The Lightship (1985) Reviews

• A great story about the struggle between order and chaos.

  ulf-152005-06-03

  This is one of the great movies from the eighties, however unjustly underestimated and forgotten. Brandauer plays the captain of the lightship that's constantly anchored at the same place. It's only purpose is to warn other ships for dangerous waters. Robert Duvall enters the scene with his men and his one ambitions. It is also a generation drama about the relation between the lightships captain and his prodigal son. A brilliantly hermetical story about the thin line between order and chaos, and about relations between people. An excitement that lies not in action but in the trial of strength and the mostly implicit violence, that sometimes breaks out in uncontrolled outbursts. It also tells the story about the kind of courage that almost looks like cowardice. Don't miss this one!

• A good thriller somewhat overburdened by a single bad idea.

  Polaris_DiB2008-09-19

  After seeing Jerzy Skolimowski's macabre movie of teenage obsession, "Deep End", I had to follow up and see what else he has done. "The Lightship" turns out to have been the only movie of his available at Ye Olde Locale Video Store; though there are more Skolimowski movies still in print on DVD, they don't tend to be on very many shelves. It's a shame, because if "Deep End" and "The Lightship" are any indication, this is a director who deserves more attention. "The Lightship" is a thriller confined to a single boat--somewhat like a return to Skolimowski's earlier feature script "Knife in the Water", directed by the famous Roman Polanski, only with slightly different concerns and an unfortunate mark of 80s era production. Klaus Maria Brandauer is a late-50s (in age and era) Coast Guard captain of a "lightship", a stationary ship that warns other vessels of dangerous waters, who invites his son on board after the son gets arrested. The son, being Youth, hates the confinement and close proximity to his father, saying "I'd rather have gone to prison" in voice-over. However, things get lively once some bank robbers come aboard and hijack the ship, leading to a slow but strong build up of tension as the captain has to protect his crew and his son from their dangerous intentions. Now, it's precisely at the point when the badguys come on the ship that the movie gets good, and from there it builds itself spectacularly into a very effective thriller. Robert Duvall heads the baddies as one Caspary, a Southern gent and nihilistic flaneur hit with a form of moralistic ennui that counterparts Captain Miller's post-WWII world-weariness for an effective exploration of personal guilt and relativistic sincerity. These two men--one who simply wants to retire offshore with a dependable group of people and his son to keep him company, the other a listless thrill seeker who somehow manages to have violent and unbalanced lackies to follow him around to help him achieve his goals of doing whatever he fancies--are almost constantly face to face, circling each other physically and verbally as they parlance over all sorts of issues of the world, most of which involve the very nature of the history that got them to be at the precise point they are geographically and mentally for that moment of their lives. Meanwhile, the aforementioned lackies (one played with true panache by William Forsythe) and the crew have their own confrontations and side-stepping to do, all in a very narrow ship. As the tension builds and more and more character development reveals the true nature of the two leads, both the group leaders and the crews themselves engage in psychological warfare that, of course, eventually leads to greater danger. The extra wheel is the son. Truly, there is no reason for him, and he ultimately becomes only a nuisance to an otherwise finely crafted movie. From the get-go he becomes one of the more detestable parts of the movie, with a terrible voice-over narration that should have been cut completely and the fact that he is so damned 80s when the movie is otherwise pleasantly set in the 50s. Furthermore, he really ends up doing nothing but complaining, comparing himself to his father (the similarities? The son is a whiny jerk and the father struggles with guilt. Which means they aren't similar at all), and finally to proselytize on the nature of what he observed on the boat that fateful few days. "The Lighthouse" is that kind of unfortunate movie that is a perfect film overburdened with the dead weight of a single bad idea, which was the son. The character didn't even add intensity to the bubbling violence, as Captain Miller already had the crew to care for fatherly. However, Skolimowski's direction and amazing visual technique keeps the movie striking beyond its faults. Under a lesser director, the movie would have come off merely as a forgettable, cheap, 80s thriller. In some ways it still does except for the visuals and the performances of Duvall, Brandauer, and Forsythe. And for his faults, a particularly effective moment is made of the son in the light dome, perhaps one of the most poignant visuals in the movie. Re-edit this movie, completely eliminate the voice-over narration and cut a few of the son's scenes, and you have a very good thriller. As is, "The Lighthouse" is still a good performance piece and cinematic curiosity in the life of an unfortunately lesser-known director. --PolarisDiB

• A fascinating fable

  magobbo2002-01-10

  A fascinating and complex --under the simplicity of its surface-- fable of good against evil and a coming-of-age tale, with excellent performances by Duvall and Brandauer and a superb direction by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, here in one of his best films --along with "Moonlighting" and "Deep End". Simply: an enjoying and rare gem.

• Please Bring Back The Original

  krocheav2014-07-17

  After reading all the reviews for this '85 re-make, it's very clear few people read about, or research, the true origin of a good work. This story 'Das Feuerschiff' written by a prominent German novelist is actually a semi allegorical tale. It intelligently uses symbolism to demonstrate the bullying tactics of war mongers. The writer, Siegfried Lenz (a modern humanist) has set up a brutal modern crime scenario, that symbolically parables the destructive effects of controlling regimes (ie: Nazi, or any other source of enforced power) exposing the devastating effects they inflict on innocent by-standers. Lenz thoughtfully sets up a situation that illustrates the adage: 'Evil triumphs when good men do nothing'. The original film version of this classic story was made in Germany in 1962 (not long after the book was published) and directed by multi talented, Austrian-Hungarian born Ladislao Vajda. I saw it under the American/English title of: "Crime on the High Seas" (AKA 'The Lightship') For my money the earlier film far outshines the poorly constructed 1985 version listed here on IMDb. It seems a great pity in the days of DVD the Award winning original has escaped a wider release. If you want to check the IMDb listing you will need to add the German title 'Das Feuerschiff' or the date ('63) after the title. The 1963 version also won awards in the Berlin Film Festival of its year. The original version also had the distinction of being one of few films to feature the instantly recognisable Londoner (of Scottish descent) James Robertson Justice in an important dramatic lead. Robertson was a reasonably good choice for the role of Captain of the Lightship, having himself experienced Nazism while serving as a Policeman with the League of Nations, in a region under German governance. Klaus Maria Brandauer was also a good choice as Captain in the '85 Jerzy Skolimowski vers, but the somewhat over the top performance by Robert Duvall as the homosexual leader of the criminals was somewhat unfortunate to say the least. Perhaps the screenplay writer and director must shoulder some of the blame for this. Much of the original stories depth, and the overall handling of this project, seemed unfortunately lost at sea. Often it appears as if directors and screenplay adapters may get hung up on their own sexual obsessions, sometimes loosing their grasp on the original stories main themes. The voice over narration, added later in post production, was an attempt to add story cohesion - this did not help much, if at all. Maybe someday we'll be rewarded with the now rare, b/w German original. Find it if you can!

• Boring and Annoying

  claudio_carvalho2016-05-07

  The US Coast Guard Captain Miller (Klaus Maria Brandauer) brings his estranged teenage son Alex (Michael Lyndon) on board of his anchored lightship and introduces him to the crew. When they see a boat with three men adrift, the crew brings them to the boat. The leader Calvin Caspary (Robert Duvall) introduces the deranged brothers Eddie (Arliss Howard) and Gene (William Forsythe) to Captain Miller and his crew and soon they overtake the command of the lightship. Alex and the crew is in larger number and wants to resist but Captain Miller has a trauma from his past and wants to protect his men. "The Lightship" is a boring, annoying and overrated film about a US Coast Guard ship that is overtaken by criminals and the lack of action of her captain that does not want to endanger his crew. There is also a conflict between the captain and his son that believes he is a coward. There are many situations where the crew could easily defeat the criminals that the movie is ridiculous. The duel between the traumatized captain and the nihilist boss of the gangsters is also terrible. The motives of the criminals are not clear. My vote is two. Title (Brazil): "Ataque em Alto Mar" ("Attack in High Sea")