nearly knocked himself out a few times during filming, bashing his head into things cause of the extremely low deck ceilings (it was filmed on an actual replica ship)
This is actually one of the finest and most historically accurate naval films ever made about this period. The little kids you see on board were a real thing: officers and sailors used to start as young as 9 year old. Sometimes, the powder monkeys (those young kids seen carrying gunpowder) were even younger.
Also, the characters in this film are so incredible. A hidden masterpiece that deserved so much more praise than it got and it's one of Russell Crowes best performances.
If I remember correctly the only inaccuracy, is the Acheron was American not French
@@flyingmonkeydeathsquadronc968 It was in the Book but note they said it was American built.
@@flyingmonkeydeathsquadronc968 In the novel that the movie is based on the ship is American and given a fictional name. The ship in the book is based on the USS Constitution.
I'd like to point out that one of the oscars this movie snatched away from Return of the King was for audio editing. The sound in this film is so damned good.
When the Surprise got hit for the first time, you can hear the cannonballs whistling past. I saw this in the cinema when it came out, and I remember physically ducking at that point!
The Aubery/Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brien are a delight and were well translated to the big screen. Such a shame they didn't continue the full series of films.
I’ve read the first book - is this movie a mashup of elements from a number of the books?
@@chrisnielsen9885 The basic plot is from the 10th book The Far Side of the World though they changed it from the War of 1812 to the Napoleonic wars. Various incidents were drawn from a few other books.
@@bengilbert7655 Correct. The Acheron in the O'Brian novel is an American ship which the British Navy is hunting. Changing the ship and time period so that the enemy was French was a wise plot-change by Hollywood, in my opinion, considering the primary intended audience (Americans). And @Chris Nielsen? If you enjoyed the first book, you will continue to enjoy the next 19!
@@chrisnielsen9885 Yes, the first five books as I recall.
@@bengilbert7655 cool thanks for that! Not sure I’ll get as far as the 10th book so good to know
9:44 Using a Silver coin or copper coin as a skull plate makes perfect sense, because both metals are antibacterial in nature. I just never really was put in a position as a ship's surgeon, and these guys had to be clever. I imagine that copper nails had a secondary use as well.
This film is a masterpiece and had a successful box office, but its release was unfortunately timed. The first Pirates of the Caribbean film also released in 2003, which occupied the same "nautical" category and drew a lot more attention from audiences. And at the 2004 Oscars, although it received 10 nominations, it competed against The Return of the King in 8 categories, which famously won everything it was nominated for. In the end, Master and Commander won the Oscars for Sound Editing and Cinematography. Well deserved.
The box office was not successful, it’s the main reason there are no sequels. They intended for it to be a series of films. But the box office didn’t do good, so they canceled plans for a sequels. Sucks cuz Russell Crowe was all in, even trying to get fans to ask for a sequel a couple of years ago.
It’s unfortunate that having two nautical films in the same year is regarded as crowded, yet here we are now with 10+ comic book superhero movies this year and people flock to all of them. I want more seafaring films.
@@EDTGO1 It did okay financially, it just wasn't successful enough to warrant a sequel.
After twenty years they’ve announced the prequel to Master and Commander is in early production. Why a prequel, probably because Crowe has timed out along the role
@@zarwil the film barely broke even over the years. But when it opened it did very bad number and they were shocked how it was considered a flop. Because like I said they had hoped to make this into a series of films and Russell Crowe was on board for it.
The film grossed 212mil on a 150mil budget. Keep in mind rule of thumb is you double the cost for marketing and promotion of the film. So the actual cost of the film was around 200-300mil.
Although a fictional account, this is one of the most historically accurate films made about this era. As a former sailor, this is one my favorite films.
I am so glad a friend who had read the books dragged me along to watch this on the big screen, because I would never have selected it on my own. But damn, it's such a gem!
I did the same with my friend for Shawshank and Green Mile. After watching those 2 he never questioned me again. He even borrowed the books afterward.
For those who wonder, I was standard practice to drop your boats and take them in tow when making ready for battle, because the boats where stored on deck, where any hit with a cannonball would turn them into a source of vast amounts of very fast moving wooden splinters. Thus making it extremely dangerous for the crew to keep them there during battle.
I love you guys. This movie is so unassumingly amazing and not what mainstream movie goers would be into but it’s SO good. I love that you loved it. Thanks for continuously being awesome.
Gotta give the Oscars credit. This was nominated for Best Picture. But that crapfest called Return of the King won.
This film is a rare and underrated masterpiece. It's always nice to see it appreciated.
It's a pity that this was never developed Ito the series of films that they were hoping to make from the books. This is one of my favourite films.
The comments about Paul Bettany being a spy, and then asking "what lifelong spy?" is so funny. In the book series he is a lifelong spy 😄
Who wants to explain the role of Press Gangs in "recruiting" for the Royal Navy in these days to Simone and George? 😜😁
George is right that life was hard on land in those times, but not everybody crammed on the small Surprise was a volunteer. Many of the hands were ""pressed", by roving, officially-sanctioned Press Gangs, into years-long service - essentially kidnapped, or "Shanghaied", or forcefully and abruptly "drafted" - hauled out of a tavern, or jail, or just off the street, and shoved onto a ship to ""do your duty" to King and country. For I don't know how long; could easily be until you were killed in action, or by disease, or bad leadership, but definitely as long as the voyage lasted. I suppose there were some situations or conditions that excused one, but I have no idea what they might have been. That's all I can give y'all about impressment.
Old Royal Navy Grog was 1 part rum, 3 parts water, with lime and cinnamon (Or another spice).
The Lime and Rum preserves the water and kills any bacteria, so were often mixed early. Lime is also to prevent scurvy and the cinnamon is purely for additional flavour.
Also Simone's explanation of compass bearings is accurate.
From a Limey 😉
If I remember my mythology, the acheron is one of the rivers that lead to the land of the dead or the underworld. There's 3, acheron, erebus and styx.
Correct. My man knows his mythology.
Incredible intuition from Simone. The doctor does spend time as a spy in some of the books.
For once a movie took the musical aspect seriously. Music is such a key part of Jack and Stephen's relationship, it was so important that both actors did more than just mime. Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany actually learned how to play their instruments, and practiced three hours a night for several months to get it right - and it really shows in how comfortable they are moving with their instruments.
That's one of the things I really enjoyed about the books, the importance of home grown music in the life of the people. In fact, the very first scene of the whole series begins with Maturin reprimanding Aubrey for being out of time while they're in the audience of a recital. And then (as men sometimes do) they become fast friends from the very next day.
Incidentally, when they play the cello and violin like guitars in the final scene, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that that is how Boccerini, the composer, instructs the musicians to play that movement of the piece (Night Music on the Streets of Madrid), and it was not some bow to pop-culture.
Re: The Hollom. Didn't put it together the first time I saw it, but in retrospect it seems that Aubrey didn't fully realize how poorly Hollom was performing in part because Hollom's fellow midshipmen often covered for him (like calling beat to quarters and letting Hollom take the credit). This seems evident when Aubrey doesn't even recall Hollom's correct age, and seems surprised that Hollom didn't immediately correct the crewman's insult (leading to Aubrey harshly criticizing Hollom in private). Later, in his eulogy, Aubrey talks of Hollom being failed by his fellows and definitely feels his own lapse in that regard.
The crew wouldn't resent Hollom just because he came from the upper classes - most midshipmen did. It was SOP in that class-centric society.
Easily one of Russel Crowe's best roles. Love this film and I'm still pissed it never got a sequel.
The character of Jack Aubrey (also the character of Horatio Hornblower) was loosely based on a real-life British captain, Thomas Cochrane, who earned the nickname of the Sea-Wolf. The tactic Aubrey used to disguise the HMS Surprize as a whaling ship to lure a much larger opponent was done many time by Cochrane. For all the exploits written about Aubrey in the novels, they don' compare to the stuff Cochrane pulled during his time as Captain in the British Navy.
Saw this in theaters at 13 years old. Darn cool to see on the big screen. Plus, after A Beautiful Mind it's fun to see Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany together again.
"A Beautiful Mind" would be a great reaction movie as well, AND it also has both Crowe and Bettany in it... What a duo!l
Such a FANTASTIC and yet overlooked movie. It flew under the radar when it was originally released but anyone who sees it immediately realizes what a top notch film it is. The characters are so intriguing and well-written, it's an exciting story, magnificent music, gorgeous cinematography and historically accurate rather than just Hollywoodized anachronistic action. It's nearly flawless and endlessly rewatchable.
Robert liston was a surgeon who was quick enough to be able to amputate a leg in 2 and a half minutes. He believed that the quicker it was done the better chance the patient had. Napoleon's surgeon was also known to be extremely quick especially for arm amputations.
"Looks like the job is done, Sir." This movie is amazing. Thank you two for reacting to it.
So glad you guys are doing this movie! It’s a masterpiece and unmatched in its accurate depiction of how a ship like this was manned and operated. The cinematography is amazing and the acting is top notch. Check out the making of the film! The actors were put through a “boot camp” to learn how to sail and operate a navy war ship, and the the leads actually had to learn to play the cello and violin. The attention to detail is beyond impressive!
22:17 - very good. In the book series the doctor was one of the top spies in the British service. Jack was the only one of his friends that knew, and they each saved the others lives repeatedly.
20:00 The music is Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Tallis; in my opinion, an extraordinarily beautiful and haunting piece. Very appropriate for that point of the movie.
George at 2:53 -- "I cannot imagine being crammed up with that many people in such a small space for so long."
George, if you and Simone haven't already seen it, you really should also watch "Das Boot" (1981).
"Oh, amputation! Suddenly my tooth ache from last week doesn't seem so bad."
And right there, I was laughing and clapping at the same time.
And trepanning (cutting a circular hole on top of the skull) goes back to farming stone age, not just Roman era. People survived it, 'cause skulls have been found in Denmark that shows healing at the edges.
In comparison of prevalence of trepanned skulls found to non trepanned skulls, you would much less likely to meet someone that is Red haired today than you would meet someone who had been trepanned in the stone age.
This is just an absolutely EPIC movie; it was great to see you guys reacting! So pleased you enjoyed it.
When he cuts away the wreckage one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever created is playing. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Talis by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The sound design is just 👍🏾
I remember back in the day when ever CNET it was testing speakers for television setups, this is the film they would always put on.
And rightfully so like you can hear the difference you can hear the care that was put into the audio.
Peter Weir is such an underrated director. Besides this movie and the Truman Show, his earlier Australian movies are worth checking out as well as Witness and Fearless.
I have immense respect for him. I don't think I've ever seen a bad film by Weir. And I've noticed many people have a hard time believing the man who directed the likes of The Truman Show in 1998 later directed Master and Commander just five years later in 2003. Two films with completely different themes, storylines, esthetics, tonal approaches, settings, camera work and sound work, and they're both excellent even 25 and 20 years later, each of them for different reasons, and both regarded as modern classics.
There is a reason old doctors used to be called "Sawbones" - also, burning hot pitch (tar) was used to cauterize and seal wounds after a limb was removed.
The movie is based off a couple of books by Patrick O'Brian who based the books off actual ships logs from the time period.
The smoke wasn't to imply that "Syren" was damaged, but to sell its cover as a whaling vessel.
Also, and super important, is that "Surprise" did *not* fight under a false flag; the first order of business was to raise their true colors before engaging
What's rare about this is how much the characters earn their sense of optimism. They dare a world they don't really know yet, pay a high price, and appreciate whatever they happen to get from the experience. And it's true to the spirit of a lot of real people in history. Not exactly explorers by this time, but still having that energy despite their military mission.
They lower the smaller boats during a general quarters so they have something to rely on if the ship sinks. You don't want the rafts to go down with the ship.
Boats on deck are also likely to be converted into anti-personnel splinters when hit by enemy cannonballs.
It's main reason is to remove a source of wooden shrapnel. Secondary to that is also to preserve the life boats if possible. Although, generally the aim was not to sink the other ship, but to capture it.
I knew you all would get a lot out of the friendships in this. Your reactions are my favorites because you all always recognize subtext in character relationships. Really makes the reactions so much more enjoyable when a reaction channel doesn’t sit there and occasionally say “cool visual” “whoa weird hat” the whole video.
Per Simone’s comment about the crisp audio: When this movie came out on DVD, you couldn’t find a tech or big box store that didn’t use this movie in their Home Theater display room.
A great moment you catch on rewatch (or first watch with an eagle-eye) is that when Blakeney flips through the book on Lord Nelson, the portrait of Nelson shows his sleeve hooked onto the front of his coat as he had lost his arm in battle a few years before the film takes place.
Regarding the awkward moment when Mr. Hollom is singing: Officers and unenlisted/standard crew were NOT to fraternize in a social context, so singing one of the crew’s shanties with them was a big no-no. A good moment to show how naive, albeit harmless, and therefore tragic, Hollom is.
The Surprise flies their colors so that the ambush is legal. Even in the middle of the ocean, navies followed at least some rules.
this was my father´s favorite movie so i watched it a lot growing up, it was great to see it again with you! thanks
The fake boat decoy scene was based on a tactic by lord Thomas Cochrane, who Jack Aubrey is based on. He was a brilliant and devious sailor, known to the French as Loups de mers or The Sea Wolf.
Captain Aubrey's ship the HMS Surprise is moored in the Maritime Museum of San Diego in San Diego Bay. It looks so much smaller in person, but is a beautiful ship. Can see pics of it if you google. Have been to it many times. This is one of my favorites, from the story to humor to the realistic lifestyle and combat portrayed, acting and music. So glad you enjoyed it.
She's in very bad shape, though. Deserves much more care.
Obviously a replica, but I bet it's still interesting!
@@formatique_arschlochOf course it's a replica. The USS Constitution is the only warship of that era that is still sailed.
But it IS the ship used in this movie. (When it wasn't a scale model or CGI.)
When my brother insisted I watch this film years ago I was like "ugh...a historial war film?" but I ended up loving it so much. This is a really great film!
If you're into this sort of movies I fully recommend the Hornblower series. Not to forget the Gregory Peck movie Hornblower. One of my favourite actors of all time.
Another great one is Damn The Defiant about the mutiny at the Nore...
I have read the entire book collection 5 times. Its all that good and better. In one the Dr actually brings abord an entire bee colony. The colonies container is hit by a shell and bursts open in Jacks Cabbin. As the Dr and Jack are leaving to go on deck they send in the Cook and Bonden in to recollect the bees and they are afraid to enter but the Dr tells them Hop to it its just a little pain if you make them mad, so don't, just be gentle. Then as they get on deck He says to Jack "I find it quite curios that your average English seamen, A stout and Brave man, willing to stand fast in the line of battle and brave shot and shell and splintering wood is so afraid of a little bug". LMAO I highly recommend them. The Auther did a great job sticking as close as possible to History and to make them as accurate as posable.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth!"
YAY! MY FAVORITE MOVIE.
YOU GUYS ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST REACTORS ON RUclips. JOINING NOW.
edit: I legitimately believe that this movie will one day be ranked alongside the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, and other great war films. It just had the misfortune to come out at around the same time as Pirates of the Caribbean. (2003)
BUT! I heard that there is now a prequel series in pre-production.
Wha-what-don't toy with me sir! Is this true? Is there truly a prequel series? From the books? Where delicious period-accurate puddings feature more than pirates? If so - glee!
Same year as LOTR Return of the King too. One of the Harry Potters. It was just a bad year for a historical drama. Even one as absolutely brilliant as this one. I'm glad it seems to have gotten more respect in recent years though.
I hope this becomes a classic 🫡
George referencing HBO's incredible "Rome" series when he spots Max Pirkis (young Octavian) just makes me love him that little bit more. Would dearly love to see you guys react to that show 😊
If George has already seen that I'd suggest they watch the BBC's _I Clavdivs_ from the 1970s.
@@slowerthinker If you can work your vpn, I, Claudious is being re-run on the BBC at the moment. First 3 episodes are up as of today. Rome was excellent. RIP Ray Stevenson, aka Titus Pullo.
Fun Fact:
The climactic battle of the film is based on the a real life action of British Commander Thomas Cochrane and his small brig of 54 men against a much larger Spanish Frigate and its 319 men in 1801.
Like Lucky Jack in the film, Cochrane pretended to be an American Ship by raising the American Flag as he closed in before raising the British flag and fired at close range. Killing the Spanish captain at first volley.
The Spanish tried firing back but their guns were mounted too high and their volley harmlessly flew overhead. Only after several volleys did Cochrane raid the ship with all his men who then cut down the Spanish flag from the mast. The remaining Spanish crew thought this meant their officers had surrendered the ship to the British then laid down their arms in surrender as well.
The battle ended with 14 dead and 41 wounded Spanish seamen while the rest of the 261 were captured along with their ship.
The British on the other hand only lost 3 men and 9 wounded.
A real life David and Goliath story
I am really glad they made a realistic scene with the boy who was in charge of the crew under deck! Who jumped into Battle with NO FEAR but trained very well to do battle like a grown up!!!
VERY COOL!
I love this movie and I'm so glad you two watched it. At the time this came out I found most sailing movies to be rather boring, and this one so intrigued me. Definitely a favorite of mine! One detail some may miss - After Mr. Blakeney has his arm amputated, and Capt. Jack gives him the book about Lord Nelson, They zoom in on the cover to show that Lord Nelson also only has one arm. A warming encouragement from Capt. Jack to Mr. Blakeney that he can still accomplish great things with a missing appendage.
One of my favorite movies of all time. GREAT acting. GREAT characters. GREAT story.
I love this movie sooo much. We watched it in cinema, when I was in school yet, and pale face of poor "Jonah", fading in the dark of water, was kinda carved in my memories for years later.
Amasing piece of art. So underrated.
What got my admiration for this film was not the attention to detail, but the fact that Russell Crowe learned to play the violin for the film. He also had the crew of his ship play rugby together, so they could bond and work better as a team.
Such an amazing movie so glad you reacted to it! To answer an earlier question before engaging with the enemy by the rules of war they have to raise there true flag(colours)
I love that there are so many sayings and idioms that we get from the Age of Sail. Learn the ropes, show your true colors, long shot, tide over, taken aback, liking the cut of someone's jib, pipe down, toe the line, down in the doldrums, batten down the hatches, three sheets to the wind, high and dry, rock the boat, dead in the water, loose cannon, a shot across the bow. There's just so many of them!
This movie is amazing, both in scope and in attention to detail. Just a side note, the music at 20:30 is one of the most moving pieces of music ever written. It is the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It is perfectly used for the moment of abandoning a crewmember.
The use of Fantasia on a Theme in this movie is the best and most appropriate use of this (overused) piece of music in all cinema history. It perfectly captures the sense of melancholy, duty, and awe of being an Englishman on a lone battleship serving his country in the 1800s. As an aside, it's also one of my most favorite pieces of classical music ever written. I think Ralph Vaughan Williams is very underrated and underappreciated and belongs in the pantheon of the greatest composers and Fantasia is absolute showcase and proof of that. The whole piece ebbs and flows and takes many twists and turns. The emotional journey it takes over its course is just breathtaking and kind of mirrors the drama in this movie, and Peter Weir is just brilliant in incorporating this very English composition to score this very English story of pride and duty. It really touched up the movie with an epic sheen.
I love that piece of music. One of my favorites for sure.
I always comment that this is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. The choice of music is fabulous.
You mentioned the creaking and sounds early on. This was one of the first movies I used to test out my home theater, the soundscape is one of the best I have heard, battles or just the creaking etc. Watching this movie with a good surround sound set up, and subwoofer with good LFE is fantastic. Whoever did the audio for this movie should have won an award.
O, you two have no idea my excitement, to see this upload! Sincerely one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces I've ever witnessed. Special great thanks to whomever encouraged this reaction.
This movie really hits, and I definitely cry every time I watch it. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Also, Stephen *is* a spy, but for the Brits and it doesn’t come up til later books.
Well, Simone saw right through everything.
She figured out a plot point that's not even included in the movie!
@@Wrencher_86 They specifically mention that they want to read the books, so please consider removing this spoiler for them.
@@VilleHalonen Is that a spoiler? I have to be honest, I haven't read the books. I've heard described as being something very obvious. Analogous to knowing Bruce Wayne is Batman. Either way, removed.
@@Wrencher_86 Ah, I don’t know! Now that I think about, I’ve heard it also although I still haven’t read the books. So maybe it comes up in his character introduction and I’m just overly cautious. Thanks for being cool about it!
@@VilleHalonen Begin reading the books, amigo, and you'll see that not much one could tell someone about them could spoil the experience of actually embarking on the voyage with Aubrey and Maturin.
At 4:43 Simone asked the question, "Why did they lose the smaller boats?" When they "beat to quarters" (meaning clear the ship for action), they remove the ships boats from the deck, where they are stored when not in use, and tow them behind the ship. Just about everything on those ships was made of wood, and most of the battle wounds would be from the wood splinters that sprayed about like shrapnel when the ship was hit by enemy cannonballs. (It is a wood splinter the doctor pulls out of the Captain's neck after the battle.) The ship's boats were made of light planking and would throw a huge amount of splinters if hit, so trailing them behind the ship during battle was a way of removing a potentially dangerous source of splinters during battle.
The “patch up nicely” line *was* about the shirt. He was confirming that he got the whole piece of cloth.
Love your reactions and this film is such a gem so much historical detail of navel warfare and based on the novels by Patrick O'brien. In the novels Stephen Maturin is indeed a spy aswell as the ships physician
Love this book series. Maturin is in deed a spy but for the Royal Navy against Bonaparte.
Wonderful and underrated. So glad you guys enjoyed it.
32:50
A Soviet doctor did the same thing in Antarctica. He was the only medic of the group, but he developed appendicitis. He had the cut his own appendix out. The son a gun did it successfully as well. He lived.
I think Simone is the only reactor who teared when Pullings made captain. That's great
I'm always struck by the fact that the one armed boy had the leadership qualities the the 30 year old Jonah lacked.
"Not all of us become the men we once hoped we might be..."
Mr. Hollum was obviously not cut out for the task. Officers were always aristocrats, and they got their assignments based on politics and connections, rather than merit. As an aristocrat, and probably the younger son of some Lord, Hollum was probably forced by his father to join the navy to "toughen up".
We tend to forget that British aristocracy was in fact an ancient warrior culture with it's own set of honour codes.
As late as WW1, sons of lords was expected to lead soldiers in the front lines and they suffered disproportionally high casualty rates.
Hollum might have been a great doctor or pursued some other higher education if his father had let him choose his own path.
@@JH-lo9ut Not really in the Royal Navy from what I have learned. Unlike the army, you can't really bribe or buy a rank in the Royal Navy. They would need to actually know what's going on, so they need to start from the rank of midshipman to learn it, which can be seen in the movie when the Captain is teaching the kids. The Captain in the movie is also not from a aristocratic background if I remembered correctly and started from a midshipman.
Mr Hollum is a midshipman, which is kinda like cadets in the modern sense, but they would be actually be on a warship to learn everything needed for naval warfare. Like what you would see for the other midshipman, they are actually teens. At the end they will need to pass the test in order to be an actual officer, but Mr Hollum failed twice and still remained in this rank up to 30. If he really got his assignments based on connections, he won't still be a midshipman at 30. The family would use the connection to get him out of here, so either he is really bad to a point even his family can't help him or his background is not good enough get past that or both.
Actually the amputated kid is an aristocrat, as I remember Captain Aubery called him Lord XXX instead of Mr XXX like what he usually did.
There's some other youtube videos talked about the historic background of the video. You might want to check it out.
@@JH-lo9ut Okay so that's not how the Royal Navy, or the US Navy for that matter, worked. Unlike the British Army, where you could purchase a commission as an officer up to the rank of Colonel in the Infantry or Cavalry, the Royal Navy required all future officers to start at the rank of Midshipman. These boys usually came from upper middle class families or as the later born children of the lower ranks of the aristocracy. Since they weren't the first born they would not receive the same level of inheritance and as a result, becoming a naval officer could elevate a person's standing in society. Midshipman, named for where their sleeping quarters were located on the ship (amidships= the middle of the ship), started out between the ages of 12-17, though there are documented cases of boys as young as 9. These boys would spend years training alongside the crew of adult sailors to learn everything about sailing.
It is literally where the phrase "learn the ropes" comes from, because they would have to learn what every single rope and sail on the ship was used for. They would learn navigation, astronomy, trigonometry, timekeeping, leadership, gunnery, log keeping, naval tactics, and how to maintain good order and discipline on a ship. Once these boys had spent enough time, when the Captain of the ship felt they were ready they would have to take an exam back in England to be eligible to graduate to the rank of Lieutenant. There was no money or influence that could be used to gain the position of Lieutenant without passing that exam. The most that a family could do, would be to influence a Captain to agree to take on their son as a Midshipman, after that it was up to him.
The key difference on why you could purchase a commission in the Army but not in the Navy is for one reason: ships of war are extremely expensive. If an Army officer was bad, the men would desert. That's bad because you lose the manpower. However, Sailors could not just leave, so their only way to desert was to mutiny, which not only ensures the loss of available sailors and officers, but it also meant the loss of supplies, weapons, and an entire warship. As a result, strict discipline was maintained on board at all times, because the threat of mutiny was one that they simply could not afford.
@@idkyoutubeneedsausernamenowHis surname is Blakeney, which suggests he's perhaps the son of Sir Percival Blakeney...
...aka The Scarlet Pimpernel.
If you like this, there is the Horatio Hornblower miniseries that's worth a watch. Also, you're right, you need to watch Rome.
16:55 what's really cool is that its actually inspired by a real event. Thomas Cochrane, who the character Aubrey draws a lot of inspiration from, pulled this off in a sloop with only 14 guns while being chased by a much larger frigate. Except he fixed a lantern to a barrel instead of a raft and fooled the other ship.
36:47 Cochrane also used false flags successfully too :D
This movie was nominated for 11 academy awards. It is undoubtedly a masterpiece of film and storytelling. It simply had the misfortune of coming out the same year as LotR: Return of the King.
This film is a hidden gem! So hoping for a sequel, but I don't think it's very likely.
Russell Crowe has been asked about it, and said he would do a sequel in a heartbeat, but since it barely turned a profit, it will likely never happen. Pirates of the Caribbean, which came out the same year, earned three times as much at the box office on a smaller budget, so that's why that movie got sequels and this one didn't.
11:05 Mozart Violin Concerto no 3, 3rd movement (the Rondo part)
Killick is low-key my favorite character in the movie, the way he just grumbles and eye-rolls his way through the whole story. A perfect example of how to do a comic relief character right.
Another Peter Weir movie you guys should definitely check out is Witness with Harrison Ford, it's really good.
From your questions about spies… in the Patrick O’Brian books, Stephen Maturin, the doctor, is one of England’s most valuable spies, (he speaks fluent French, Irish, Catalan (Spanish), and Portuguese?and being a renowned doctor and naturalist helps hide his covert actions), but it is not mentioned here except his vague comment “ the French have their spies as do we…”. This movie is pieced together from several of the books in the series.
Such a great movie. Should have one a lot of awards but was ignored. Criminally underrated.
Ignored? it still won 2 oscars for cinematography and sound... in a not return-of-the-king-year it probably would have won more of course...
"Criminally underrated"
I do not know anyone who underrates this film, certainly not in a manner indicative of criminality.
10 academy award noms, 2 wins
8 british academy award noms, 4 wins
dozens of other noms, numerous top 10 lists & critics society award noms.
Stop being such a drama queen this film is loved & admired by a huge swath of serious movie lovers & critics
Underrated and underappreciated by the general public is what I'm sure he meant. The fact my own son (19), daughter (13), and nieces (13, 18, 21) hadn't even heard of it til I showed them blew my mind.
@@clevelandcbi
the general public knows nothing, so that doesn't matter...most of the general public did not see it, so they can't rate it all, let alone underrate it in a criminal manner.
among the vast majority of those who saw it, it remains highly thought of. the op is just being melodramatic.
@@clevelandcbi I'm sure your children have never heard of lots of great films that were made before they were even born...
Hi Simone & George, so glad you enjoyed watching this film. As for the sailors, in many cases not so much a career choice, rather than an imposed one. Pressgangs were very active replenishing losses, not a good idea to get drunk in or around a pub. As you could wake up as part of a crew on board ship, already at sea with your family unaware of your whereabouts.
The music at 20:00 is Ralph Vaughan Williams's "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" of 1905, the most beautiful piece of music of the 20th century.