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Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
Of all the movies in this set of five naval epics, Mutiny on the Bounty is the one most likely to be familiar to American audiences, primarily because of the film’s association with that notorious freebooter Marlon Brando, who seized upon the role of Fletcher Christian at the height of his career. Much of the…
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Damn the Defiant aka HMS Defiant (1962)
Released ahead of Mutiny on the Bounty in both the US and UK in 1962 under differing titles – Damn the Defiant and HMS Defiant – the outline of this fictional tale is somewhat like that film’s but inverted, with a kind and effective captain pitted against a sadistic and manipulative first mate who drives…
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Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
Captain Horatio Hornblower stars Gregory Peck in what at the time may have been the highest profile role of his career. Today, of course, we recall him more for two other roles, as Atticus Finch in the 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird and as Captain Ahab of the whaler Pequod in the 1956…
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Old Ironsides (1926)
In this well-regarded early silent naval epic, Old Ironsides, a young scalawag goes to sea only to be taken captive by the notorious pirates of the Barbary Coast in the Mediterranean. The doughty American warship USS Constitution battles the pirates and prevails! Based loosely on a real American naval war off Libya fought in 1804…
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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
A British naval commander and his trusty medical sidekick find adventure – and themselves – in the treacherous waters off the cape of Tierra del Fuego. Based on the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian, this 2003 film was the next to last directorial work of Aussie director Peter Weir. The film is well-nigh universally hailed…
Sailin’ ye seas o’ social distancin’ since 2020
