IMDb RATING
7.2/10
125K
YOUR RATING
The story of Carl Brashear, the first African-American U.S. Navy Diver, and the man who trained him.The story of Carl Brashear, the first African-American U.S. Navy Diver, and the man who trained him.The story of Carl Brashear, the first African-American U.S. Navy Diver, and the man who trained him.
- Awards
- 11 nominations
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
- Jo
- (as Aunjanue Ellis)
Theo Nicholas Pagones
- FC 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
- GoofsThe bomb was found at 2500+ feet by submersibles. Recovery was attempted but failed. The bomb was re-located at nearly 3000 feet by submersibles. Hard-hat diving was limited to 350 feet, therefore divers could not be used in the recovery until it was raised to about 100 feet by submersibles, so divers could attach recovery cables to the bomb and raise it from the water. The recovery ships were USS Petrel and USS Cascade.
- 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
Featured review
The Man Who Wouldn't Quit
The inspiring story of Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), a black man who grew up in poverty in Kentucky and then joined the US Navy, aspiring to be the first black Master Diver in Navy history. We are shown the series of struggles from boyhood on that Brashear has to overcome to make his dream come true (and then to keep it alive.) Not the least of the challenges was Master Diver Bill Sunday (Robert DeNiro), the head trainer at the diving school the Navy sends Brashear to, who is not especially sympathetic to Brashear's goals, but who ultimately becomes an unlikely friend and supporter.
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
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
helpful•136
- sddavis63
- Jan 6, 2003
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
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