Wind (1992)

As he proved with The Black Stallion, Never Cry Wolf, and Fly Away Home, director Carroll Ballard has a gift for creating exhilarating movie experiences. And although Wind received only mixed reviews when released in 1992, it's a technically astonishing film that does for yacht racing what The Black Stallion did for horse racing--it puts you right into the action with breathtaking camerawork and gripping excitement. Matthew Modine and Jennifer Grey star as experienced sailors determined to win the prestigious America's Cup yacht race. Their love for each other is put to the test when she's removed from the crew and joins up with a maverick designer (Stellan Skarsgård) whose new boat design represents the cutting edge of sailing competition. Eventually Modine leaves his millionaire sponsor (Cliff Robertson) and reunites with Grey, and their race against the Australian World's Cup champion leads to a thrilling climax on the high sea. Cinematographer John Toll (who later won back-to-back Oscars for Legends of the Fall and Braveheart) takes his cameras where no sailing movie had ever gone before, and the results are nothing less than spectacular. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

If you own a big screen...

I saw this move years ago on a premium movie channel. At the time I recall thinking that I would love to see it on a large screen. Fast forward to 2008, I have a 52" big screen. I ordered this DVD.
WOW! It was everything I remembered and more. Awesome, stunning visuals.
The sailing scenes rock! November 22, 2008

wind

great come from behind movie. great sailing movie great action shots. if you love to sail it gets five stars September 30, 2008

Wind

Really good movie. I've been looking for this one for a while now. Great to finally have it. August 27, 2008

The Climb

Buy many,you will want to give more than one away.It could change the life of someone you love. July 30, 2008

The yacht wins, the film loses

This was a difficult film to review because although it is generally pretty bland there are some aspects I really liked and some I found awful. Overall I couldn't give it more than 2 stars.

Basically, it's a simple action picture about the America's Cup - good solid B-grade material. The acting is passable, although the actors are weighed down with a terrible script that is full of cliches and stereotypes. There is no imagination to the characterisation and the film never really engages the viewer.

The scenes of sailing are, however, very well filmed and do capture the feeling of yacht racing, and the climax is suitably exciting and satisfying. Unfortunately the rest of the film is so slow and so full of silly characters and dreadful dialogue that it makes the good bits hardly worth waiting for.

But there is one great flaw in this film, and it is unforgivable. A film such as this can contain fictional characters instead of the actual people who participated in the events, and it can even fictionalise events to a certain degree. It is essential, however, that major events and characters are not altered because it is these that anchor the film to reality. Change something important and the film becomes fantasy instead of adventure in an historical setting.

For example, suppose the plot of Ron Howard's film "Apollo XIII" had the astronauts land on the moon and then the accident that crippled the ship occur on the return leg of the voyage. The viewer would know that they were no longer watching historical drama, but science fiction instead.

Well, that's what "Wind" does. The director never seems to be able to decide whether they were creating a drama about the actual loss and subsequent win of the America's Cup by US teams in the 1980s, or whether they wanted to make a fictional story.

For example, in early scenes the US syndicate boss is seen examining and lovingly touching a winged keel on their yacht - implying that it was a US invention. In reality, it was the winged keel, invented by Australian Ben Lexcen, that was fitted to the Australian challenging yacht and contributed to her capture of the cup. The America's Cup was also not lost due to a misjudged turn by the defending skipper, as the film implies - it was lost by 5 races to 4 due to the superior skills and technology of the Australian team. The US boat was simply outraced.

Similarly, the cup was won back by the US in the next race, but not by the use of a "secret weapon" spinnaker (illegal according to the rules anyway) or an innovative hull design, but simply by good sailing on the part of the US team. The writers were so concerned with fabricating a love story and creating dramatic situations that they sacrificed the genuine drama and excitement of the race. They made suspension of disbelief impossible by rewriting historical facts, and that's just plain bad film making.

"Wind" could have been so much more, and in the hands of a good director the flaws in the script could have been reduced, unfortunately Carroll Ballard was not up to the task. Full marks to the cinematographer, however, for some spectacular shots of yacht racing. May 22, 2008

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