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True North, fishing drama, biggest load of tripe ever filmed!!!!!


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#1 quiet waters

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 12:13 AM

i'm sitting here watching BBC2, a drama called true north, based on a trawler PD 100 Providence, the plot is a father and son combo, father facing bankruptcy so son decides to do something about it. ok so far, but its patently obvious the writer has never been aboard a boat in his/her life, not just the terminology thats annoying, the whole bloody script and dialogue is pathetic. to raise money to save the boat the son decides to smuggle some chinese into the UK. for some reason the boat is in belguim at the time, this is never explained? getting them aboard is a task as the father never leaves the wheelhouse, sleeping on the locker, with his hat on, even i took my hat off sometimes!!!!! 20 chinese stowed in the forepeak, locked below even tho it has an enclosed whaleback so they could have had a bit of freedom but then one of them wouldn't die after three days now would they?

an example of how dire the script is can be highlighted by one scene where they are steaming thru the night?(why they'd land in belguim then steam home to PD would spoil the plot?) the father wakes because the son who is on watch has seen what looks like a mark on the sonar, which is just a colour sounder but don't let something technical spoil things, the father decides to shoot the "trawl" the term they all use for the net for some reason? a haul of half a dozen boxes which they gut and ice in the hold in boxes before stacking the boxes having dragged them to the opposite end of the hold? and he thinks he is skipper material!!!! oh how much was the son getting for the smuggling job? £4,000, which given the size of the boat wouldn't pay for the oil for the passage and the few tows they had enroute. by the way the son explains to the other crewman that if the bank take the boat they will sell it for scrap!!!!! and leave his da with nothing, the inference being that they all live aboard the boat like teenkers.

during one haul while taking the bag aboard the rope breaks as it goes thru the block at the top of the derrick, the son and deckie (theres another crewman but being the cook he does nothing else) hold on to the end of the rope as if they let go they will "lose the trawl" according to the son, why they detach the net from the sweeps i don't know? but theres feck all in it so hey ho, one of the chinese die, buried at sea blah blah, but the net is still out and they've seen a big spot on the sonar!!!!! oooooh i can hardly wait, why they are hugging i have no idea, half a lift of wee fish and the deid chink they scutched the night before and here was them thinking that they'd filled their boots and the customs wouldn't suspect, now poor peter mullen is greetin (hada pint with him donkeys years ago in the blytheswood cottage pub, nice bloke) and the forepeak is filling with water, oh dear, oh dear oh dear, all the chinese are droonin while the crew do some soul searching on deck, oh no, they'd stuck the hose down and drowned them, but wait, theres one that has been hiding in the engine room and only the halfwit cook knows!!!!!!!

it was the father did it and the boy had a good catch, you had good bait said his old man, meaning the deid wan in the codend? where did they do their research? oh wait, they've noticed the girl and she knows!!!! so does the cook, will he, won't he? skipper played by gary lewis(traitor in braveheart) gets his heid stove in by the cook when he tries to chuck the chinese girl overboard, oh and he is lying on the "good catch" which looks to be mostly horse mackerel, and he's deided, greet greet,

girl survives leaving on a bus, with a rucksack full of money? the £4,000? and thats the end with the bus winding its way along a coast road which if i remember will be an irish road as they made it there because it was cheaper.

written and directed by stephen hudson for BBC films made in scotland ireland and germany, the boat the martha david which was decommed in 2006, and had the winch on the port shoulder, fore and aft set up which i thought weird till just this second till i realised i spent 12 yrs aboard a boat with the winch set up the same only in the middle of the boat, why having it against one rail made it weird i know not??

i just sat thru this tripe so you didn't and never will need to, what tripe, everyone else went to bed within ten minutes as they were fed up with me criticizing the terminology being used!!!!!
And their teeth will be blunted like lions and they will be cast away on whirlwinds and such!!!!

#2 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 08:45 AM

Hi QW

Well if you take a look at the 'official' film site @ http://www.truenorth...com/reviews.php
you will notice that the page for REVIEWS is empty - perhaps you should send your critique to the site for inclusion  :police:

Of course all of us who recorded the film will now be thinking that they HAVE to watch it to see if it really is as 'bad' as you make out!

Mind it did win some awards including this prodigious one:

True North has won the the prize for the Best Feature at the Celtic Film and Television Festival, held this year on the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. The Bronze Torc Award was accepted by actor Gary Lewis, who plays the skipper. ;D

#3 nicky l

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 01:18 PM

gary lewis AKA pinnochio. no wonder he had hardly any lines.

#4 wbeedie

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 01:35 PM

A good enough idea ruined by lack of research and acting,should have  done better sounds a bit like my old report cards from school
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#5 Baskets16

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 02:23 PM

quiet waters wasn't impressed with it, i thought it was ok

#6 3762dazzer

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 05:34 PM

And I'm really annoyed that I have missed it, I love slagging off TV productions of any type (except, Morse, Question Time, Lost, the Simpsons, Family Guy etc)

It just cannot be as bad as 'America's Next Top Model' which my kids used to watch :tickedoff:

It is really that bad that I can no longer just turn my back on it, I can no longer even stomach hearing the t**ts :tickedoff: :tickedoff:

#7 fishamike

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 05:57 PM

woulod haave been a lot better if they done more research about fishing and trawlers in general what ya gotta remember is the ratio of us who know what we are lookin at to the ratio of the rest of the public out that who aint got a clue i was watchin it wit 3 me mates and i was havin to correct them about the film cos they were sayin is it really like that etc etc ..........

#8 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 06:01 PM

Quote

woulod haave been a lot better if they done more research about fishing and trawlers in general what ya gotta remember is the ratio of us who know what we are lookin at to the ratio of the rest of the public out that who aint got a clue i was watchin it wit 3 me mates and i was havin to correct them about the film cos they were sayin is it really like that etc etc ..........

Exactly - not a film made by Trawlermen for Trawlermen, but writers (suspense?)and actors for Joe Public who wouldn't know any different - its all about 'entertainment', after all if you want to see a REAL documentary watch BBCs Trawlermen, now we all know that is true to life  :tickedoff:

#9 widden creels

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 09:00 PM

i thought it wis nae bad but some o it wis a heep o crap  :tickedoff:

#10 westword

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Posted 22 February 2009 - 10:24 PM

them buckets o shit that keept comin up fi the foc,sle summed it up fur me. :tickedoff:
KILL EM ALL, LET GOD SORT EM OOT.

#11 DOGSBODY

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 01:21 AM

I'M WITH QW,
BIGGEST PILE OF CRAP I'VE SEEN THIS YEAR. :coconut: :tickedoff: :coconut: :tickedoff: :coconut: :tickedoff: :coconut: :uglystupid2: :coconut: :idiot2: :idiot2: :idiot2: :idiot2: :idiot2: :idiot2: :idiot2: :idiot2:
Paul...shyboy...Johnson.

#12 fishamike

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 07:35 AM

is the skipper that owned the boat from the film still fishin after he had his boat decomisioned, i didnt know if he had another built or a smaller one built,

#13 quiet waters

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Posted 23 February 2009 - 05:05 PM

the scene where the rope broke in the block did it for me, the shouts to grab a hold or they'd lose the "trawl", yes i was screaming "its a net, its a feckin net, how are you going to lose it? have you unshackled the net from the sweeps?" they could barely hold on to theend of the rope yet managed to get at least 30ft of slack to get up the pole, thru the block and back down thru another block and onto the whipping drum of the winch without any bother?
like the bucket with the lid the whole thing was full oh p!sh, mind you i winna mind the cooks job, as we all know thats all the cook does while the skipper was too tightfisted to employ even a couple of flips, if it won an award i hope to feck skye was the only place it was shown, gives everyone a bad name, pure sh!te
And their teeth will be blunted like lions and they will be cast away on whirlwinds and such!!!!

#14 mack rill

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Posted 02 March 2009 - 05:11 PM

worst fishing films got to be the pefect storm loada pish wi fish made o rubber and crap acting

#15 wbeedie

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Posted 02 March 2009 - 05:14 PM

theser two tie for worst ,sayin that has there been any others done
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#16 nicky l

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Posted 02 March 2009 - 10:25 PM

captains courageous with spencer tracy in it was good. great footage of cod lining on the grand banks. well made for an old film. did they ever make a film of Hemingways Old Man and the Sea? it was a great book. perfect storm was a good book an all then the hollywood bullshit brigade jumped on it.

#17 wbeedie

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Posted 02 March 2009 - 10:30 PM

Watched a film adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling book a few weeks back about a boy heading for America and gets lost overboard and picked up by a Grand Banks Schooner and watch him develop from a snotty nosed stuck up little shit to a no bad wee fisherman
Yes the perfect storm book was good but lets face it all that was written down  was more or less fact whereas the film was full of stuff from the Andrea Gail that no one really knew what happened , would love to see what checking out they did and research for the film ,probably none which seems to be the main problem
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#18 nicky l

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Posted 02 March 2009 - 11:35 PM

thats captains courageous yer on about there will. i think they made a remake of it. the original was in black an white an spencer tracy played the portugese fisherman who showed the young fella the way of it. good show. i bought it on dvd for 4 quid! did you ever read that book that linda greenlaw (skipper of the hannah boden) wrote about the swordfish longlining. it wasnt a bad read. cant mind what it was called now. worst one i ever read was that one redmond o hanlon wrote about his time aboard the norlantean with jason schofield. "trawler" it was called. load of schiedt. i had a great book called "the rise and fall of deepwater trawling" it was about the sidewinders in hull an grimsby and it was just all different anecdotes from everyone involved in the industry from the owners right down to the yoppers. brilliant book but i gave it to someone an never seen it again. done that with loads of good books!!

#19 quiet waters

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 05:23 AM

have to agree, watched deadliest storm again recently and thought it was crap having read the book years ago, read the other two mentioned, the linda greenlaw book shows how much the owners rip the crew off with the skippers extra 10% coming off the crew share after the owner has had his, and they pay for their own food too!!!
the o'hanlon book has got to be the worst on any subject, not just fishing, what a piece of self indulgent tripe, makes freddie gillies books look like literary masterpieces, ok, so i wouldn't go that far!!!!
having watched the skipper withhis new boat on trawlermen it was difficult to picture him as the same person portrayed in the book, a bit of artistic license methinks? what would Mr. O'hanlon make of rikki? he'd end up like a cross between eminem and eddie izzard, a man in a dress that swears like a trooper!!!!
And their teeth will be blunted like lions and they will be cast away on whirlwinds and such!!!!

#20 pmac

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 07:27 AM

Quote

captains courageous with spencer tracy in it was good. great footage of cod lining on the grand banks. well made for an old film. did they ever make a film of Hemingways Old Man and the Sea? it was a great book. perfect storm was a good book an all then the hollywood bullshit brigade jumped on it.
is the old man and the sea about a lone firsherman in a small boat who catches a giant marlin,(i am sure at was spencer tracy as well).

#21 restlesswave

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 10:21 AM

aye pmac your on the right film-hemmingway was much favoured when i was doing my s.c.e`s many moons ago. nicky l- captains courageous has to be one of the finest films ever made-and i think tracey got an oscar for it?- i remember watching it on the sunday matinay on grampian when i was a wee boy and still remember the names off the two schooners from the first time i watched it (we`re here and jenny cushman) and  still enthralled by it any time i watch it yet-not many modern films you could say the same about.
  as for yon other load of shit by o hanlon-as i`m a compulsive reader and read some utter drivel in my time-none topped o hanlons book-there wasn`t even enough in it to write an essay about-utterly dreadfull-even the `riddle of the sands`was better-and that`s saying something. aye and the perfect storm was shite too-nearly bearable till the end-climbing up that giant wave was just a bit too much-jesus wept.(book was a good read all the same)
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#22 nicky l

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 02:30 PM

i will have to go and see if i can find the film version of old man and the sea. the book was great. i went to cuba after reading that and went to hemingways old haunts for a few mojitos and diaquaris :cheers: went out lookin for marlin an all but had to settle for a few dorados :woodenspoon:

#23 Barry McCrindle

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 02:43 PM

http://www.amazon.co...racy/dp/B00004Y
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#24 mack rill

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 06:33 PM

a book by william mitford called lovely she goes artic trawling read it loads of times brilliant but lent it never returned you can get it on amazon for about £3 well recommended

#25 restlesswave

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 06:43 PM

lovely she goes is a cracker-a fictional account of a trawler called the arctic fox-but all based on real storys-another 10 outa 10. got a copy recently on e-bay.
bend it,and if you can`t bend it,break it.

#26 pmac

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 07:37 PM

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lovely she goes is a cracker-a fictional account of a trawler called the arctic fox-but all based on real storys-another 10 outa 10. got a copy recently on e-bay.
that is a book that must be reed. any trawlerman that sailed on a sidewinder would find something in there that they could relate to. i first read it when it was published in (i think)the news of the world.bought the book after that,excellent.

#27 pmac

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 07:46 PM

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lovely she goes is a cracker-a fictional account of a trawler called the arctic fox-but all based on real storys-another 10 outa 10. got a copy recently on e-bay.
i remember reading a couple of books by an author whose surname is wood or woods,about a skipper owner of an aberdeen side trawler.i dont know if anyone remembers him.i would describe them as good entertainment while on watch below.

#28 big wheels

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 09:38 PM

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lovely she goes is a cracker-a fictional account of a trawler called the arctic fox-but all based on real storys-another 10 outa 10. got a copy recently on e-bay.

Aye Frankie, if I remember lovely she goes was five or six trips made into one, with a bit of truth stretching thrown in but still a good read. The better one for me is a living on the edge by spike whitiker its what the deadliest catch was based on but it goes back to the start with converted navy tenders and no machinery on deck exept a winch. Also six to nine month seasons  lot of injuries, again I lent it out and never got it back. Another good one is pots of gold on u tube a six part series talking to the old boys who started it all off  well worth looking at.
Fish tremble at the mere mention of my name.

#29 restlesswave

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Posted 03 March 2009 - 09:50 PM

have watched the pots of gold on youtube alright and mighty interesting-far more interesting than the deadliest catch-was alright at the start but how many pots and mighty big egos are we to be subjected to? there`s lots of other fishings in alaska that would be well worth a few programs. must have a look out for the book-sounds good. trawling with the lid off by john nicklin is also worth a read.(also about the sidewinders)
bend it,and if you can`t bend it,break it.

#30 quiet waters

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Posted 04 March 2009 - 10:37 AM

shows you the things that jog your memory, i bought the living on the edge book from amazon before xmas, now i know i didn't start reading it as i was still trying to trawl thru the O'helpme book, but i can't remember if i took delivery of it and if i did i have no recollection of when? chances are the wife has tidied it away somewhere and i'll need to dig it out by looking in all the stupid places, no point looking in the bookcase or the unit right beside me, no, it'll be under a bed or behind a chair in the conservatory or like my blood glucose testing kit which she lifted while dusting one day, eventually found it in a handbag in her wardrobe only after making her retrace her steps for the whole day, i'll start the search as soon as i get back from seeing the orthopaedic consultant, only been waiting since june so better not be late!!!!
And their teeth will be blunted like lions and they will be cast away on whirlwinds and such!!!!



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