Carl Brashear is an ambitious sharecropper who joins the U.S. Navy to become the world's first black master diver. But as he works through diving training, the racist Master Chief sets out t... Read allCarl Brashear is an ambitious sharecropper who joins the U.S. Navy to become the world's first black master diver. But as he works through diving training, the racist Master Chief sets out to make Carl's journey as difficult as possible.Carl Brashear is an ambitious sharecropper who joins the U.S. Navy to become the world's first black master diver. But as he works through diving training, the racist Master Chief sets out to make Carl's journey as difficult as possible.
- Awards
- 11 nominations total
- Jo
- (as Aunjanue Ellis)
- Mellegrano
- (as Theo Pagones)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBrazilian diver Alberto José do Nascimento was the only one that supported Brashear since the beginning in the team, but was ignored in the movie and replaced by different characters along the film
- GoofsThroughout the film, sailors salute chief petty officers and address them as "sir." Enlisted personnel only salute and address officers as "sir." A sailor addresses a chief petty officer (senior enlisted person) as "chief," "senior chief," or "master chief," not "sir."
When an enlisted man is referred to as "sir", the usual response is, "Don't call me sir...I work for a living."
- Quotes
Billy Sunday: The Navy Diver is not a fighting man, he is a salvage expert. If it is lost underwater, he finds it. If it's sunk, he brings it up. If it's in the way, he moves it. If he's lucky, he will die young, 200 feet beneath the waves, for that is the closest he'll ever get to being a hero.
- Crazy creditsThe woman in the detox center is listed as "Pinch-Faced Woman at Detox Center"
- Alternate versionsDVD includes several deleted scenes cut from the final film:
- Billy lies drunk on a beach and is caught by Military Police; the film then cuts to the opening scene showing just why he is in handcuffs.
- Carl finds Pappy's dog and he makes a white officer wash the poor animal in lye because carl touched it.
- an alternate ending showing just what exactly happened to Billy
- SoundtracksAnchors Aweigh
Written by Charles A. Zimmerman
Arranged by Will Schaefer
Courtesy of Associated Production Music
This is a good movie; fast paced and with a lot of action, although not an "action" pic in the normal sense of the word. There's a very human story here as well, and an interesting study of racism and the struggle to overcome it; there's also a sense of the struggle that took place in the 1960's between older and younger naval officers (the "old navy" vs the "new navy.") The performances are quite good - particularly Goodings'. I thought DeNiro was perhaps a bit over the top in his portrayal of Sunday (although, who knows, Sunday might well have been this extreme kind of loose cannon) and the portrayal of Sunday's wife Gwen (by Charlize Theron) also made me question whether these parts were "jazzed up" to provide entertainment value.
A good movie, though. I never once wondered if it was worth tuning into.
7/10
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $32,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $48,818,921
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $13,339,465
- Nov 12, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $82,343,495
- Runtime2 hours 9 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1