The Boat That Rocked

Plot

In 1966, numerous pirate radio stations broadcast to the United Kingdom from ships anchored in international waters, specialising in rock and pop music that is not played on BBC Radio. Seventeen-year-old Carl (Tom Sturridge), recently expelled from school, is sent to stay with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy), who runs the station "Radio Rock" anchored in the North Sea. The eclectic crew of disc jockeys and staffers, led by the brash American DJ "The Count" (Philip Seymour Hoffman), quickly accept Carl as one of their own.

At the start of the film Doctor Dave (Nick Frost) and Carl conspire to have Carl lose his virginity. Dave has his girlfriend get naked and lie in bed for him while he turns off the lights and goes into the bathroom, where Carl has hidden. Carl then gets naked and walks into the dark room in an attempt to deceive Dave's girlfriend. However she turns the lights on and sees who was really about to have sex with her, and Carl gets embarrassed and leaves.

In London, government minister Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) resolves to shut down pirate radio stations due to their commercialism and low morals, instructing his subordinate Twatt (Jack Davenport) to find legal loopholes that will serve this end. (Threatening termination and blacklisting if he doesn't.) They attempt to cut off the stations' revenue by prohibiting British businesses from advertising on unlicensed radio stations. Quentin counters this by bringing massively popular DJ Gavin Kavanagh (Rhys Ifans) out of retirement and onto Radio Rock, enticing his advertisers to work around the law by paying their bills from abroad. Gavin's popularity creates a rivalry between himself and The Count, who was initially brought to Radio Rock as Gavin's replacement.

On his eighteenth birthday Carl is introduced to Quentin's niece Marianne (Talulah Riley) and falls instantly in love with her, but is heartbroken when she is seduced by Doctor Dave (Nick Frost). Carl's roommate "Thick" Kevin (Tom Brooke) observes that the sex, drug, and alcohol-filled atmosphere of Radio Rock is clearly no place for Carl to get on the straight-and-narrow. He theorises that the real reason Carl's mother sent him there is that his father—whom Carl has never met—is someone on the ship, with Quentin being the likeliest suspect.

DJ "Simple" Simon Swafford (Chris O'Dowd) marries Elenore (January Jones) in an onboard ceremony, but soon learns that she only married him as a means to live on the ship and be with Gavin, with whom she is infatuated but refuses to marry her (or anyone). The Count challenges Gavin to a game of chicken in defence of Simon's honour: The two climb one of the ship's radio masts in a clash of egos, reconciling after they are both injured by jumping into the ocean below. Soon afterwards, Carl's mother Charlotte (Emma Thompson) visits for Christmas, she denies his suspicion that Quentin is his father. As she departs, Carl passes on a cryptic message from reclusive late-night DJ "Smooth" Bob Silver (Ralph Brown), leading to the unexpected revelation that Bob is actually his father. When Marianne returns to the ship and apologises to Carl for sleeping with Doctor Dave. She and Carl have sex that night. The following morning, The Count and the rest of the DJ's announce the news of the event to millions of cheering fans all over Britain.

Meanwhile, Dormandy's mission to ban pirate radio advances when Twatt comes across news of a fishing boat whose distress call was blocked by Radio Rock's powerful signal. Twatt proposes the creation of the Marine Offences Act, which will make pirate radio stations illegal on the grounds that they endanger other vessels. Despite public opinion being heavily in support of the pirate stations, the Act passes unanimously through Parliament and takes effect at midnight on 1 January 1967. The Radio Rock crew choose to defy the law and continue to broadcast, firing up the ship's engine so that they may avoid arrest by relocating. The aging vessel cannot take the strain, causing the engine to explode and the ship to start sinking. The DJs broadcast their position in hope of aid, and Twatt appeals to Dormandy to send rescue boats, but Dormandy refuses. Carl rescues the oblivious Bob from his cabin, while The Count vows to continue broadcasting as long as possible.

With the lifeboats inoperable, all gather on the prow as the ship begins to go down. They are rescued by dozens of fans, who heard about their broadcast predicament, and have motored out in a fleet of small boats to save them; Carl himself is rescued by Marianne, Simon is rescued by a female fan who genuinely loves him, Dave being rescued by a throng of female fans, and Elenore rescuing Gavin. The Radio Rock ship disappears beneath the sea, with The Count emerging from the sinking vessel at the last moment. Though pirate radio in Britain comes to an end, the music lives on, with rock and pop becoming increasingly popular in subsequent decades, broadcast over hundreds of 'legal' stations around the world.

Cast

Additional minor roles were played by Ian Mercer as the transfer boatman, Stephen Moore as the Prime Minister, Michael Thomas and Bohdan Poraj as Dormandy's subordinates Sandford and Fredericks, Olegar Fedoro as the Radio Rock ship's captain, Francesca Longrigg and Amanda Fairbank-Hynes as Dormandy's wife and daughter, and Olivia Llewellyn as Marianne's friend Margaret and Felicity's love interest.

Production

The film was written and directed by Richard Curtis and made by Working Title Films for Universal Studios. The producers for Working Title were Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Hilary Bevan Jones, with Curtis, Debra Hayward and Liza Chasin acting as executive producers. Principal photography started on 3 March and continued until June 2008. Filming took place on the former Dutch hospital ship Timor Challenger, previously De Hoop, moored in Portland Harbour, Dorset; the "North Sea" scenes were shot off the coast of Dunbar, East Lothian. Boat interior shots were filmed inside a warehouse in Osprey Quay on the Isle of Portland and at Shepperton Studios. They also visited Squerryes Court in Kent to shoot the scenes of the home of government minister Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Brannagh). The film's production cost exceeded £30 million.

North American release

Following the film's commercial failure at the British box office, Focus Features commissioned a re-edited version for release in North American release 13 November 2009. Retitled Pirate Radio, this version of the film deleted approximately twenty minutes of footage from the original version to address complaints from several critics that the film's running time was excessive. Upon the release of Pirate Radio in the United States, Manohla Dargis wrote:

"Stuffed with playful character actors and carpeted with wall-to-wall tunes, the film makes for easy viewing and easier listening, even if Mr. Curtis, who wrote and directed, has nothing really to say about these rebels for whom rock 'n' roll was both life's rhyme and its reason."

Robert Wilonsky, reviewing Pirate Radio after having seen The Boat That Rocked and its UK home video release, said the U.S. theatrical release had had "most of its better bits excised"; according to Wilonsky, "after watching the DVD, Pirate Radio feels so slight in its current incarnation. Shorn of the scenes that actually put meat on its characters' frail bones, the resulting product is vaguely cute and wholly insubstantial, little more than a randomly assembled hodge-podge of scenes crammed in and yanked out that amount to yet another movie about rebellious young men sticking it to The Grumpy Old Man—this time, with a tacked-on Titanic climax." The marketing campaign for the film's North American release was notable for embellishing the nature of the movie, as well as the historical setting. Trailers had a prominent voice-over announcement stating that "in 1966 the British government banned rock 'n' roll on the radio. Until one American DJ and a band of renegades launched a radio station on the high seas and raided the air waves." In the film, pirate radio transmissions were widespread before parliament passed the Marine Offences Act, including the station portrayed on the film.

The trailer in North America also featured dialog from a scene not in the release; chief among which were a British government minister was being told in a voiceover that the American deejay "The Count" is "possibly the most famous broadcaster ever," which wasn't borne by the actual plot. The trailer and commercials also displayed prominent text that stated "inspired by a true story," which was not claimed by either the production or writing staff.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 61% based on 158 reviews. The Daily Telegraph credited the film with "some magical moments," but called it "muddled" and criticised its length. Time Out was also critical of the length and said the film was "disappointing." The Hollywood Reporter ran the headline "Rock 'n' roll movie Boat just barely stays afloat," declaring the film too long to sustain interest. Total Film also criticised the film's length and comedic style. Andrew Neil, writing in The Observer, remarked that he was disappointed in the "contrived" storyline and the "unnecessarily perverted" history. Channel 4 said the film was "touching," "heartfelt" and an "enjoyable journey" but questioned its coherence.

The film's British box office revenues in its first 12 weeks of release were £6.1 million, less than a quarter of its production cost.

In USA, the film earned less than US$3 million in its first weekend (in a mid-scale release of 882 screens as opposed to 3,404 screens for 2012 and 3,683 screens for A Christmas Carol) and suffered a 49.7% drop-off on its second weekend—earning only US$1.46 million. Pirate Radio took in only about US$8 million (approximately £5 million) in North America.

Historical setting

The official synopsis of The Boat That Rocked before release stated that it tells the fictional story about a group of DJs in 1966 who are at odds with a traditionalist British government that prefers to broadcast jazz. According to director Richard Curtis, the film, though inspired by real British pirate radio of the 1960s, is a work of historical fiction and does not depict a specific radio station of the period.

Soundtrack

Home media

Scenes cut from the film but available in at least some of the film's home media releases include: