Trailer
Plot summary
Ben Randall is the Coast Guard's top rescue swimmer, and the long hours the job demands have wrecked his marriage. During a rescue at sea, a helicopter crash costs him his crew. His commander gives him a choice: leave the service or teach at the Aviation Survival Technician school in Louisiana. He takes the instructor post, where his record of rescues has made him a legend among the students. One of them is Jake Fischer, a hot-shot candidate who swam competitively in high school and turned down Ivy League scholarships to enlist. Jake meets Emily Thomas, a local school teacher, and they begin a casual relationship.
Cast
- Benny Ciaramelloas Benny Partida
Show all 20 cast
- Daniel J. Molthenas Co-Pilot Wakefield (as Lcdr. Daniel J. Molthen USCG)
- Andrew Schannoas Pilot Mitchell (as Lt. Andrew Schanno USCG)
- Adam Penaas Benjamin Reyes
- Joe Arquetteas Co-Pilot Antunez
- Gary Billburgas Julian Zankich (as PO1 Gary Billburg USCG)
- Joshua Mitcheltreeas Mitcheltree (as PO2 Joshua Mitcheltree USCG)
- James Barnesas Doctor #1
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Guardian (2006)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Many of the supporting cast members playing instructors, pilots and rescue crew were not actors at all but real active-duty U.S. Coast Guard personnel.
- The helicopter crash that opens the story is loosely based on a genuine Coast Guard aviation accident in Alaska, though the filmmakers used an HH-60J Jayhawk instead of the actual HH-3F Pelican involved.
- One of the actors playing a trainee was Mark Gangloff, a real Olympic swimmer who had won a gold medal at the Athens Games.
- After Hurricane Katrina struck, the finished film was reworked to add comments about the storm and closing footage of real Coast Guard rescues in New Orleans.
- Filming the water sequences was cold work by design: sixty thousand pounds of ice were needed on the set for the shoot.
