Sea Fury

Firstly can I make the point that although this site shows Baker as top billed it is Mclaglen who was top billed and the name above the title.Mclaglen was an actor who was rarely capable of giving a restrained performance.He needed someone of the calibre of John Ford in getting him to be more restrained.Here he is rather odd because he lusts after a woman young enough to be his granddaughter.Difficult to know whether the director was serious about suggesting this romance.Anyway all the action is reserved for the climax which involves Stanley Baker.IThe end of a long career for Victor.

Not too bad, many weak details re nautical events. To West Coasters the main attraction is the tug "Sea Fury". She is one of a large class of US Army tugs of WW2, widely used by US and Canadian Towing Companies after the war.They were as a class known as Miki Mikis (Hawiian for "on time") after the progenitor built in the late 20's for the Hawiian inter-island pineapple trade. Very popular and successful vessels. All in all not a bad film , very entertaining if You haven't sailed on a tug although 5 stars for featuring one in a film. Good cast too.Scenes of Spanish ports and coastline are another plus. As are the scenes at sea both on board the Sea Fury, the interaction with the Dutch tug and even the sadly inaccurate salvage operation. Still, a fun show.

The continuity announcer for 'London Live' said the star of this film was Stanley Baxter (what a film 'Zulu' would made with him in it!).

It's great claim to fame is that it marked the final film role of Victor McLaglen, predictibly cast as a drunken old curmudgeon (complete with walking stick) who comprises one corner of the screen's most unlikely triangle with Stanley Baker and Luciana Paluzzi.

The film finally lives up to it's title with the dramatic finale of Baker saving a ship in distress carrying drums of highly combustable sodium with a surprising appearance by a dazed-looking Dermot Walsh as the ship's seriously concussed captain.

This film's sole claim to fame is as the last big screen appearance of veteran actor Victor McLaglen. His character, Bellew, is an aging tugboat captain working out of a Spanish port on the Bay of Biscay. His eye is taken - and who could blame him - by the beautiful young Josita (Lucianna Paluzzi). Her father - whom the value-system of her time and place tells her she must obey - wants her to encourage him. When she objects to the idea of marrying an old man he tells her that, because he's old, Bellew won't last long. When she inherits his wealth she can provide her father with a small pension, take the rest and go to live in Madrid or Barcelona and marry for love. Unsurprisingly Josita is more taken with Abel (Stanley Baker), a young sailor whom Bellew had taken under his wing. Much of the film is taken up with this unremarkable love/lust triangle. By far the best part is a well-done action sequence where the tugboat's crew try to salvage a ship carrying a dangerous cargo. A solid cast includes such future stars as Barry Foster, Robert Shaw, Rupert Davies.

Victor McLaglen's last feature film found him trying to romance Luciana Paluzzi. McLaglen's a salvage tug captain and he's going through an end life crisis romancing young Luciana Paluzzi who's young enough to be his granddaughter.

Seems that her father Roger Delgado, an innkeeper in a North Spain sea village, would like to get his daughter fixed up with a comfortable situation for both of them. He encourages her flirtations with McLaglen. But she's got eyes for Stanley Baker who's a member of McLaglen's crew.

What saves this film is the action sequences on the high seas, especially Stanley Baker risking life and limb to dump a steel drum of lethal sodium during a storm, on board a listing freighter. Reason enough to see this film. There's also a bit of rivalry between Baker and another member of McLaglen's crew, Robert Shaw.

Shaw and Baker both went on to solid careers as tough leading men. Baker never got quite the acclaim that Shaw did internationally, but he was good box office in Great Britain.

Roger Delgado was best known in the British TV series Doctor Who for originating the role of the Doctor's number one nemesis, the Master. Death in an automobile crash in 1973 cut short a very good career.

Watch it for the action sequences.