1992 Director Carrol Ballard 126min
The eternally preppy Matthew Modine and a fresh faced Jennifer Grey star in this fictional but far from standard losing everything and winning it all back film about the America’s Cup set to a soaring score. Modine is blamed for losing The Americas Cup and strives, with the help of aeronautical millionaire designer (Stellan Skarsgard) who design a unique hull and keel to win it all back.
The problems the film had in the box office were firstly a lack of viewer sailing knowledge despite the writers communicating the racing rules to a largely ignorant public by well written Australian sportscaster racing commentary and the technicalities covered during the yacht build and testing. The second was that it was a “Riches to Riches” story and the usual format, even though the money still had to be raised, lacked the usual middle stage of “can they can’t they” peril. Despite these niggles the film hands us three sensationally shot race sequences, (the international 14 race scene is one of the finest sailing sequences put to film) an intertwined love story, some unusual testing of sailing gear in the Nevada desert and leaves the audience with a lot more knowledge about racing sailing without feeling like they’ve been lectured. GV
We found it streaming online on the benign site of Veoh: HERE
Reviewed as part of our Great Sailing Films Collection