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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Lakeboat
Starring: Tony Mamet, Robert Foster, Denis Leary, Saul Rubinek, George Wendt, Charles Durning, Peter Falk and an unaccredited Andy Garcia. Written by David Mamet and based on his play Directed by actor Joe Mantegna in his directing debut Cinematography by Paul Sarossy, C.S.E. Music by Bob Mamet Panorama Entertainment Running Time: 98 minutes Rated R for profanity and sexual material Lakeboat is indeed, a Mamet family production; a showcase for David Mamet's incisive dialogue teamed with brother Tony Mamet's acting in a film about life on board a Great Lakes shipping boat. This line of work has not been widely explored in movies. Of course, someone has to man the boats and as the film unfolds, we find there is a difference between salt water and fresh water boating. Actor Joe Mantegna makes his directing debut here and shows a competent hand behind the scenes, but it is the stellar cast that makes this production purr on the water. The plot follows Dale (Tony Mamet), a college boy, who has signed on for a summer on the ore boat Seaway Queen. The guy doing the hiring is Peter Falk. Dale is taking the place of the elusive Guigliani (unaccredited Andy Garcia), who was mugged and will miss this trip. Charles Durning is the captain with George Wendt as his compliant first mate. Denis Leary is in the engine room and Robert Forster is also in the crew. There is a good deal of profanity-laced teasing as Dale is indoctrinated into life on the Great Lakes. As the Seaway Queen shuttles between the United States and Canada, Dale learns the stories of the men and why they like being on the Lakes. Durning, especially, prefers this to the horrors of World War II in the Pacific and being in shark-infested waters. No sharks in Lake Michigan. This reviewer, also coming from a northern state, appreciated the realism of this film, a David Mamet trait. From the language to food description to scenery to quarters, it's true sailing on the high lakes. David Mamet does ensemble dialogue masterfully and _Lakeboat,_ though not a perfect film, allows the audience to penetrate the solitary lives of men who work on the Great Lakes. There is a love of the depth of water and vastness of the sky above water. Joe Mantegna allows the actors to have their say and goes in for the close-up at just the right time. The men alternate between doing their job---and most things are automated now---to figuring out ways of getting out of work. They appreciate any type of food and their main worry is getting a check on time and having time in port to spend it. Nothing exotic here (except the profanity). No one is in a hurry and this allows situations to unfold in a timely manner as the summer months pass and Dale learns about the lives of the men. The security of being on water that island locked and secure from hurricane, great white sharks, and presumably submarines, and a cast that is filled with off screen friends allows the camaraderie to flourish.
Copyright 2001 Marie Asner
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