Jason KingDead Calm (1989)
June 12th 2008 07:49
Dead Calm (1989) $14-
This would probably be one of the best Australian thrillers of all time. A time prior to Nicole Kidman becoming a mega star and going under the knife plus sprinkled with a bit of botox. This was made in a time when most Australian films were sensational and box office competition for their US counter parts.
Returning from duty with the Australian navy, John Ingram (Sam Neill) is surprised to be met by two policemen, who inform him of a car accident that has left his son dead and his wife, Rae (Nicole Kidman), injured. The grieving couple seeks refuge on their yacht, the Saracen. Out on the boat, the... Returning from duty with the Australian navy, John Ingram (Sam Neill) is surprised to be met by two policemen, who inform him of a car accident that has left his son dead and his wife, Rae (Nicole Kidman), injured. The grieving couple seeks refuge on their yacht, the Saracen. Out on the boat, the skies are sunny, the sea calm - but on the horizon is another vessel, the Orpheus. As John and Rae approach the ship, they find a lone survivor, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), who tells them that the other crew members have died of food poisoning. Leaving Rae behind with the sleeping Hughie, the suspicious John boards the Orpheus - only to be confronted with a horrifying situation. Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce directs the film, based on a novel by Charles Williams, with great inventiveness - whether focusing on the tranquil water, the violent Hughie, the resourceful Sam, or the determined Rae with her luminous, translucent blue eyes.
I used to own this on laser disc but sold my whole laser disc collection a few months ago and now miss all these old movies. I have now started buying them all again on dvd. I saw this yesterday for ten bucks so bought it for last night viewing. Loved it just as much as I did back then. The only thing that has dated about it is Nicole Kidman's hair and lips and nose, I swear they all look different now.
The film is highly suspenseful, filmed beautifully on the great barrier reef, although you see no reef or great barrier, it just looks like constant endless ocean. The acting is great and you can see Nicole developing and understand how her growth and training have led her to be one of the highest paid female actors of all time. Sam Neill is his usual cool calm self and I am sure it was this sea faring role that scored him the Hunt for Red October role and Billy Zane is amazing as usual plus looking the hottest he ever has. I don't think he wears a shirt for the entire film. No complaints!
Directed by the great filmmaker Phillip Noyce from such films as Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Rabbit Proof Fence and Catch a Fire he captures the isolation and pending drama perfectly.The film was based on the novel Dead Calm written in the late 1950s by the American writer Charles Williams. The film's rights were originally owned by Orson Welles. He renamed it The Deep and began filming in 1968 off the coast of Yugoslavia. He casted himself and Jeanne Moreau as John and Rae Ingram and Laurence Harvey as the psychotic Hughie Warriner. The film was abandoned in 1973 after the death of Harvey and Welles' discontentment with the material that had already been filmed. This material has never been seen. Orson Welles died in late 1985 and Kennedy Miller brought the rights. Welles' long-time associate Oja Kodar (who was also one of the actresses in the original filming), was at first reluctant to sell the rights to anyone in Hollywood. She believed that Welles has been personally prosecuted by the Hollywood establishment. Kennedy Miller interested her as the company was situated outside of this Hollywood institution. She was interested in what the final product would be. Ironically though, on the film's completion this second time made; it was sold back worldwide to Warner Brothers.
Noyce and Hayes chose to deliberately ignore viewing Welles' work. They decided to concentrate on intensifying the psychological emphasis of Williams' story. Noyce infact, took his inspiration from Hitchcock. By watching Hitchcock's Notorious, Noyce was interested in the techniques used in this film that were able to generate uneasiness in the audience. There was no eerie music or an excessive use of sound effects to try and astound the audience. They centered around the structure of a few elements. Three main characters and two main sets. The Miles Van der Rohe theory of less is more.
If you have not seen it - put it on your list. It's a great Oz film well worth the watch!! $14-
This would probably be one of the best Australian thrillers of all time. A time prior to Nicole Kidman becoming a mega star and going under the knife plus sprinkled with a bit of botox. This was made in a time when most Australian films were sensational and box office competition for their US counter parts.
Returning from duty with the Australian navy, John Ingram (Sam Neill) is surprised to be met by two policemen, who inform him of a car accident that has left his son dead and his wife, Rae (Nicole Kidman), injured. The grieving couple seeks refuge on their yacht, the Saracen. Out on the boat, the... Returning from duty with the Australian navy, John Ingram (Sam Neill) is surprised to be met by two policemen, who inform him of a car accident that has left his son dead and his wife, Rae (Nicole Kidman), injured. The grieving couple seeks refuge on their yacht, the Saracen. Out on the boat, the skies are sunny, the sea calm - but on the horizon is another vessel, the Orpheus. As John and Rae approach the ship, they find a lone survivor, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), who tells them that the other crew members have died of food poisoning. Leaving Rae behind with the sleeping Hughie, the suspicious John boards the Orpheus - only to be confronted with a horrifying situation. Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce directs the film, based on a novel by Charles Williams, with great inventiveness - whether focusing on the tranquil water, the violent Hughie, the resourceful Sam, or the determined Rae with her luminous, translucent blue eyes.
I used to own this on laser disc but sold my whole laser disc collection a few months ago and now miss all these old movies. I have now started buying them all again on dvd. I saw this yesterday for ten bucks so bought it for last night viewing. Loved it just as much as I did back then. The only thing that has dated about it is Nicole Kidman's hair and lips and nose, I swear they all look different now.
The film is highly suspenseful, filmed beautifully on the great barrier reef, although you see no reef or great barrier, it just looks like constant endless ocean. The acting is great and you can see Nicole developing and understand how her growth and training have led her to be one of the highest paid female actors of all time. Sam Neill is his usual cool calm self and I am sure it was this sea faring role that scored him the Hunt for Red October role and Billy Zane is amazing as usual plus looking the hottest he ever has. I don't think he wears a shirt for the entire film. No complaints!
Directed by the great filmmaker Phillip Noyce from such films as Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Rabbit Proof Fence and Catch a Fire he captures the isolation and pending drama perfectly.The film was based on the novel Dead Calm written in the late 1950s by the American writer Charles Williams. The film's rights were originally owned by Orson Welles. He renamed it The Deep and began filming in 1968 off the coast of Yugoslavia. He casted himself and Jeanne Moreau as John and Rae Ingram and Laurence Harvey as the psychotic Hughie Warriner. The film was abandoned in 1973 after the death of Harvey and Welles' discontentment with the material that had already been filmed. This material has never been seen. Orson Welles died in late 1985 and Kennedy Miller brought the rights. Welles' long-time associate Oja Kodar (who was also one of the actresses in the original filming), was at first reluctant to sell the rights to anyone in Hollywood. She believed that Welles has been personally prosecuted by the Hollywood establishment. Kennedy Miller interested her as the company was situated outside of this Hollywood institution. She was interested in what the final product would be. Ironically though, on the film's completion this second time made; it was sold back worldwide to Warner Brothers.
Noyce and Hayes chose to deliberately ignore viewing Welles' work. They decided to concentrate on intensifying the psychological emphasis of Williams' story. Noyce infact, took his inspiration from Hitchcock. By watching Hitchcock's Notorious, Noyce was interested in the techniques used in this film that were able to generate uneasiness in the audience. There was no eerie music or an excessive use of sound effects to try and astound the audience. They centered around the structure of a few elements. Three main characters and two main sets. The Miles Van der Rohe theory of less is more.
If you have not seen it - put it on your list. It's a great Oz film well worth the watch!! $14-
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Dead Calm ranks as one of the most unintentionally funny films I have ever seen. The part where the baby goes through the windscreen in a slow mo spin just gets funnier everytime I see it. I still remember when i saw it at the cinema I was crying with laughter at how artificial it looked.
Funnier still were Nicole's porn star shorts during the rape, so obviously designed by the same guys who do the tear away stripper pants, just removes any gravitas from the assualt as they are ripped apart.
To end on a positive note, Billy Zane is amazing in the film and steals it out from under Kidman and Neil who both seem to be trying way to hard.
I'm a big fan of this type of film but it was just weak and silly to me. Even the Aussie exploitation flick Hostage did a better job. Agreed that some of the shots on the water looked pretty, but the plot is just so obvious that it never achieves the tension it so desperately attempts
Nice review though, you make it clear what you enjoyed about the film. I always thought it seemed like a try hard Hitchcockian thriller and now I know why.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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Jason, i thought Billy Zane was fantastic in this, i think its the movie that propelled him into perpetual coolness . . . that and the killer body! haha
Comment by Jason King
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I never saw it as fake. I cried the first time I saw the baby superman. I did go OMG - that is Nicole when I watched it last night during the sex scene. There is no WAY she would do something like that now. I wouldn't have called it a rape scene though - she gives herself thinking him so stupid to ignore the change of heart and to achieve her plans at escape. But he is meant to be an insane nut job. It was the 80's. Morgan I did laugh at how quick those pants came off. The first time I did watch this I would have been 17 - and for a 17yr old living on Pittwater with lots of boats I was stoked at a film on a boat. I lived on a boat regularly throughout the year when about this age. Plot obvious now but back then it had me enthralled and I still get the same sensation now. And yes Morgan - Billy Rocks!!! Thanks for the comments guys!
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
i'm a Pittwater sailing boy too, grew up in Newport and my family still li! Seems we had very similar childhoods.
As for the sacrificial sex scene in the movie, I do agree it wasn't a physically violent sex, but was certainly a pschological and emotional rape of the character...it would be using the the words "willing and consensual" a little to loosely for it to be anything else to me.
The "baby superman" barrell rolling through the windscreen was the reason I got the film on VHS. Its such a perfect of example of how something that should resonate is made unbelievable and ridiculous due to camera and choreography choices. A great learning tool of what not to do, me and my buddies used to joke about the scene all the time when trying to create metaphors for criticism.
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