White Squall (1996) on Netflix
In 1960, Christopher "Skipper" Sheldon and his wife, Dr. Alice Sheldon, take eight teenage boys to sea aboard the brigantine Albatross for eight months of sail training. Sheldon is strict.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.6/1026,311 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes58%
Trailer
Plot summary
Christopher "Skipper" Sheldon and his wife, Dr. Alice Sheldon, run a ship school on the brigantine Albatross. In 1960, they bring eight teenage boys aboard for eight months of training in sailing, crew work and respect for one another. Sheldon is tough with them, and among the students are Chuck Gieg, Frank Beaumont, shy Gil Martin and Dean Preston. Frank's snobby attitude sets him against most of the others. When Chuck slips from a mast and becomes entangled, Gil fails to help him and Sheldon saves the boy instead; Gil, unable to climb the ropes, is given limited duty aboard. Frank's wealthy parents surprise him in port and take him to dinner, apart from the rest of the crew.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about White Squall (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Decades after its release, the film unexpectedly became a touchstone for QAnon conspiracy theorists, who latched onto phrases from its original trailer, including "Where we go one, we go all" and "The calm before the storm," both of which became core slogans of the conspiracy's lore.
- The film dramatizes the real 1961 sinking of the school sailing ship Albatross, led by real-life skipper Dr. Christopher B. Sheldon, which was reportedly caused by a sudden white squall.
- To depict the doomed ship, the production built a full-sized mock-up called the Eye of the Wind and filmed storm sequences using a horizon tank in Malta, alongside location shooting in the Caribbean around St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
- Despite mixed-to-positive reviews, the film was a significant box office bomb, earning only $10.3 million in the United States against a $38 million budget.
- Composer Maurice Jarre was originally set to score the film but was dropped in favor of Jeff Rona, a protégé of Hans Zimmer, after Zimmer himself was lined up to take over the job but couldn't commit due to scheduling conflicts.
SPOILER
The end credits explain that in reality six people died in total, four of them students, and dedicate the film to them.
