I don’t know what I was doing in 1989 but I have ZERO recollection of this story of an all-female crew sailing around the world in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race. Every three years, a group of crews and yachts race around the world–35,000 nautical miles! Tracy Edwards, a brash and bold woman, decided to assemble an all-female crew and enter the race.
The 1980s was a time when males harbored a very condescending opinion of woman entering arenas that were traditionally dominated by men. Twenty-four year old Tracy Edwards struggled to find funding and support for her mission. British film-maker Alex Holmes takes a chronological approach to telling the story of Maiden and her crew. He wisely starts with Tracy Edwards who was a misfit and troubled teenager. But once Tracy started sailing, her dream of competing in the Whitbread Yacht Race blossomed. Tracy mortgaged her house to buy a beat-up 58-foot aluminum racing yacht which she and her crew rehabbed.
The actual race, with footage from 1989 and 1990, presents the thrills of the race mixed with the dangers of the ocean and the grueling life aboard a small ship for nine months. Plenty of things go wrong, many obstacles need to be overcome. Ups and downs abound! Maiden inspires with the grit and determination of Tracy Edwards and her impressive crew. Highly recommended! GRADE: A
This is playing within walking distance of my home but I have had a hard time working up interest in it. Documentaries I tend to wait until they show up on tv.
I also don’t remember hearing about this at the time. Either it wasn’t much mentioned in the news or I just wasn’t paying much attention.
Steve, MAIDEN is a thrilling story. You would enjoy it!
This is right up my alley. I doubt I’ll get out to see it in the theater, but I’ll watch it at home.
We don’t go out to the movies very often. I make a point of seeing the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and I spend an intense weekend of independent film viewing at the Maryland Film Festival, seeing three or four movies a day, but otherwise it’s pretty sparse, one every couple months. I’ve got two to see real soon. We have passes to Ready or Not, a dark comedy thriller that’s getting decent reviews. And Jennifer Kent’s second film, The Nightingale, opened here tonight. Probably won’t be here long, so I have to see it soon. Her first, The Babadook, was really good, and she’s currently writing the pilot for her proposed Tiptree television show. The Nightingale is a brutal film, and Ann hasn’t decided if she’s going to see it with me or not. (I’m guessing not.)
Jeff, we’re fortunate that we have four movie theaters close by. We prefer matinees and many times we’re the only ones in the theater.
Forget my third paragraph…
Even at home we mostly watch tv shows, but we try and watch a movie every week or so. This summer we’ve seen: Edge of Tomorrow (a Tom Cruise movie actually worth watching, an sf adventure with Emily Blunt); The Wife (I knew Glenn Close was supposed to be good in this, but I still wasn’t very interested — I really liked it); X-Men: First Class (somewhere between ok and eh); Tea with the Dames (some real good moments, but not enough of them); Call Me by Your Name (I liked this a lot, but Ann couldn’t get interested in any of the characters); Phantom Thread (nobody told me what this was: a Bronte-style gothic; a pleasant surprise that I got a real kick out of); I, Tonya (a lot of fun); Away from Her (a 2004 film: Julie Christie falling into Alzheimer’s while her husband watches helplessly; well done); Lion (an Oscar nominee from a couple years ago that I absolutely loved (a 5-year-old Indian boy — played by an engaging young kid — gets separated from his family, sent to an orphanage, adopted by an Australian couple, in his 20s tries to figure out where he was born; Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman)); The Midwife (French film with Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot as sort-of-related people; really good); and Ralph Breaks the Internet (more fun than I expected).
We do a pretty good job of selecting films we think we’ll like, even though sometimes we’re not sure why we might like them.
Yes, Tommy really needs to make more movies like EDGE OF TOMORROW (I know George agrees) rather than Mission: Impossible and Top Gun sequels. We recorded THE WIFE but haven’t watched it yet.
We did get a Bill Crider-type movie from the library that you might consider: THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT, with Sam Elliott, who made it worth watching.
Jeff, EDGE OF TOMORROW is one of my favorite Time Travel movies. Bill Crider loved it, too.
Jeff, we try to watch a movie on TV each week, too. Diane enjoys HALLMARK MYSTERIES so we’ve see a lot of them.
If they still did double-features, this would be the co-feature:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Sailed_to_Tahiti_with_an_All_Girl_Crew
A classic by any standards.
Dan, sounds good!
I heard on NPR that because it was women winning, no one could muster up much interest including the media at the time. Sad. At least I don’t think that would happen today. I saw and liked LUCE very much. I will probably get to this one too.
Patti, the Women’s World Cup Soccer Team garnered higher ratings than the Men’s Team. Times have changed.