Watch The 'Maggie' For Free

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I'm guessing a fair number of people are coming to IMDb today to read about this film in the wake of its showing last night on TMC (Nov. 30, 2017). I was charmed by the picture. It's a sweet comedy with a nice story arc. I can't say I actually laughed out loud at the low-key humor but I certainly smiled throughout. The movie has a stick-to-the-ribs quality, like a serving of haggis and a dram. The main character, the Maggie, is a "puffer" - a type of coastal tramp steamer beloved in Scotland in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, and really, to the present day. The Maggie is a bedraggled little vessel with a loyal crew, including a skipper (played by Alex Mackenzie) who was born on board it, and a boy of about 12 (Tommy Kearins) who has major nautical chops. This laddie is one of the great 12- to 14-year-old boys in fiction. (See also Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter, Jody Baxter ["The Yearling"], Wart ["The Once and Future King"], Johnny Tremaine, Hugo Cabret, etc. - all of them open to experience, entranced by the glory of the world, discovering their power.) Paul Douglas is a high-powered American business executive named Marshall who needs a modest cargo moved along the Scottish coast. He's Mr. Rush-Rush-Rush. The skipper of the Maggie is Mr. Let's Have a Drink and Ponder the Mysteries of Life and the Sea. Conflict ensues, needless to say. Douglas is hardly the world's most subtle actor but he gets the job done here. Alex Mackenzie is very good as the skipper.The film's settings are splendid - we are immersed in Scottish coastal life and get a deep feeling for the importance of the sea to this great people. The glimpses of small-town life are beautiful, including a multi-generational party where, by looking into the stunning eyes of a young lady who wants to dance, we learn something true about life, love, and the boldness of young women.One of the strengths of "The Maggie" is how it gently reminds us of the value of slowing down. The film anticipates by half a century the "Slow Movement" afoot in the world today, chronicled in such books as "In Praise of Slowness" by Carl Honore. (That said, the film has a nice crisp pace, it never lags.)By the way, puffers are still around, thanks to preservation efforts by Scottish lovers of nautical history. (See the entry "Clyde puffer" at Wikipedia. Also see "Puffer Steamboat Holidays" at Facebook.) Puffers will live forever thanks to this movie and the writing of Neil Munro, whose collected stories I am ordering immediately."The Maggie" seems to be a first cousin to "Local Hero" (1983) starring Peter Rieger and Burt Lancaster, which also has an American business executive rubbing up against Scotland.

THE 'MAGGIE' rehearses a theme highly familiar to most Ealing comedies, that of the powerful person being outwitted by ordinary citizens. The theme recurs time and again, notably in WHISKY GALORE! and PASSPORT TO PİMLICO (both 1949) and THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT (1953).In Alexander Mackendrick's droll comedy, the threatening force is personified by Calvin B. Marshal (Paul Douglas), a thickset American with an expensive camel-hair overcoat and domineering manner. He terrorizes hapless bureaucrat Pusey (Hubert Gregg) who obviously tries his best to do his job properly but proves highly unworthy of the task. Pitted against these two are the crew of the eponymous "Maggie," an aging "puffer" carrying Cargo along the Scottish waterways, even though its engine is clapped out, its metalwork falling apart, and its maximum speed is about six miles per hour. The skipper, a canny character if there was one (Alex Mackenzie) spends much of his time in local hostelries along the way, but proves more than a match for Marshal. The true source of the film's morality is provided by Dougie (Tommy Kearins) who looks after Marshal where needed, but doesn't shy away from criticizing the American where appropriate.Given the nature of the story, it's not surprising to find that the screenwriter is William Rose, an American also responsible for the huge hit GENEVIEVE (1953), another likable comedy that shows an old "puffer" - this time a vintage car - triumphing over adversity. THE MAGGIE is sensitively photographed by Gordon Dines, with a fine sense of the Highland landscape, and how it determines the way people lived at that time. Compared to Marshal's life, their sense of values might have seemed antiquated, but they possessed the kind of community and good fellowship that seems markedly absent from Marshal's world.THE MAGGIE is certainly a sentimental piece of work, especially at the end, but is nonetheless well worth looking at as an evocation of a long-lost world.

I remember vividly the first time I saw this film. It was a grey afternoon, spirits were drooping and I felt as dull as the tupperware sky outside. With no great relish, I turned on the afternoon movie - The Maggie - and gently let myself become enchanted. The word "gently" says it all, for this is an uplifting movie, full of charm and the odd brush stroke of pathos. Giggles transform into laughter with this one.It's an old tale of local knowledge taking on a Corporation - though in a private capacity as Calvin B Marshall is anxious to deliver some domestic appliances, including 4 baths ("What all on one island?" asks the incredulous Wee Boy), to a Scottish retreat, part of his plan to save an ailing marriage. The cargo unwittingly falls in to the hands of the motley crew of a puffer - The Maggie - and then begins a comic chase which is a delight to behold. Once Mr Marshall gets involved in a hands on way, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery. The lessons may be homely and somewhat prissy now, but it's pleasant to wallow in a social world that could never be. More's the shame for us. Still, it remains a wonderful wish-fulfillment world, touched by the gentlest of humours. A marvellous tonic for escapists.

"The Maggie" represents the best of the gentle scots comedies of the 50s. In my opinion it is a better film than "Whisky Galore" by the same Director. Many of the locations in the film are little changed such as the splendid crinan canal in Argyll, scotland and the island of Islay. Most of the cast are no more but Mr Pusey, the lawyer, played by Hubert Gregg hosts Thanks for the Memory, a show on British Radio 2 for afficianados of music from the 20s-40s. Hubert Gregg is an octogenerian! Of the other cast members Tommy Kearins "the wee boy" may still be alive but I have been unable to trace details. Another film in this favourite format is "Laxdale Hall" filmed at Applecross village, scotland.