MovieChat Forums > Ghostboat (2006) Discussion > Why did this movie get made? (possible s...

Why did this movie get made? (possible spoilers)

posted 17 years ago by axlotl9
2 replies | jump to latest

Based on a novel from the '70s which was set in the Pacific Ocean with an American submarine, there's very little sense in this adaptation. I will mention...

The fighter plane attack is in the book. (Zeroes rather than Me109s, naturally).
More sex and sexual situations in the book (hey, it was written in the '70s and was a cheesy potboiler, naturally there was a fair bit of sex in it.)

To the person who claimed that WWII submarines didn't have radar: Horse puckey. Not only did both British and American submarines have radar from 1942 onward, but by early 1944 most of them had PPI scopes (Plan Position Indicator, aka "the rotating radius on circular display".

Sub attack (that is, the attack on the other sub) is in the book - in fact, as I recall that's when Hardy and Cassidy start wondering if they're going to cause a war, as they know the US doesn't have any diesel subs in the Pacific - but the Russians might...

[–] schmidt_haus 17 years ago

The story that came out to publicise the debut showing on British TV was that it was the pet project of the lead character, played by David Jason. DJ is a very popular actor in the UK, having appeared in many sitcoms, and lately more dramatic roles (Inspector Frost most notably). The publicity said that he picked up a 2nd hand copy of the book whilst on holiday, thought it was a cracking read and set about getting it made.

I take it that it's just been shown on TV somewhere else in the world as I'm pretty certain it's not been repeated in the UK since it's first showing?

[–] originaltruth 17 years ago

This was just shown on Cyprus's equivalent of the BBC - excellent for a TV movie in my opinion - out of pure coincidence I came across the following website of a story which bears a striking resemblence to Ghostboat, although set in a different era and country....freaky coincidence, and supposed to be a TRUE story!!! LOL!

http://www.scorpiondown.com/