Four minutes and forty three seconds of John Huston's version of Melville's Moby Dick, the scene where Gregory Peck performs Ahab's magnificent soliloquy.
Not mental degeneration as much as demoralisation. Poor Starbuck ends up so ensnared by Ahab's iron will that he cannot fight it. His resolve to "do right" is just steadily eroded until Ahab's madness finally touches him at the end, which seals the final doom of the Pequod and her crew save Ishmael.
Fact: Herman Melville named the "Starbuck" character in honor of the Starbuck family, a prominent whaling family based in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The surname itself derives from the community of Starbeck in North Yorkshire, England. Years later, a company combined the name and the image of a mermaid 🧜♀and founded a coffee brand.
Much of the film's sublime mystical dialogue was crafted by Ray Bradbury. he did a wonderful job of weaving mythic lines seamlessly into Melville's wonderful storytelling. John Huston hired Bradbury to work on the movie's screenplay. It was in this period that he was writing one of the all-time greatest science-fiction novels, Fahrenheit 451. It's easy to recognize that Shakespeare was one of Bradbury's strongest influences.
Any work that includes a monologue of this caliber - be it Other People's Money, Atlas Shrugged, Scent of a Woman - is bound to be a classic. The whole work leads and prepares the reader or viewer to and for this moment.
We like this because it reminds us of the struggle our reason (Starbuck) argues with our ego (Ahab) with how we conduct our live while segregated from our whole self (Ishmeal & Quiqay) Body & soul, separated by being manufactured by the conditions of our birth. Love & wisdom to all of you who struggle and see it in others.
"Ye are tied to me. This act is immutably decreed. It was rehearsed by ye and me a billion years before this ocean rolled". TWISTED!! Totally psychotic. And then we have.... "Look ye into its deeps and see the everlasting slaughter that goes on. Who put it into its creatures to chase and fang one another? Where do murderers go, man? Who's to doom when the judge himself is dragged before the bar?" (A direct indictment against the Almighty, I believe.)
Excellent rumination on Obsession and Fate. Gregory Peck always hated his performance as Ahab. He believed--in a totally professional way--that he didn't do the character justice. But, goddamn, he's got the look, the attitude, and most of all the VOICE for the character: "It was rehearsed by ye and me a billion years before this ocean rolled.." He's totally committed to the part and it's a perfectly judged performance, from his quiet fierceness at the beginning of the movie to the out-of-control rage at the climax.
The only problem with Gregory Peck in the role of Ahab is that he is clearly a bit too young to portray a veteran sea captain as the character is, who would be at least in his fifties at that point in life --- and would appear older than his years given how taxing a life at sea was in that era, which turned men old at forty. Beyond that, though, I have no problem with Peck's performance in the role. He is absolutely riveting as Ahab. Your entire attention is fixed upon him every moment he's on the screen.
@@Alic3IiWL I've found it's usually the other way around: critics will often fail miserably at art. Take the nostalgia critic as a case study, though it isn't like his critiques are top tier either.
@@wendervianeli , it is a question of agency. What is the source of the will. Modern science (neurology) has shown that it is a fiction : all decisions are made by the brain. Individuals become 'consciously' aware of a decision milliseconds after it has been made. 2:20 "Is it I, God or who, that lifts this arm ?" Imagine a spider spinning a web and asking, "I'm I the agent who has decided to spin a web ?" Well, f course not : the spider is genetically programmed to spin webs. Likewise, humans are genetically (and culturally) programmed. In Melville's day, the question was framed in terms of Gods and fate. But it's the same question : who is the agent, the decision maker. Ahab is asking "Am I the master of my destiny"
I rate Melville up there with Shakespeare - what poetic and expressive prose - love this scene in particular - Ahab feels like Adam who has known Paradise but then has endured all the millennia of suffering since then - and even questioning the Creator for allowing a world of such murder and horror
I live near Liverpool and have walked the same streets where he did on his first voyage before he wrote Redburn,there are still one or two streets and buildings that survive to this day.Princes dock is unrecognisable but the Gentlemans Club at the bottom of Bold St still stands .Yes Val Lamon Shakespeare and Dickens as well?.
@@maxbacon4828 Dickens, yes. Definitely. Absolutely. "In a school carried on by sheer cruelty, whether it is presided over by a dunce or not, there is not likely to be much learnt. I believe our boys were, generally, as ignorant a set as any schoolboys in existence; they were too much troubled and knocked about to learn; they could no more do that to advantage than any one can do anything to advantage in a life of constant misfortune, torment, and worry. But my little vanity, and Steerforth's help, urged me on somehow; and without saving me from much, if anything, in the way of punishment, made me, for the time I was there, an exception to the general body, insomuch that I did steadily pick up some crumbs of knowledge." "David Copperfield", chapter 7.
Though screenwriter Ray Bradbury was very unhappy with director John Huston's heavy interference, Bradbury did a fantastic job in his selections and modifications of Melville's immortal text for the movie adaptation.
@@Bookgirlfan "Oh, Starbuck! it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky. On such a day - very much such a sweetness as this - I struck my first whale - a boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty - forty - forty years ago! - ago! Forty years of continual whaling! forty years of privation, and peril, and storm-time! forty years on the pitiless sea! For forty years has Ahab forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horrors of the deep! Aye and yes, Starbuck, out of those forty years I have not spent three ashore. When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of solitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain's exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the green country without - oh, weariness! heaviness! Guinea-coast slavery of solitary command! - when I think of all this; only half-suspected, not so keenly known to me before - and how for forty years I have fed upon dry salted fare - fit emblem of the dry nourishment of my soul - when the poorest landsman has had fresh fruit to his daily hand, and broken the world's fresh bread to my mouldy crusts - away, whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow - wife? wife? - rather a widow with her husband alive! Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab has furiously, foamingly chased his prey - more a demon than a man! - aye, aye! what a forty years' fool - fool - old fool, has old Ahab been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the oar, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? Behold. Oh, Starbuck! is it not hard, that with this weary load I bear, one poor leg should have been snatched from under me? Here, brush this old hair aside; it blinds me, that I seem to weep. Locks so grey did never grow but from out some ashes! But do I look very old, so very, very old, Starbuck? I feel deadly faint, bowed, and humped, as though I were Adam, staggering beneath the piled centuries since Paradise. God! God! God! - crack my heart! - stave my brain! - mockery! mockery! bitter, biting mockery of grey hairs, have I lived enough joy to wear ye; and seem and feel thus intolerably old? Close! stand close to me, Starbuck; let me look into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than to gaze upon God. By the green land; by the bright hearth-stone! this is the magic glass, man; I see my wife and my child in thine eye. No, no; stay on board, on board! - lower not when I do; when branded Ahab gives chase to Moby Dick. That hazard shall not be thine. No, no! not with the far away home I see in that eye!”
"What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? But if the great sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I. By heaven, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the handspike. And all the time, lo! that smiling sky, and this unsounded sea! Look! see yon Albicore! who put it into him to chase and fang that flying-fish? Where do murderers go, man! Who's to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to the bar? But it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky; and the air smells now, as if it blew from a far-away meadow; they have been making hay somewhere under the slopes of the Andes, Starbuck, and the mowers are sleeping among the new-mown hay. Sleeping? Aye, toil we how we may, we all sleep at last on the field. Sleep? Aye, and rust amid greenness; as last year's scythes flung down, and left in the half-cut swaths--Starbuck!"
@@Bookgirlfan CHAPTER 132: The Symphony. (continued) "Oh, Starbuck! it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky. On such a day--very much such a sweetness as this--I struck my first whale--a boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty--forty--forty years ago!--ago! Forty years of continual whaling! forty years of privation, and peril, and storm-time! forty years on the pitiless sea! for forty years has Ahab forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horrors of the deep! Aye and yes, Starbuck, out of those forty years I have not spent three ashore. When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of solitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain's exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the green country without--oh, weariness! heaviness! Guinea-coast slavery of solitary command!--when I think of all this; only half-suspected, not so keenly known to me before--and how for forty years I have fed upon dry salted fare--fit emblem of the dry nourishment of my soil!--when the poorest landsman has had fresh fruit to his daily hand, and broken the world's fresh bread to my mouldy crusts--away, whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow--wife? wife?--rather a widow with her husband alive! Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab has furiously, foamingly chased his prey--more a demon than a man!--aye, aye! what a forty years' fool--fool--old fool, has old Ahab been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the oar, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? ...
"But if the great sun move not of himself, but is as an errand-boy in Heaven, nor one single star can revolve but by some invisible power, then how can this one small heart beat, this one small brain think thoughts ... " (A more verbatim quote from the book.)
Any director and actor who dares translate Melville's monumental work to cinema, and does it this measure of justice, is worthy of immense respect. Although, I can't help but wonder; what marvels of performance might have been had they cast Anthony Quinn as Ahab!
Ray Bradbury added a very good line that was not in the book. When the captain of the "Rachel" asks Ahab's help in searching for its lost whale boats, Starbuck says, "Surely, as we are Christians, we cannot refuse." To contrast Ahab's refusal, so it seems.
And yet they did it with that histrionic ham Capt. Picard, emoting and yelling his way through it. I haven't seen the William Hurt version, maybe that's better. And I won't see the last one (2018?), which probably has the Pequod flying a rainbow flag.
AHAB - It’s a mild, mild day, Starbuck. A mild-looking sky. On such a day I struck my first whale, a boy harpooneer. Forty, forty, aye, forty years and a thousand lowerings ago. Why this madness of the chase ... this boiling blood and smoking brow. Why palsy the arm at the oar, the iron, and the lance. I feel old, Starbuck, and bowed, as though I were Adam, staggering under the piled centuries since Paradise. Stand close, Starbuck, close to me. Let me look into a human eye. It is better than to gaze into sea or sky. What is it ... what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing commands me, against all human lovings and longings, to keep pushing and crowding and jamming myself on all the time, making me do what in my own natural heart I dare not dream of doing. Is Ahab Ahab? Is it I, God, or who that lifts this arm? But if the great sun cannot move except by God’s invisible power, how can my small heartbeat, my brain, think thoughts unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living ... and not I. By Heavens, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and fate is the handspring. And all the time, that smiling sky and this unsounded sea. Look ye into its deeps, and see the everlasting slaughter that goes on. Who put it into its creatures to chase and fang one another? Where do murderers go, man? Who’s to doom when the Judge himself is dragged before the bar? But it is a mild, mild day, and a mild-looking sky. What ails you, Starbuck? Why do you tremble so? Starbuck, ye are tied to me. This act is immutably decreed. It was rehearsed by ye and me a billion years before this ocean rolled. There ... there ... do you smell it lads, what the wind carries?
You listen to the dialogue here in this one clip and compare it to the dross that Hollywood churns out these days and it’s like comparing the word of Shakespeare to that of a babbling baby 🤦♂️
Ricardo was probably one of the few actors who could ham it up and still pull it off to make a great performance. Ya hadda love those final Moby Dick quotes in Wrath of Khan!
Ahab saved his life w/ his speech, checkmating the religious Starbuck Starbuck sees himself as made in God's image, as a man separate from beasts 'decreed to slaughter one another'. If he kills Ahab, it makes him no better than an animal, kills his image of God, and affirms Ahab's view that God is the God of murder: 'Where do murders go, man? Who's to doom when the Judge Himself is dragged before the bar?'
Man isn’t separate from the beasts- I would even venture that he is worse- he not only slaughters other living things to survive like the animals, 4:36 m 4:36 he slaughters his own kind for power, greed etc- but then religion says that God gave man “free will” as a feeble cop out explanation - perhaps the judge(God) doesn’t exist and never has 🤔
Starbuck does not want to slaughter Ahab after Ahab describes slaughter as the way of things in the sea. In a way Starbuck is trapped into his situation which Ahab confirms when he says that Starbuck is tied to him from time immemorial.
that was brilliant...Ahab saved his own head from a bullet by speaking hard truths that 'trapped' the religious Starbuck Starbuck sees himself as made in God's image, as a man separate from beasts 'decreed to slaughter one another' . If he kills Ahab, he kills his image of God and affirms Ahab's view that God is the God of death and murder: 'Where do murders go, man? Who's to doom when the Judge Himself is dragged before the bar?'
If ever there were and actor suited to expressing "deep thoughts" in the most, what, penetrating way, it was Mr.Peck. Just curious: to date it looks like about 12K people have viewed this vid. What do you make of it? What do you think it "means"?
“He tasks me, Starbuck. He vexes me.” If this were a Cole Porter musical, the he would, of course, be a married tomcat, not the white leviathan with a crooked jaw...
In Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan, there are quite a few of Ahab's lines from this movie, spoken by Khan. And of course, Captain Kirk is the white whale.
Rich Sutterfield Wrath of Kahn is my favorite of those movies, but the episode from the series that inspired it is the most compelling of the series, IMHO. I wonder how many people watching that movie would realize that Khan was quoting Ahab.
After seeing TWoK I read Moby Dick and saw the similarities between Abad and Khan both were obsessed with avenging a loss and both were doomed by their quest for vengeance.
He is. But his performance in the character carries the entire movie. The only performance equal or superior to Peck's in this film is Orson Welles as Fr. Mapple.
*Capt. Ahab:* _What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm?_ *Starbuck as he cocks his pistol:* _I have the remedy!_
What does it mean that Ahab thinks it better to look into human eye than sea or sky, which are mild? Apparently Ahab finds more intensity and contention in the human eye, which for him is salvation from the feeling that mildness is a curse or punishment like Adam's expulsion from paradise / Eden.
Ahab seems to feel he is doing God's will, but is confused about God's will. Starbuck offers to him some clarity on God's will, yet it does not appear to be enough for Ahab. Ahab concludes that God is moving him.
Ahab's mind, now darkened by hatred and resentment towards life/fate/God, cannot help but be mired in a confusion about "God's will". Ahab was in jam for sure.
It's a mild day, Starbuck. Mild-looking sky. On such a day, I struck my first whale. A boy harpooneer. Forty, aye. Forty years and a thousand lowerings ago. Why this madness of the chase... this boiling blood and smoking brow? Why palsy the arm at the oar, the iron, and the lance? I feel old, Starbuck, and bowed. As though I were Adam... staggering under the piled centuries... since paradise. Stand close, Starbuck. Close to me. Let me look into a human eye. It is better than to gaze into sea or sky. Captain, now for the last time, I ask thee, I implore thee... Iet us fly these deadly waters. Let us home. Have they not such mild blue days even as this in old New Bedford? What is it? What nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing... commands me against all human lovings and longings... to keep pushing and crowding and jamming myself on all the time... making me do what in my own natural heart... I dare not dream of doing? Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it l, God, or who... that lifts this arm? But if the great sun cannot move... except by God's invisible power... how can my small heart beat... my brain think thoughts... unless God does that beating, does that thinking... does that living... and not l? By heavens, man... we are turned round and round in this world... Like yonder windlass... and fate is the handspike. And all the time, that smiling sky... and this unsounded sea. Look ye into its deeps... and see the everlasting slaughter that goes on. Who put it into its creatures to chase and fang one another? Where do murderers go, man? Who's to doom... when the judge himself is dragged before the bar? But it is a mild day... and a mild-looking sky. What ails you, Starbuck? Why do you tremble so? Because I do not have the bowels to slaughter thee... and save the whole ship's company from being dragged to doom. I plainly see my miserable office: to obey, rebelling. Worse still, to help thee to thine impious end. Starbuck, ye are tied to me. This act is immutably decreed. It was rehearsed by ye and me... a billion years before this ocean rolled.
We wouldn't have true freewill if God interceded on our behalf all the time. Adam had freewill to make a wrong choice, just as we all do and suffered the consequences of that choice. Adam making a poor decision without God there guiding his hand is what set about all the turmoil, violence, and terror to begin with-a consequence of freewill. I guess we'll all find out one day-a 50/50 chance there is or isn't any God but I'd rather hedge my bets on believing there is.
See how sick the idea of a God can make a human mind.It is delusional to think something is controlling anything.Once you start down that road,a mans own conscience and morality mean nothing.
Starbuck is confronted here with the paradox of predestination. I understand not all Protestants believe in predestination. We should rather call it Calvin's dilemma?
@@greggy553 I'm not widely acquainted with Protestant history. I only read a tract on Puritanism which claimed Calvin to be the author of predestination. But it also went into some of the reasons that the Puritans faded into history. I also heard the broad definition of Protestantism: Any Christian faith that is not Catholic or Eastern Orthodox is Protestant (with the possible exception of Mormon). But there are quite a few lines in the film version of "Moby Dick" that are not in the book. One that I like is from the scene in which the captain of the Rachel begs the Pequod's assistance in finding its missing whale boats, which were towed out of sight by Moby Dick. Starbuck, hearing the captain's dire pleading for help, says to Ahab, "Surely, as we are Christians, we cannot refuse." Though, of course, Ahab is interested only in pursuing the apparently-nearby Moby Dick, and does refuse.
What me worry Starbuck? Nay, doth Joseph Biden tremble in his estate of Delaware? Or doth he call Doctor! Doctor! Bring me a physic of cream! Bring forth that child to sooth me such as King David had in his last days! Hmmm yes. Stop up the barrels and set a course for the heart of the sun!
I've always felt-sorry for the Great White Whale, Moby Dick, pursued & harassed by the revenge-obsessed Ahab. I admire Starbuck's comment where he chastises the Captain for blind-rage against a "dumb-brute" acting-out of instinct. If anyone had a chance to deter Ahab from his madness, it was Starbuck. As I recall, he almost breaks-through the Captain's wall of selfish-rage & endangerment of the entire-crew. There was a very-narrow window there. Should Starbuck have shot & killed Ahab? It's a great-moment in a great-story. I always feel like Starbuck should've but then I'm relieved that he doesn't go-through with it, as he could've been tried & convicted of murder, once ashore-again. Justifying his action in a court-of-law probably wouldn't've been an easy thing to do. One has only to look at "The Caine Mutiny" & "Mutiny on the Bounty" to see what an uphill-battle it would-be for Starbuck to be exonerated in-court. As for Moby being a "dumb-brute", well, to me, the Great White Whale always has seemed pretty-darn-smart, in terms of "strategizing" & attacking his tormentors aboard the Pequod. I know what Starbuck means, though. In fact, the pursuit & slaughtering of innocent & harmless-whales(with exceptions) on a massive-scale during the era in which Melville's masterpiece is set, has always disturbed & depressed me. Sure, it was an industry(as well as an employer) upon which humans depended but it's a hard, sickening-thing for me to accept. I know I never could've participated in it---then again, maybe I'd've had no-problem with-it at all. The same would be true for seal-hunting, too, which is equally-sickening. I guess the main thing that bothers me is how the whalers & seal-hunters of those times seemed to be oblivious to the fact they were exterminating these creatures in such vast-numbers that they came extremely-close to exterminating-them. Shame on the human-race for this!
@@brianstratton8767 Yes, I agree. I don't know how I got into the habit of doing that. Seemed sensible at the time but I don't like it now. I try hard not to use it anymore, except where required through accepted usage. I'm glad you liked my comments, though, regardless!
"Talk not to me of blasphemy man, I'd strike the sun if it insulted me". My favorite line. Fucking savage.
"Ahab's red flag challenges the heavens!"
Mo-fo was serious about respect!
@@terraceyouth2961
Peck was born to play this classic character. It'll always be his most memorable role.
Mockingbird too
Yes sir
Ahab was his greatest role.
This Character - Captain Ahab - and Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
I agree.
By far and away the superior version of the great novel put to film.
it still isn't that good
It doesn't hurt that Ray Bradbury did the adaptation. 😺
This is a great movie. It was 1 of several classics, that was on, Sunday afternoon, when I was younger. Family Classics
With Frazier Thomas on WGN TV Chicago! I remember!
Peck is to Moby Dick what Heston was to The Ten Commandments!
totally agree friend!
The visible mental degeneration of Starbuck over the course of the movie is fantastic! Excellent work, Leo Genn.
Not mental degeneration as much as demoralisation. Poor Starbuck ends up so ensnared by Ahab's iron will that he cannot fight it. His resolve to "do right" is just steadily eroded until Ahab's madness finally touches him at the end, which seals the final doom of the Pequod and her crew save Ishmael.
Fact: Herman Melville named the "Starbuck" character in honor of the Starbuck family, a prominent whaling family based in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The surname itself derives from the community of Starbeck in North Yorkshire, England. Years later, a company combined the name and the image of a mermaid 🧜♀and founded a coffee brand.
Much of the film's sublime mystical dialogue was crafted by Ray Bradbury. he did a wonderful job of weaving mythic lines seamlessly into Melville's wonderful storytelling. John Huston hired Bradbury to work on the movie's screenplay. It was in this period that he was writing one of the all-time greatest science-fiction novels, Fahrenheit 451. It's easy to recognize that Shakespeare was one of Bradbury's strongest influences.
Any work that includes a monologue of this caliber - be it Other People's Money, Atlas Shrugged, Scent of a Woman - is bound to be a classic. The whole work leads and prepares the reader or viewer to and for this moment.
We like this because it reminds us of the struggle our reason (Starbuck) argues with our ego (Ahab) with how we conduct our live while segregated from our whole self (Ishmeal & Quiqay) Body & soul, separated by being manufactured by the conditions of our birth. Love & wisdom to all of you who struggle and see it in others.
"Ye are tied to me. This act is immutably decreed. It was rehearsed by ye and me a billion years before this ocean rolled". TWISTED!! Totally psychotic.
And then we have.... "Look ye into its deeps and see the everlasting slaughter that goes on. Who put it into its creatures to chase and fang one another? Where do murderers go, man? Who's to doom when the judge himself is dragged before the bar?" (A direct indictment against the Almighty, I believe.)
Agreed- I would like to hear a rebuttal from the pope himself, trying to explain that one!
"Where do murderers go, man? Who's to doom when the judge himself is dragged before the bar?"
Such a basic truth.
my favorite movie of all times...)
Ahab can't help but stare into the dark abyss of what reality really is, while Starbuck, like most people, prefers not to see.
Excellent rumination on Obsession and Fate. Gregory Peck always hated his performance as Ahab. He believed--in a totally professional way--that he didn't do the character justice. But, goddamn, he's got the look, the attitude, and most of all the VOICE for the character: "It was rehearsed by ye and me a billion years before this ocean rolled.." He's totally committed to the part and it's a perfectly judged performance, from his quiet fierceness at the beginning of the movie to the out-of-control rage at the climax.
I totally agree. The first time I watched this it stayed with me for days...truly a great performance
Artists often fail miserably as critics, even of their own work.
The only problem with Gregory Peck in the role of Ahab is that he is clearly a bit too young to portray a veteran sea captain as the character is, who would be at least in his fifties at that point in life --- and would appear older than his years given how taxing a life at sea was in that era, which turned men old at forty. Beyond that, though, I have no problem with Peck's performance in the role. He is absolutely riveting as Ahab. Your entire attention is fixed upon him every moment he's on the screen.
@@LordZontar True. In the book, Ahab is described as being all gray, and somewhat grizzled, bearing the well-known nickname "Old Thunder."
@@Alic3IiWL I've found it's usually the other way around: critics will often fail miserably at art. Take the nostalgia critic as a case study, though it isn't like his critiques are top tier either.
Ahab, Starbuck, and Moby Dick, the Great White Whale himself---3 of the greatest-characters in all-of literature!
Fantastic poetry
My favorite scene. Timeless movie
This scene has dogged me for almost a lifetime. "Is Ahab Ahab ?" The ultimate question.
what this means?
@@wendervianeli , it is a question of agency.
What is the source of the will.
Modern science (neurology) has shown that it is a fiction : all decisions are made by the brain. Individuals become 'consciously' aware of a decision milliseconds after it has been made.
2:20 "Is it I, God or who, that lifts this arm ?"
Imagine a spider spinning a web and asking, "I'm I the agent who has decided to spin a web ?"
Well, f course not : the spider is genetically programmed to spin webs.
Likewise, humans are genetically (and culturally) programmed.
In Melville's day, the question was framed in terms of Gods and fate.
But it's the same question : who is the agent, the decision maker.
Ahab is asking "Am I the master of my destiny"
@@vinm300 oh, got it. thank you!
I rate Melville up there with Shakespeare - what poetic and expressive prose - love this scene in particular - Ahab feels like Adam who has known Paradise but then has endured all the millennia of suffering since then - and even questioning the Creator for allowing a world of such murder and horror
I live near Liverpool and have walked the same streets where he did on his first voyage before he wrote Redburn,there are still one or two streets and buildings that survive to this day.Princes dock is unrecognisable but the Gentlemans Club at the bottom of Bold St still stands .Yes Val Lamon Shakespeare and Dickens as well?.
@@maxbacon4828 Dickens, yes. Definitely. Absolutely.
"In a school carried on by sheer cruelty, whether it is presided over by a dunce or not, there is not likely to be much learnt. I believe our boys were, generally, as ignorant a set as any schoolboys in existence; they were too much troubled and knocked about to learn; they could no more do that to advantage than any one can do anything to advantage in a life of constant misfortune, torment, and worry. But my little vanity, and Steerforth's help, urged me on somehow; and without saving me from much, if anything, in the way of punishment, made me, for the time I was there, an exception to the general body, insomuch that I did steadily pick up some crumbs of knowledge."
"David Copperfield", chapter 7.
what a great actor
Though screenwriter Ray Bradbury was very unhappy with director John Huston's heavy interference, Bradbury did a fantastic job in his selections and modifications of Melville's immortal text for the movie adaptation.
Agreed. I prefer Bradbury's handling of the final lines.
Is this conversation in the book or did they invent it 4the movie , ...great scene
@@Bookgirlfan "Oh, Starbuck! it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky. On such a day - very much such a sweetness as this - I struck my first whale - a boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty - forty - forty years ago! - ago! Forty years of continual whaling! forty years of privation, and peril, and storm-time! forty years on the pitiless sea! For forty years has Ahab forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horrors of the deep! Aye and yes, Starbuck, out of those forty years I have not spent three ashore. When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of solitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain's exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the green country without - oh, weariness! heaviness! Guinea-coast slavery of solitary command! - when I think of all this; only half-suspected, not so keenly known to me before - and how for forty years I have fed upon dry salted fare - fit emblem of the dry nourishment of my soul - when the poorest landsman has had fresh fruit to his daily hand, and broken the world's fresh bread to my mouldy crusts - away, whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow - wife? wife? - rather a widow with her husband alive! Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab has furiously, foamingly chased his prey - more a demon than a man! - aye, aye! what a forty years' fool - fool - old fool, has old Ahab been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the oar, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? Behold. Oh, Starbuck! is it not hard, that with this weary load I bear, one poor leg should have been snatched from under me? Here, brush this old hair aside; it blinds me, that I seem to weep. Locks so grey did never grow but from out some ashes! But do I look very old, so very, very old, Starbuck? I feel deadly faint, bowed, and humped, as though I were Adam, staggering beneath the piled centuries since Paradise. God! God! God! - crack my heart! - stave my brain! - mockery! mockery! bitter, biting mockery of grey hairs, have I lived enough joy to wear ye; and seem and feel thus intolerably old? Close! stand close to me, Starbuck; let me look into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than to gaze upon God. By the green land; by the bright hearth-stone! this is the magic glass, man; I see my wife and my child in thine eye. No, no; stay on board, on board! - lower not when I do; when branded Ahab gives chase to Moby Dick. That hazard shall not be thine. No, no! not with the far away home I see in that eye!”
"What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? But if the great sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I. By heaven, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the handspike. And all the time, lo! that smiling sky, and this unsounded sea! Look! see yon Albicore! who put it into him to chase and fang that flying-fish? Where do murderers go, man! Who's to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to the bar? But it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky; and the air smells now, as if it blew from a far-away meadow; they have been making hay somewhere under the slopes of the Andes, Starbuck, and the mowers are sleeping among the new-mown hay. Sleeping? Aye, toil we how we may, we all sleep at last on the field. Sleep? Aye, and rust amid greenness; as last year's scythes flung down, and left in the half-cut swaths--Starbuck!"
@@Bookgirlfan CHAPTER 132: The Symphony. (continued)
"Oh, Starbuck! it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky. On such a day--very much such a sweetness as this--I struck my first whale--a boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty--forty--forty years ago!--ago! Forty years of continual whaling! forty years of privation, and peril, and storm-time! forty years on the pitiless sea! for forty years has Ahab forsaken the peaceful land, for forty years to make war on the horrors of the deep! Aye and yes, Starbuck, out of those forty years I have not spent three ashore. When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of solitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain's exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the green country without--oh, weariness! heaviness! Guinea-coast slavery of solitary command!--when I think of all this; only half-suspected, not so keenly known to me before--and how for forty years I have fed upon dry salted fare--fit emblem of the dry nourishment of my soil!--when the poorest landsman has had fresh fruit to his daily hand, and broken the world's fresh bread to my mouldy crusts--away, whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow--wife? wife?--rather a widow with her husband alive! Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab has furiously, foamingly chased his prey--more a demon than a man!--aye, aye! what a forty years' fool--fool--old fool, has old Ahab been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the oar, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? ...
Interesting image of Starbuck with a "Derringer" behind with bearded Lincolnesque Ahab.
Good catch!
By design for sure
Ahab’s conversation with the carpenter is the best writing by Melville in my humble opinion.
He Rises!
On mild, mild days...I think about what Ahab says...
I immutably agree with these opinions--I cannot imagine the "mild, mild day" speech better spoken by any actor
Jesus - that's a scene: "Do you smell it, lads, what the wind carries?"
The Greatest American novel
A powerful epic masterpiece from novel to film 🎥 so brilliantly made 🎥📺🍿🥤🔥❤️🌈⭐️an amazing 🤩 actor in it .
GREAT MOVIE !!!
agreed! first saw Moby Dick when i was about 11 or 12 years old. it's been one of my favorite films ever since. :)
"But if the great sun move not of himself, but is as an errand-boy in Heaven, nor one single star can revolve but by some invisible power, then how can this one small heart beat, this one small brain think thoughts ... "
(A more verbatim quote from the book.)
Great archetype of the faustian man...
Amazing
Any director and actor who dares translate Melville's monumental work to cinema, and does it this measure of justice, is worthy of immense respect. Although, I can't help but wonder; what marvels of performance might have been had they cast Anthony Quinn as Ahab!
Quinn didn't look Anglo enough.
@@basilmarasco1975 Interesting point: but his performance would have been a masterpiece.
Ray Bradbury added a very good line that was not in the book. When the captain of the "Rachel" asks Ahab's help in searching for its lost whale boats, Starbuck says, "Surely, as we are Christians, we cannot refuse." To contrast Ahab's refusal, so it seems.
Well duh with a movie you need to condense and simplify the perspectives a little
@@neo-filthyfrank1347 go fuck yourself
U can't re-do Moby dick. This is perfection.
And yet they did it with that histrionic ham Capt. Picard, emoting and yelling his way through it. I haven't seen the William Hurt version, maybe that's better. And I won't see the last one (2018?), which probably has the Pequod flying a rainbow flag.
It's certainly like Shakespeare.
AHAB - It’s a mild, mild day, Starbuck. A mild-looking sky.
On such a day I struck my first whale, a boy harpooneer. Forty, forty, aye,
forty years and a thousand lowerings ago.
Why this madness of the chase ... this boiling blood and smoking brow.
Why palsy the arm at the oar, the iron, and the lance.
I feel old, Starbuck, and bowed, as though I were Adam, staggering under the piled centuries since Paradise.
Stand close, Starbuck, close to me. Let me look into a human eye. It is better than to gaze into sea or sky.
What is it ... what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing commands me, against all human lovings and longings, to keep pushing and crowding and jamming myself on all the time, making me do what in my own natural heart I dare not dream of doing. Is Ahab Ahab? Is it I, God, or who that lifts this arm? But if the great sun cannot move except by God’s invisible power, how can my small heartbeat, my brain, think thoughts unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living ... and not I.
By Heavens, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and fate is the handspring. And all the time, that smiling sky and this unsounded sea. Look ye into its deeps, and see the everlasting slaughter that goes on.
Who put it into its creatures to chase and fang one another? Where do murderers go, man? Who’s to doom when the Judge himself is dragged before the bar?
But it is a mild, mild day, and a mild-looking sky. What ails you, Starbuck? Why do you tremble so?
Starbuck, ye are tied to me. This act is immutably decreed. It was rehearsed by ye and me a billion years before this ocean rolled.
There ... there ... do you smell it lads, what the wind carries?
the soundtrack here is among the best i've heard, by Philip Sainton.
You listen to the dialogue here in this one clip and compare it to the dross that Hollywood churns out these days and it’s like comparing the word of Shakespeare to that of a babbling baby 🤦♂️
Peck and Ahab...one and the same being.
Legendary
That VOICE...
Over a century before True Detective, Melville knew the meaning of “time is a flat circle”.
Is Ahab, Ahab?
Incredible acting......
Star Trek 2 Wrath of Khan as Khan portrayed by a great actor Ricardo Montalban quoted Captain Ahab.
Ricardo was probably one of the few actors who could ham it up and still pull it off to make a great performance. Ya hadda love those final Moby Dick quotes in Wrath of Khan!
"Palsy", "Adam" 😔
"Ye are tied to Me..."
“I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck. Let Ahab beware of Ahab. . . beware thyself, old man.”
Ahab saved his life w/ his speech, checkmating the religious Starbuck Starbuck sees himself as made in God's image, as a man separate from beasts 'decreed to slaughter one another'. If he kills Ahab, it makes him no better than an animal, kills his image of God, and affirms Ahab's view that God is the God of murder: 'Where do murders go, man? Who's to doom when the Judge Himself is dragged before the bar?'
Man isn’t separate from the beasts- I would even venture that he is worse- he not only slaughters other living things to survive like the animals, 4:36 m 4:36 he slaughters his own kind for power, greed etc- but then religion says that God gave man “free will” as a feeble cop out explanation - perhaps the judge(God) doesn’t exist and never has 🤔
100% classic.
Starbuck does not want to slaughter Ahab after Ahab describes slaughter as the way of things in the sea. In a way Starbuck is trapped into his situation which Ahab confirms when he says that Starbuck is tied to him from time immemorial.
that was brilliant...Ahab saved his own head from a bullet by speaking hard truths that 'trapped' the religious Starbuck Starbuck sees himself as made in God's image, as a man separate from beasts 'decreed to slaughter one another' . If he kills Ahab, he kills his image of God and affirms Ahab's view that God is the God of death and murder: 'Where do murders go, man? Who's to doom when the Judge Himself is dragged before the bar?'
If ever there were and actor suited to expressing "deep thoughts" in the most, what, penetrating way, it was Mr.Peck. Just curious: to date it looks like about 12K people have viewed this vid. What do you make of it? What do you think it "means"?
“He tasks me, Starbuck. He vexes me.” If this were a Cole Porter musical, the he would, of course, be a married tomcat, not the white leviathan with a crooked jaw...
In Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan, there are quite a few of Ahab's lines from this movie, spoken by Khan. And of course, Captain Kirk is the white whale.
Rich Sutterfield Wrath of Kahn is my favorite of those movies, but the episode from the series that inspired it is the most compelling of the series, IMHO. I wonder how many people watching that movie would realize that Khan was quoting Ahab.
After seeing TWoK I read Moby Dick and saw the similarities between Abad and Khan both were obsessed with avenging a loss and both were doomed by their quest for vengeance.
@@Samalabear pity they dressed Riccardo like twisted sister.
@@blondeboywilson9221yup! His whole crew looked like a hair band.
MOBY DICK 1956 directed by John Huston ... Excellent! DGM/
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Quite, quite mad.
The giddy of fury obsessed for bloody revenge.
The Birds!
ye are tired to me..this act is immutably de'creed it was rehearsed by ye and me. a billion years before this ocean rolled
At first Gregory Peck was seen as too handsome for the role of Ahab.
He is. But his performance in the character carries the entire movie. The only performance equal or superior to Peck's in this film is Orson Welles as Fr. Mapple.
The "Make-Up" Department worked on him for a while.
THE BEST VERSION OF MOBY DICK YOU WILL EVER SEE
I LOVE THIS MOVIE GREGORY PECK IS JUST BRILLIANT IN IT
I ALSO HAVE THE BOOK AWSOME STUFF ⚓🛶🐋
*Capt. Ahab:* _What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it; what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm?_
*Starbuck as he cocks his pistol:* _I have the remedy!_
What does it mean that Ahab thinks it better to look into human eye than sea or sky, which are mild? Apparently Ahab finds more intensity and contention in the human eye, which for him is salvation from the feeling that mildness is a curse or punishment like Adam's expulsion from paradise / Eden.
Gee, peck pulled the part off, but can you see Edward G Robinson in this part.. brill
The way I understood it, Moby Dick was an argument between Ahab and God
so the movie is good or wha ?
absolutely! :)
I love it.
Nice mild music
Speak not to me you blast me Starbuck…I’d strike the sun if it insulted me!!!….
Ahab seems to feel he is doing God's will, but is confused about God's will. Starbuck offers to him some clarity on God's will, yet it does not appear to be enough for Ahab. Ahab concludes that God is moving him.
Ahab's mind, now darkened by hatred and resentment towards life/fate/God, cannot help but be mired in a confusion about "God's will".
Ahab was in jam for sure.
True story
Dennis can you transcript the entire nonologue?
It's a mild day, Starbuck.
Mild-looking sky.
On such a day, I struck my first whale.
A boy harpooneer. Forty, aye.
Forty years and a thousand lowerings ago.
Why this madness of the chase...
this boiling blood and smoking brow?
Why palsy the arm at the oar,
the iron, and the lance?
I feel old, Starbuck, and bowed.
As though I were Adam...
staggering under the piled centuries...
since paradise.
Stand close, Starbuck. Close to me.
Let me look into a human eye.
It is better than to gaze into sea or sky.
Captain, now for the last time, I ask thee,
I implore thee...
Iet us fly these deadly waters.
Let us home.
Have they not such mild blue days
even as this in old New Bedford?
What is it?
What nameless, inscrutable,
unearthly thing...
commands me against all human lovings
and longings...
to keep pushing and crowding
and jamming myself on all the time...
making me do
what in my own natural heart...
I dare not dream of doing?
Is Ahab, Ahab?
Is it l, God, or who...
that lifts this arm?
But if the great sun cannot move...
except by God's invisible power...
how can my small heart beat...
my brain think thoughts...
unless God does that beating,
does that thinking...
does that living...
and not l?
By heavens, man...
we are turned round and round
in this world...
Like yonder windlass...
and fate is the handspike.
And all the time, that smiling sky...
and this unsounded sea.
Look ye into its deeps...
and see the everlasting slaughter
that goes on.
Who put it into its creatures
to chase and fang one another?
Where do murderers go, man?
Who's to doom...
when the judge himself
is dragged before the bar?
But it is a mild day...
and a mild-looking sky.
What ails you, Starbuck?
Why do you tremble so?
Because I do not have the bowels
to slaughter thee...
and save the whole ship's company
from being dragged to doom.
I plainly see my miserable office:
to obey, rebelling.
Worse still, to help thee
to thine impious end.
Starbuck, ye are tied to me.
This act is immutably decreed.
It was rehearsed by ye and me...
a billion years before this ocean rolled.
We wouldn't have true freewill if God interceded on our behalf all the time. Adam had freewill to make a wrong choice, just as we all do and suffered the consequences of that choice. Adam making a poor decision without God there guiding his hand is what set about all the turmoil, violence, and terror to begin with-a consequence of freewill. I guess we'll all find out one day-a 50/50 chance there is or isn't any God but I'd rather hedge my bets on believing there is.
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FOR HATE'S SAKE, I SPIT AT THEE WITH MY LAST BREATH.
Like Hamlet.
imputability decreed
CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!!!!!!
sovereign God substantive choice organizing people of world
This is Gnosticism
Key idea in many of Melville’s writings
See how sick the idea of a God can make a human mind.It is delusional to think something is controlling anything.Once you start down that road,a mans own conscience and morality mean nothing.
Predestination the Protestant dilemma.
Ah, you are so right...this narrative really takes a great deal of reflection
Calvinist and Puritan ... not wholly Protestant.
@@basilmarasco1975 "To obey rebelling" is Protestant.
Starbuck is confronted here with the paradox of predestination. I understand not all Protestants believe in predestination. We should rather call it Calvin's dilemma?
@@greggy553 I'm not widely acquainted with Protestant history. I only read a tract on Puritanism which claimed Calvin to be the author of predestination. But it also went into some of the reasons that the Puritans faded into history. I also heard the broad definition of Protestantism: Any Christian faith that is not Catholic or Eastern Orthodox is Protestant (with the possible exception of Mormon).
But there are quite a few lines in the film version of "Moby Dick" that are not in the book. One that I like is from the scene in which the captain of the Rachel begs the Pequod's assistance in finding its missing whale boats, which were towed out of sight by Moby Dick. Starbuck, hearing the captain's dire pleading for help, says to Ahab, "Surely, as we are Christians, we cannot refuse." Though, of course, Ahab is interested only in pursuing the apparently-nearby Moby Dick, and does refuse.
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What me worry Starbuck? Nay, doth Joseph Biden tremble in his estate of Delaware? Or doth he call Doctor! Doctor! Bring me a physic of cream! Bring forth that child to sooth me such as King David had in his last days! Hmmm yes. Stop up the barrels and set a course for the heart of the sun!
I refuse to watch this stupid show Longmire on net flicks...FN ad is everywhere on you tube
Every other version of this film sucks.
And that is the truth Sir!
Politics is the reason for the madness of the chase, why God's creatures catch and fang one another in an everlasting slaughter.
I've always felt-sorry for the Great White Whale, Moby Dick, pursued & harassed by the revenge-obsessed Ahab. I admire Starbuck's comment where he chastises the Captain for blind-rage against a "dumb-brute" acting-out of instinct. If anyone had a chance to deter Ahab from his madness, it was Starbuck. As I recall, he almost breaks-through the Captain's wall of selfish-rage & endangerment of the entire-crew. There was a very-narrow window there. Should Starbuck have shot & killed Ahab? It's a great-moment in a great-story. I always feel like Starbuck should've but then I'm relieved that he doesn't go-through with it, as he could've been tried & convicted of murder, once ashore-again. Justifying his action in a court-of-law probably wouldn't've been an easy thing to do. One has only to look at "The Caine Mutiny" & "Mutiny on the Bounty" to see what an uphill-battle it would-be for Starbuck to be exonerated in-court. As for Moby being a "dumb-brute", well, to me, the Great White Whale always has seemed pretty-darn-smart, in terms of "strategizing" & attacking his tormentors aboard the Pequod. I know what Starbuck means, though. In fact, the pursuit & slaughtering of innocent & harmless-whales(with exceptions) on a massive-scale during the era in which Melville's masterpiece is set, has always disturbed & depressed me. Sure, it was an industry(as well as an employer) upon which humans depended but it's a hard, sickening-thing for me to accept. I know I never could've participated in it---then again, maybe I'd've had no-problem with-it at all. The same would be true for seal-hunting, too, which is equally-sickening. I guess the main thing that bothers me is how the whalers & seal-hunters of those times seemed to be oblivious to the fact they were exterminating these creatures in such vast-numbers that they came extremely-close to exterminating-them. Shame on the human-race for this!
What i still find confusing is - does Moby Dick die??
Interesting points yet harpooned-by-hyphen-over-kill..
@@brianstratton8767 Yes, I agree. I don't know how I got into the habit of doing that. Seemed sensible at the time but I don't like it now. I try hard not to use it anymore, except where required through accepted usage. I'm glad you liked my comments, though, regardless!
its a damn movie...stop being woke!
He mentions the earth and sea being a billion Years but surely that goes against the Christian beliefs of that time.
O_O