With masterpieces like Alien, Blade Runner and the underrated, but superb, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, I am quite a big Ridley Scott fan. White Squall is something of a let down in comparison, but it certainly deserved more than a measly $10 million US gross at the box office. As you would expect from a Scott film it boasts his trademark lavish production quality and stunning photography. The sequences at sea at some of the most spectacular ever filmed as Scott revels in the rolling waves and lurching ship, convey the ferociousness at sea, even in fairly calm conditions like no other film I can recall. The story however is less successful and is essentially (and unusually unoriginal for a Scott movie) a Dead Poets' Society at sea, as a motley crew of young boys, played by a talented and convincing set youngsters, do a lot of growing during the course of the voyage under the watchful eye of an Ahab-esque but eventually sympathetic Jeff Bridges. The final scene most definitely resembles that of Dead Poets' Society. (Captain. My Captain). However the film as a whole never bores and makes for compulsive viewing at times particularly the superb storm of the title, that is both moving as well technical tour de force.

It's 1960. Chuck Gieg (Scott Wolf) decides to attend school on sailing vessel Albatross instead of going to an Ivy League school. He joins other boys like rich kid Frank Beaumont (Jeremy Sisto),fearful Gil Martin (Ryan Phillippe) and Dean Preston (Eric Michael Cole) who struggles with school. The ship is run by skipper Sheldon (Jeff Bridges),his wife Dr. Alice Sheldon (Caroline Goodall) and McCrea (John Savage). The skipper intends to make the boys ship shape as they sail around in the Caribbeans.

I don't really feel for any of the kids. There are just so many of them and everybody has their problems. It gets bog down with their melodrama. It's too long. Jeff Bridges is powerful. I wonder if the drama would be more compelling if the movie starts with the ship in the storm and then flash backs to the beginning. Around midway, the drama tries to pump up the tension but I never feel for them. The storm scenes look well made.

I would say that "White Squall" deserves more credit than it got when it was released. Portraying several young men and their captain (Jeff Bridges) going sailing and encountering a devastating storm, the movie really holds you. Never getting preachy about friendship and never turning into a silly action flick, it's a movie that knows how to tell a story. Another good addition to Ridley Scott's filmography. And that one scene with the Dutch school girl...hubba hubba! On another note, this movie was my introduction to Ryan Phillippe, who plays one of the young men (although his name didn't enter my vocabulary until I saw "I Know What You Did Last Summer"). Also starring are John Savage, Jeremy Sisto (Billy on "Six Feet Under"),Ethan Embry and Zeljko Ivanek. Certainly worth seeing.

I have to admit, I would never want to go sailing. Too many bad things seem to happen.