• Friday, November 13, 2009

• Country:

  USA

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  135 min

2009

In Britain 1966 recently expelled student, Carl has been sent by his mother to find some direction in life by visiting his godfather, Quentin. However, Quentin is the boss of Radio Rock, a pirate radio station in the middle of the North Sea, populated by an eclectic crew of rock-and-roll deejays. Life on the North Sea is eventful. Carl discovers the boat that rocked and who his real father is. Meanwhile, pirate stations have come to the attention of government minister Dormand, who is out for the blood of these lawbreakers.

In an era when the stuffy corridors of power stifle anything approaching youthful exuberance, Dormand seizes the chance to score a political goal, and the boat that rocked Marine Broadcasting Offences Act is passed in an effort to outlaw the pirates and to remove their ghastly influence from the land once and for all. What results is a literal storm on the high seas. With Radio Rock in peril, its devoted fans rally together and stage an epic Dunkirk-style hundred-boat rescue to save their deejay heroes. Some things may come to an end, but rock and roll never dies.

Goofs

• One of the cars in a London street scene has a 1967 registration although the film the boat that rocked is set in 1966.
• Carl's hair completely changes position (between shots) when he's talking to Quentin in his cabin at the dining table.
• Although set in 1966, dome-shaped CCTV cameras are visible on both sides of the National Gallery in the scene on the building's steps.
• The Government minister in charge of closing down the pirate radio stations is depicted as a right-wing reactionary, with a grand home with servants. In fact the responsible minister was Tony Benn, then the boat that rocked Labour government Postmaster General at the time, who is known as one of the most left-wing and socialist senior politicians ever.
• Gavin is wearing MYKITA Sunglasses which use a patented hinge system which was invented recently.
• Sea based pirate radio stations used gimbal-mounted turntables to keep them level in the swell. Rock Radio uses vintage Rusco decks mounted directly to the worktop.
• In the Christmas scene at the government minister's house, the minister's daughter offers Twatt a mince pie. A mince pie can be clearly seen already on his plate and when he accepts the (apparently second) the other has vanished.
• In the final scene when they are on the bow of the ship, just before it sinks, where are the ship's mechanical crew; captain, engine operators etc, which can be clearly seen in the previous scene.
• When there is an ariel shot, the helicopter is visible in the sea.
• When Rhys Darby's character has been thrown off the boat that rocked to 'swim', there is the shadow of a camera on the backs of the crew members who threw him off.

Taglines

• 1 Boat. 8 DJs. No Morals.
• They rocked. They rolled. Then they sank.
• On air. Off shore. Out of control.

Trivias

• Dormandy's secretary was originally known as Miss. Clit in early versions but is now only known as Miss. C, presumably due to much being made of having two character names doubling as innuendo.
• It's the third time that Jack Davenport (Twatt) and Bill Nighy (Quentin) work together after Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).
• It's the fourth time that Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh work together after Dead Again (1991), Peter's Friends (1992) and Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Nevertheless, it's the first time where both don't appear together in a same scene.
• Alistair Dormandy, Kenneth Branagh's character, is a parody of Tony Benn, United Kingdom's Postmaster General in those times.
• Cameo: [David Walliams] Three photos of David Walliams are tacked above the basin in Carl's and Thick Kevin's cabin. (1:35:35 of the movie).
• The ship used for filming the boat that rockedwas the MV Timor Challenger, and much filming, both day and night scenes, was done in Portland Harbour (venue for the 2012 Olympics sailing) near Weymouth. The red paint scheme was based on that of the MV Ross Revenge, which was the Radio Caroline pirate ship from 1983-91, and is nowadays maintained as a museum by volunteer enthusiasts, who assisted with several aspects of the film, including loaning many of the broadcasting and ship props.
• This film the boat that rocked is very loosely based on Radio Caroline, a popular pirate radio ship with a similar history and style to 'Radio Rock'. It was director Richard Curtis's intention to weave a fictional story around the many pirate stations of that era, rather than create anything directly factual.
• Although purely fictional, the boat that rocked does reference many of the actual events surrounding pirate radio. Namely, like the pirate radio ship the 'Ross Revenge', the Radio Rock ship is red with the station's name in white paint on the deck. Radio Caroline's ship the Mi Amiga sank, complete with fleeing DJs unable to save the ship's vast record collection and as in the boat that rocked finale, it's mighty high mast rose out of the sea where it stayed for many months. Also a DJ did marry on a pirate radio ship as Simon does in the film. Additionally the DJs are seemingly composites of popular radio personalities of the time such as Tony Blackburn (also unlucky in love in his early days ala Simon Swafford, when his rocky marriage become apparent in his radio show) and the wacky Kenny Everett has traits similar to Angus Nutsford. Dave Lee Travis, Whispering Bob Harris, American DJ Emperor Rosko and Johnnie Walker also are seemingly homaged in the film
• Scenes were filmed with James Corden as a rival DJ sabotaged by the Radio Rock crew. These were cut from the film but are available as deleted scenes included on most home video releases.