Lakeboat

This is a movie that should be mandatory viewing at all nautical colleges and academies. It's a (mostly) accurate look into the lives of the men who drive ships for a living. Most people who have ever sailed aboard a ship will probably find this movie hilarious. Such people, however, constitute a small percentage of the general population. This movie is probably hit-or-miss for everybody else, in terms of whether or not they 'get it' and appreciate it for what it is. Lakeboat doesn't easily fit into any particular genre, seeing as there is hardly any plot. The movie instead focuses on characterization, and is aided to this by some relatively unknown but nonetheless well-cast actors. Some of the technical details are wrong, as mentioned in a few of the other comments, but when has any movie ever gotten all the technicalities right? Lakeboat is not an action film; It cruises along at the same slow, uneventful pace as the ship and crew it portrays. If you want a gunfight or an explosion every five minutes, don't even bother. If, however, you like a movie that is insightful, give this one a try. If you've ever been part of a ship's crew, you'll probably laugh to no end; this movie is funny because it's honest. Everybody else, be ready to have your romantic (or literary, according to the summary on this site) visions of the Sailor's life swept away like those of the movie's young protagonist. The stereotypes in the form of the foul-mouthed sailors are exaggerated, but in general the movie his film reflects a truism we jokingly use in this industry: the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story is that a fairy tale begins with "once upon a time," and a sea story begins with "this ain't no (insert four-letter 's' word here)." Lakeboat (generally) tells it like it is.

Haven't seen the movie, but saw the play at the Goodman in Chicago years ago. Mamet was uncannily on target; I felt he knew my old crew mates inside and out. Other comments seem to evaluate the movie as entertainment or what they expect of Mamet, or some other side issue. How about evaluating it as TRUTH?! The lakeboats are all gone now. The Mesabi iron ore range in Minnesota is played out and South American steel has virtually killed the US steel industry. The ore boats no longer ply the lakes, and the last one, the Mather, is now a floating museum docked at Cleveland.

So the play catches a piece of American history recorded nowhere else. All that foul language; yep, it's right on! Don't like it? Then you don't like telling it like it is! (Pardon -- like it WAS!). Perhaps the movie has it's faults; I hear they forgot the delay between an engine room signal and the reply/confirmation. But reviewers who focus on the entertainment quality of the movie miss the point: it should be viewed as LIVING HISTORY!! (Alas, of an era now totally dead and gone).

In the Summer of 1950, fresh out of high school, I shipped out as a deckhand on the Samuel F. B. Morse one of the last wooden hatch boats, but got fired the next week because I was to weak to handle the huge wooden hatches. Later I shipped out September 6, 1950, on the Presque Isle, on a run from Cleveland to Escanaba, and stayed for the Fall months. The next Summer is was deckwatch on the James A Farrell.

It's all gone now, and David Mamet's play is the only record I've ever seen of what crew life was really like. Found the movie/play boring? crude? tedious? Right; now you know what life on the lakeboats was really like!!!

One would think that having worked with David Mamet for so many years, Joe Mantegna would have a superb understanding of Mamet-speak. Mamet's dialog requires a certain rhythm, or cadence to make it work, and despite the high caliber actors involved in this project, I didn't feel that many of them pulled it off very well. Denis Leary and Robert Forster seemed to get it, but everyone else around them seemed very stilted, and the dialog seemed truly forced. Mamet is fascinated by the dance of dialog, and if the cast won't dance, it doesn't work.

LAKEBOAT for some will move as slowly as one of those ore-carrying vessels you see on the horizon from the shores of the Great Lakes. But for those wanting a relief from the frenzy of the many mindless action movies clogging our cineplexes, this Joe Montegna-directed adaptation 0of a 30-year old David Mamet play offers plenty of rewards. Rather than a coming of age film, as I've seen it described, it's really a tale in which a young grad student named Dale (played by David Mamet's brother), working on an ore boat for the summer, serves as a witness to a number of middle-aged and older crew members intent on educating their young companion. Much of their advice about handling women and sex is pretty awful, but amusing in the cocksure way in which it is dispensed to Dale--and to their good intentions in "helping" the naive boy. Most poignant of the crew is the book-reading Joe, who reveals to Dale a fact about his early life that he's told no one else--that as a boy he had dreamt of being a ballet dancer. Thinking about the direction which he chose for his own life, he tells Dale not only that he has his whole life ahead of him, but, a wonderful comment coming from a rough-hewn crew member, that he is a good man and a hard worker. Charles Durning and George Wendt are delightful as the ponderous First Mate (Captain) and second in command, as is Peter Falk as a pier worker.It seems such a crime that this film came to the Cincinnati area for just a week with no fanfare and left as quietly as it came. It desrves to find an audience, so I hope it soon will be released as an affordable video.

Some familiar faces in this play turned film, by David Mamet. a student on a summer job makes friends with various workers on a freighter ship. Charles Durning, Peter Falk, Denis Leary, Andy Garcia, George Wendt (NORM!). they had all been around for Years. SOOOO much talking. much of it is just dull chatter. goes on and on. and one of the actors is just annoying. Mamet needed to jazz up the script with jokes, or ... something. probably the best part of this was seeing the locks the ship went through. interesting stuff. certainly more interesting than the chatter on board. kind of an updated version of Two Years before the Mast, novel from 1840. it's a family affair.. David Mamet managed to get Tony Mamet and Bob Mamet on the payroll as well! one of the three projects directed by Joe Mantegna. this is his ONE film, and two television shows. it's just okay. not a lot going on. needed spicing up.