These bold films confront viewers and dare to offend
Russel Crowe stars as Captain Jack Aubrey of HMS Surprise, who ends up playing cat and mouse with the French privateer Acheron during the Napoleonic Wars. Paul Bettany costars as the exasperated Dr. Stephen Maturin, the ship's surgeon.
Steven Spielberg's classic tale about a killer great white shark was the first major motion picture to be shot almost entirely on the ocean.
Robert Redford is the man lost at sea after his damaged yacht sinks and leaves him stranded in an inflatable life raft.
The biographical drama centers on professional surfer Bethany Hamilton (portrayed by AnnaSophia Robb), who despite losing an arm in a shark attack returned to surfing just one month after the incident.
Based on a real-life event, 'The Perfect Storm' tells the story of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing vessel that was lost at sea, along with its crew, after being caught in the "perfect storm" of 1991. George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg head the cast.
In 1983, Hurricane Raymond swept across the Pacific Ocean engulfing the yacht Richard Sharp and Tami Oldman were sailing in. 'Adrift' is based on their terrifying ordeal, and stars Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin as the hapless couple.
'In the Heart of the Sea' follows the survivors of the American whaling ship Essex, which sank in 1820 after being attacked and sunk by a whale. With little food and water, the 20-man crew was forced to make for land in the ship's surviving whaleboats.
Tom Hanks is Chuck Nolan, a FedEx employee who ends up stranded on an uninhabited island somewhere in the South Pacific after surviving a plane crash.
Captain Nemo (James Mason), master of the Nautilus submarine, takes on board Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas, and Peter Lorre in a quest to find a mysterious sea monster that is attacking ships in the Pacific Ocean.
The first in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, this fantasy swashbuckler picture introduced cinema audiences to pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).
Nicole Kidman stars as Rae Ingram in this Australian psychological thriller, who along with husband John (Sam Neill) takes to their yacht for a vacation at sea after the death of their son. Then one day they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship.
Regarded internationally by historians and serving members of the US Navy as the most authentic and compelling of all submarine pictures, the West German war film 'Das Boot,' written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, follows the German submarine U-96 during its hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War.
Sources: (American Cinematographer) (The Guardian) (History) (The Mirror) (Smithsonian Magazine) (U.S. Naval Institute) (History vs. Hollywood) (CNN)
Director James Cameron's fascination with the deep began with 'The Abyss,' which stars Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who are drafted in to assist with the recovery of a sunken American nuclear submarine. However, once submerged, they and everyone else encounter something completely unexpected.
Charles Laughton and Clark Gable star in this definitive film version of the 1932 novel of the same name. It went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Set in a future where the polar ice caps have melted and Earth is almost entirely submerged, 'Waterworld' stars Kevin Costner as the Mariner, a lone drifter and mutant who reluctantly helps a woman and a young girl try to find dry land while fighting off outlaw "smokers."
Much of this delightful computer-animated musical adventure film takes place at sea and follows the adventures of Moana, the daughter of a Polynesian village chief who sets out on a daring mission to save her people.
Inspired by the hijacking of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama and the taking hostage of its commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips, this movie is as much an examination of how the eponymous character deals with his crew as is it about his relationship with his captors.
Marlin the clownfish and a regal blue tang named Dory face all sorts of dangers as they search the depths for Marlin's missing son, Nemo. A computer-animated classic.
A box-office flop when it was released, 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou' has since garnered a cult following. The off-beat comedy drama stars Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, and Willem Dafoe.
"Does this mean size matters?" asked director James Cameron after 'Titanic' won 11 Oscars. Pictured are the film's stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, sailing in style.
Luc Besson's 'The Big Blue' (released in some countries under the French title 'Le Grand Bleu') is especially remembered for Jacques Mayol (played by Jean-Marc Barr), a free diving champion whose remarkable life story was the inspiration behind the movie. Tragically, suffering depression, Mayol took his own life in 2001.
This British biographical drama film tells the story of amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, who died while competing in the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, but did so after abandoning the challenge while reporting false positions, in an attempt to appear to complete a circumnavigation without actually doing so. Colin Firth portrays the inadequate weekend sailor.
Jeff Bridges is the skipper in charge of a group of high school and college-aged teenagers whose sail training ship is hit by a severe storm. But out of misfortune, the students discover discipline and camaraderie. Caroline Goodall costars.
Alfred Hitchcock directs this taught survival film where the drama is played out entirely on a lifeboat launched from a passenger vessel torpedoed and sunk by a Nazi U-boat.
'The Dove' is the true story of a 16- year-old (Robin Lee Graham, played by Joseph Bottoms) who in 1965 sailed alone around the world in a 7-m (23 ft) sloop named The Dove. Deborah Raffin costars.
Adapted from Tom Clancy's novel of the same name, 'The Hunt for Red October' stars Sean Connery as renegade Soviet submarine captain captain Marko Ramius, who wishes to defect to the United States with his officers and his country's newest and most technically advanced nuclear armed submarine.
Ang Lee's enchanting tale of an Indian teenager named "Pi" Patel telling a novelist about his life story, and how at 16 he survives a shipwreck and is adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, was a critical and commercial success.
Inspired by the true story of Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear (portrayed in the film by Cuba Gooding Jr.), the second African-American master diver in the United States Navy, 'Men of Honor' also stars Robert De Niro.
Huge, ferocious, and intelligent genetically engineered sharks seek revenge on the scientists that bred and experimented upon them in the hope of finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease.
When the SS Poseidon turns turtle at sea after being struck by an enormous tsunami during a New Year's Eve voyage, the surviving passengers must find a way out of the upturned vessel before it's claimed by the ocean. Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine head the cast.
The wide open sea has provided a magnificent and sometimes terrifying movie backdrop since the early days of cinema. In fact, some of the best films to come out of Hollywood are set off dry land, where the action on the ocean is guaranteed to make a big splash.
Intrigued? Then jump aboard, click through, and take a look at this log of movies made at sea.
Movies set at sea that made a big splash
Films made out on the ocean
MOVIES Cinema
The wide open sea has provided a magnificent and sometimes terrifying movie backdrop since the early days of cinema. In fact, some of the best films to come out of Hollywood are set off dry land, where the action on the ocean is guaranteed to make a big splash.
Intrigued? Then jump aboard, click through, and take a look at this log of movies made at sea.