''Captain Jack'' is a 1999

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

comedy film produced by

John Goldschmidt John Goldschmidt (born 1943) is a British-Austrian film director and producer. Goldschmidt was born in London, but grew up in Vienna leaving at the age of 16 to return to London. Goldschmidt has both Austrian and British nationality. He studied ...

and written by

Jack Rosenthal Jack Morris Rosenthal (8 September 1931 – 29 May 2004) was an English playwright. He wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations. ...

. The cast includes

Bob Hoskins Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in films and television series such as '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), ''Who ...

Sadie Frost Sadie Liza Frost (née Vaughan; born 19 June 1965) is an English actress, producer and fashion designer, who ran fashion label Frost French (until its closure in 2011) and a film production company (Blonde to Black Pictures). Early life Frost ...

Gemma Jones Jennifer "Gemma" Jones (born 4 December 1942) is an English actress. Appearing on both stage and screen, her film appearances include ''Sense and Sensibility'' (1995), the ''Bridget Jones'' series (2001–2016), the ''Harry Potter'' series ( ...

Anna Massey Anna Raymond Massey (11 August 19373 July 2011) was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel ''Hotel du Lac'', a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, ha ...

, Peter McDonald,

Maureen Lipman Dame Maureen Diane Lipman (born 10 May 1946) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and her stage work has included appearances with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakesp ...

and

Michele Dotrice Michele Dotrice (born 27 September 1948) is an English actress. She portrayed Betty Spencer, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, portrayed by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'', which ran from 1973 to 1978, ...

. The film was produced by Goldschmidt's own company Viva Films Ltd. and was distributed on video by Koch Vision.

Plot

''Captain Jack'' stars

as a rebellious captain of a small

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

boat who is determined to flout petty maritime

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

. Officials declare his boat unsafe for a planned voyage to the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

, but Jack is determined to set sail and to place a plaque there in commemoration of his seafaring hero. With his motley crew, Captain Jack succeeds in making his voyage despite an international search for his boat by maritime authorities.

Inspiration

The film is based on a true life incident involving a Whitby man, Jack Lammiman, who declared that his ship was totally seaworthy but was being hampered from sailing by maritime rules. As in the film, he slipped out of the harbour unseen in 1991. His crew included a vicar, a lady pensioner and 62-year-old

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

veteran named Hugh Taff Roberts. Lammiman successfully sailed his ship, ''Helga Maria'', to the Arctic and fulfilled his wish to place a memorial plaque on

Jan Mayen Island Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...

to honour Whitby whaling Captain, William Scoresby (see,

William Scoresby William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Early years Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William ...

his son). During the voyage he succeeded in evading an international search by the naval authorities using a number of techniques which including painting his boat a different colour. Lammiman arrived back at his home port of Whitby to a hero's welcome, a court appearance, a fine and eventually (after non-payment of his fine) four days in jail.

References

External links

* * 1999 films 1999 comedy films British comedy films Films set in Whitby Films shot in Yorkshire Films directed by Robert Young 1990s British films {{1990s-UK-comedy-film-stub