Watch The Sea Wolf For Free

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This movie does Jack London's sailing yarn Sea Wolf real justice for an average budget attempt.One thing that strikes me is how far away we are from the history of the sea in our modern world, and how great London's writing really is in this story, weaving the rawest tenets of human struggle into what was then one of the primary economic engines of the world, the commerce of the ocean-going fishing, whaling, or here, sealing ship. Of course, the sea tale is such a romantic notion, ironic in that it was so tough to actually live, and offers a writer so much because the characters are all stuck together in a constant state of peril from without, and this magnifies the sense of the peril between them.Reeve is brilliant as an educated man of position facing the rawest of worlds far from where he was raised. He runs into another intellectual of sorts, a captain who has scrambled from poverty to occupy a position of pure power, which he holds in purely Machiavellian ways. Reeve's true sensitivity comes out in the role, acting as foil to the pure cynicism of Bronson's Captain Larsen, begging for mercy for others and for good when possible. I kept being struck at how strong, virile, and yet kind and warm Reeve seemed in the role, and the strength he would need as his own life took such an awful turn not long after this movie.Bronson also gets his licks in as a man who has seen empathy repaid with betrayal so many times, he sees empathy only as weakness and vulnerability, and considering his surroundings, he makes an excellent case. The story sets these two forces, two approaches to life against each other, and basically never resolves them, which is good, because a resolution would be too facile. Both men stick to who they are. There are times when Bronson seems less than on, but his previous persona lends itself well here, lending him the previous strength, but I can tell he approached the role in a different way than his other tough guy roles. He created a real weakness in the rigidity of this character and conveys a fairly broken man who still knows how to be a brutal and effective leader. He isn't a wisecracker, here though. He's a weakening man in a tough shell. Bronson is past his peak here, but still rivets the viewer, especially a fan. I would've pegged Bronson for 60 here, but he was 70 when he made this film.THe supporting cast runs the gamut from great to average, with a couple given exceptional moment in London's story. I enjoyed seeing two actors 20+ years later, now both gone. They really were both great.

I caught this version of The Sea Wolf when it was originally broadcast and was very pleasantly surprised. Christopher Reeve did his usual excellent job, playing the, literally, wet-behind-the-ears socialite quite out of his element and who must toughen up or die. Although I was at first skeptical of the performance Bronson would turn in, he made the role his own. No one plays stone-faced determination like Bronson and he seems well-suited for this role. It is a rare, noted performance in the classic movie star's latter years. The clash of these two characters, and actors, drives the movie from a slow-burn to a fever-pitch intensity. Although I had read the book, I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see how Bronson and Reeve would interpret their parts in the next scene.

For those who saw the black and white version of 1941 starred by E.G. Robinson, John Garfield and Ida Lupino, this remake is far away to be of the same quality as this one. Bronson is never at the altitude of Robinson, he is a kind of soft Wolf while Robinson played a real tough one. Reeve tried to be at the same level of Garfield, but again unsuccessfully. This remake is only better in its photography and colors, but the cast of 1941 version acted simply masterfully.

I guess TNT had a little Christopher Reeve tribute this past weekend. Caught the end of "Superman 2" and then got sucked into this slightly better than average "tv movie." Good acting from Reeve and Marc "Beastmaster" singer. Bronson wasn't very believable though and his acting was as lousy as ever. All and all, not bad for a flick made for tv, but there's a reason it's just that -- "made for tv." The ending was particularly unnerving - seems that they said "hey we've only got 5 minutes left of tv time - let's wrap this up with 4 different plot points." I gave it a 7 of ten but more along the lines of 6 and a 3/4 (my ratings are like school grades 7= C) -- check it out if you're a Reeve fan, but Bronson is no Lex Luthor.