Great movie

I saw this on the big screen when it first came out 12 - 15? years ago.
Liked it a lot.
My wife found a DVD of it for $1.50 at a church sale so we watched it over the last couple of nights.
If you've never seen it and like Russell Crowe, sailing ships and battles you would like it.
The clip below shows the final scenes where the captain and the doctor play a cello/violin duet. The duet itself is short but lovely and worth a click. Turn the volume up.
Master and Commander

I also like that movie ! mike

Enjoyed the movie--it had the bad fortune to come out the same year as the final Lord of the Rings installment and thus lost out on several Oscars it would have had a good shot at otherwise. However, it's only a compilation of snippets from several of the Aubrey-Maturin series of books by Patrick O'Brian, of which there's about 20. All of them are worth a read, and I'd read many of them years before the movie came out. They're an incredibly detailed and well-researched account of the British Navy in the time of Nelsom, and give a tremendous insight into what life was like at the time.

Yup, is one of my favorites. Actually, have been thinking about digging out the DVD and watching it some time. Thanks for the reminder!

Huzza!!! Great movie. I have the pleasure of owning a 55in. ultra HD TV. You want to watch it in full blown HD BlueRay. When he yells ""DUCK"".

Speaking of DVD's, I heard this past week that there is only one Blockbuster Video store left in the USA, somewhere in Oregon. I think though that a lot of small towns still have a mom & pop store of some kind (could be any kind of store) that rent DVD's though). We have cable but we don't so any Netflix or HBO or anything like that, we just watch the regular cable offerings ........ which the experts say is in for big changes. The younger generation streams stuff (whatever that means or how it works) on their computers. Weird, everyone wants big, huge wall TV's and the kids watch movies on a laptop or on their hand held devices.

I heard that story too. Upstate, NY had a very nice chain if I remember was Family Video or something like that. Closed two years ago.

It is a good movie.

I love that movie.

Great movie, indeed.

Dean

You may not be aware the movie is based on series of books written by the late Patrick O'Brian called the "Aubrey-Maturin" books. There are 20 in all (plus one unfinished book), so it can take a year or two to get through them, but it's definitely worth the time spent. The books reflect O'Brian's detailed knowledge of the British Navy of the early 19th century, although by his own admission they're historically inaccurate. He didn't originally set out to write 20 books, so he was forced to squeeze the escapades of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin into an impossible timeline. The series revolves around the friendship of Aubrey and Maturin, who are polar opposites in every way except for their shared love of music. Aubrey is a genius on the water, but nearly helpless ashore, while Maturin, despite being a gifted physician and scientist, is a disaster aboard ship.

The movie did a respectable job of capturing the spirit of the books. Russell Crowe had to put on a lot of weight to play Jack Aubrey, who is described in the books as "a fatty young man". After reading the books, you'll recognize many of the running jokes in the movie, such as Maturin falling overboard every time he attempts to board the Surprise. And a lot of details in the movie will make more sense, such as how all the bulkheads are taken down inside the gun deck when the crew "beats to quarters".
Aubrey Maturin novels

As TimV said it was based on some Patrick O'Brian novels. The movie of course, is nothing compared to the books. The Patrick O'Brian books are very similar to the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester of some years earlier. I re-read most of them this last spring. The things that these men of steel pulled off in mid-ocean are just phenomenal. The British Admiralty accepted no excuse of any captain who failed to capture an enemy ship twice the size of his own.

I own the movie, love it. I've also read many of the books in the series. If you're into historical pieces and nautical warfare, they're great. Only problem for me is I get so immersed in the books I start using some of the phrases that are.....antiquated..... at best. Calling another guy "My dear" can lead to all sorts of unintended problems!
:wink:

When the movie first came out I went to read the book and found out it was one of a large series.
I did read several of them 4? 5? but then kinda lost interest in them and went on to other things.
Judging by all the replys here it was a very well liked movie. I had forgotten about it till my wife brought that dvd home and was happy to see it again.
Thanks to all.