Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: rpm on October 03, 2007, 07:42:16 PM

Title: Moby Dick
Post by: rpm on October 03, 2007, 07:42:16 PM
Late last night I caught Moby Dick with Gregory Peck on TCM. Wow. I've read the book. I've seen the film. I always considered it  gawd awful, slow and boring. But for some reason last night I finally got a grasp on the story and was sucked into the drama. Wow!

Maybe it was Gregory Peck's performance or that of Richard Basehart, who I always considered a very underrated actor. That is a great, great film. I wonder why it hasn't been remade? PETA and Greenpeace would have a coniption fit, but with today's CGI capability that would be one freakishly awesome film.

Who would you cast?

Here's mine:

Captain Ahab: Anthony Hopkins

Ishmael: Matt Damon

Starbuck: Chris Cooper

Stubb: Clancy Brown

Queequeg: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: DREDIOCK on October 03, 2007, 07:48:00 PM
It was remade with Patrick Stewart (star trek capt Picard) as Ahab.

It sucked

Always loved the Version with Peck
When I was a little kid kid and well before Cable Tv came out
there were a few movies that my father would let me stay up late to watch on a school night.

the original King Kong was one.
And Moby Dick was the other

Dont know about Hopkins as Ahab

Ahab is a rather dark charactor and needs a dark and  commanding voice which is why Peck did it so well.

Hopkins is a very fine actor but his voice is too soft and "refined" for lack of a better term.

More a gentlemans lunatic then a salty sea capton.


Hmm who to play Ahab?

Lemme think
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: Yknurd on October 03, 2007, 07:53:42 PM
Nicole Richie:  Fishing pole
Paris Hilton:  Sticky bait
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: DREDIOCK on October 03, 2007, 08:05:05 PM
Yanno I was just flipping through the channels and stopped on a movie called "Land of the Blind"

and looking at him in the charactor he is playing there and listening to his voice it dawned on me he wouldnt be a bad choice..
He's got the voice and that slightly insane look in his eyes.
And seems to do well with dark charactors

Donald Sutherland
(http://www.autographdealer.com/images/DonaldSutherland6733.jpg)
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: rpm on October 03, 2007, 08:11:28 PM
I considered Donald Sutherland, but I thought Hopkins would out freak him.
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: JB73 on October 03, 2007, 08:33:54 PM
I read the book in high school for my English literature class. I read the WHOLE thing, no cliff notes or anything. I slammed the book in the report (this was a 1 semester class and the report was 75% of our grade) and basically called it a travesty of American writing, and called Melville out as a pompous high and mighty ass.

Got a A :D

I actually fell asleep in class 2 times reading it, once woken up by the teacher in front of everyone because I was snoring ROFL. He said "I know the book is a boring read, so fake it in class if you need to) :rofl




as for the movie I'd say Djimon Hounsou strikes me as the perfect "Queequeg"

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005023/

Hopkins would make a great Ahab, thats a hard role to cast though... as for Ishmael??? I think of someone similar to Tim Robins, but he's not right, just someone who can look nerdish and weak. Maybe Paul Giamatti if he was skinnier.
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: Masherbrum on October 03, 2007, 09:11:37 PM
Quote
Originally posted by rpm
I considered Donald Sutherland, but I thought Hopkins would out freak him.
Malkovich seems like a good choice for Ahab.
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: Stringer on October 03, 2007, 09:58:31 PM
Sean Connery for Ahab...
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: Halo on October 03, 2007, 10:07:59 PM
Just take the characters in Fargo and turn them loose with Moby Dick.
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: Xargos on October 03, 2007, 10:14:01 PM
Hopkins would make a good Ahab.
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: Airscrew on October 03, 2007, 10:53:29 PM
I say Chistopher Walken is Captain Ahab....

(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t92/Airscrew/2296-D79-36.jpg)

(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t92/Airscrew/239816Christopher-Walken-Posters.jpg)
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: DREDIOCK on October 03, 2007, 11:35:41 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Stringer
Sean Connery for Ahab...


LOL I can see it now with the bad denture fit (you can tell by the way he speaks his "s's


“To the lasht, I grapple with thee; From Hell'sh heart, I shtab at thee; For hate'sh shake, I shpit my lasht breath at thee”

LMAO
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: rpm on October 03, 2007, 11:35:56 PM
Christopher Walken would be a great pick. Hard to beat him on the "out there" scale.

Just thought of another good fit, Robert Duval.

And scratch Matt Damon. Get me Juaquin Phoenix!
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: FiLtH on October 03, 2007, 11:45:18 PM
How about all the unknown actors out there. Many of the ones mentioned are way too Hollywood. If I were to remake it, the only guy you would recognize would be the whale. And even he might have a missile pack added.
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: rpm on October 04, 2007, 12:03:16 AM
Quote
Originally posted by FiLtH
If I were to remake it, the only guy you would recognize would be the whale. And even he might have a missile pack added.
Suddenly I can see it, Moby Dick meets Starship Troopers!

Quick, see if Casper VanDien is free!

Really? Any time day or night?

He'll work for scale?

He'll kickback 50%?:(
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: rpm on October 04, 2007, 12:15:49 AM
I'm still firm on Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Queequeg.
He seems destined for the role.
(http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/8115/dbfr0.jpg)
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: DREDIOCK on October 04, 2007, 12:47:25 AM
Quote
Originally posted by rpm
I'm still firm on Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Queequeg.
He seems destined for the role.
(http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/8115/dbfr0.jpg)


I agree. Perfect fit

How about Rosie ODonnel as the whale? LMAO
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: rpm on October 04, 2007, 01:24:46 AM
Quote
Originally posted by DREDIOCK
How about Rosie ODonnel as the whale? LMAO
I agree. Perfect fit!
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: DREDIOCK on October 04, 2007, 06:20:42 AM
Quote
Originally posted by rpm
I agree. Perfect fit!


Hmm. well in that case we have to change Ahab

Donald Trump LOL
Title: Re: Moby Dick
Post by: Hap on October 04, 2007, 07:05:19 AM
Quote
Originally posted by rpm
Late last night I caught Moby Dick with Gregory Peck on TCM. Wow. I've read the book. I've seen the film. I always considered it  gawd awful, slow and boring. But for some reason last night I finally got a grasp on the story and was sucked into the drama. Wow!


It's one I own.  I own only great movies.  Too much of Hollywood's fare is pap, so I don't own tons.  But if one uses the AFI listings as a pool from which to cull, you can begin to build a collection of remarkable movies.

Great post.  Good movie.  I wouldn't remake it.  But it will be remade because there's bucks in doing so.
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: john9001 on October 04, 2007, 07:37:44 AM
Christopher Walken,s Ahab.." i'm going......to get .......that damm......whale"
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: Angus on October 04, 2007, 11:12:20 AM
Did an essay on Moby Dick quite some while ago. Best part was that my teacher was an ex whale-cutter. So my essay had to be correct about whale anatomy :D
Anyway, it's one hell of a literature piece. So to put it new on the silver screen should better be made properly.
The suggestions for Quequek look good to me, as well as either Sutherland or Walken for Ahab.
Since Ahab IS the role, it's the most demanding.
So..pondering. My day won't be boring from now....
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: storch on October 04, 2007, 12:48:41 PM
here's your title track (http://www.youtube.com/?v=kC0JgU9sTCg)
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: JBA on October 04, 2007, 12:59:24 PM
Moby Dick was based on the true story of the

Essex.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaleship_Essex


On November 20, 1820, the Essex was struck and pushed multiple times by a sperm whale. The ship sank 2,000 miles (3,700 km) off South America. The twenty sailors set out in three small whaleboats, with wholly inadequate supplies of food and water.......

They were rescued by the Nantucket Whaleship Dauphin 95 days after the Essex sank.


First Mate Owen Chase wrote an account of the disaster, the Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex; this was used by Herman Melville as one of the inspirations for his novel Moby-Dick, which really only tells the first part of this tragic Whaleship Essex story.


The cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson, wrote another account titled The Loss of the Ship "Essex" Sunk by a Whale and the Ordeal of the Crew in Open Boats which was not published until 1984 by the Nantucket Historical Association. Nickerson wrote his account late in his life and it was lost until 1960. It was not until 1980 that it came into the hands of Nantucket whaling expert Edouard Stackpole that its importance was realized. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is a National Book Award winning work of maritime history by Nathaniel Philbrick. It tells the story of the Essex including the point of view of Nickerson in addition to that of Chase.
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: uberhun on October 04, 2007, 03:54:51 PM
Jack Nicholsen As Ahab!:t
Title: Re: Moby Dick
Post by: x0847Marine on October 04, 2007, 05:23:46 PM
Captain Ahab: G. Bush

Ishmael: Doug Stanhope

Starbuck: Dirk Benedict

Stubb: Ron Jeremy

Queequeg: Condi Rice

Moby Dick: Rosie O'Donnell (although her body guards at Greenpeace might not allow her to do stunts)
Title: Re: Re: Moby Dick
Post by: rpm on October 04, 2007, 08:59:04 PM
Quote
Originally posted by x0847Marine
Ishmael: Doug Stanhope

Starbuck: Dirk Benedict
:rofl :rofl :rofl
Title: Moby Dick
Post by: E25280 on October 04, 2007, 09:19:25 PM
Quote
Originally posted by DREDIOCK
“To the lasht, I grapple with thee; From Hell'sh heart, I shtab at thee; For hate'sh shake, I shpit my lasht breath at thee”
Ricardo Montalban.  He already knows the lines.