Wind (1992)

That was an excellent one.

Excellent but underrated film

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

I have watched the movie "Wind" 25x. It is the only movie over 2 hours I have ever sat through without saying a single word. I started sailing 40 years ago at 6 years old. "Wind" captures the grace and beauty of sailing , the traditions in the "America Cup", the serious competitive nature of professional sailors. Matthew Modine & Jennifer Grey had a fun chemistry, evident intelligence which came through in their acting, Rebecca Miller was a lovable flake as the heiress. I can't say enough good things about this movie and wish more had seen it. I don't know if re-releasing it now would make it do better at the box office. Sadly, Francis Ford Coppola's contributions seem barely known. The recreation of the small margins then defined victory vs defeat were portrayed with great accuracy to the original race.

Cinematographay, superb editing, and a first class sound track make this film. The light in Australia and Newport, aerial shots, even computer graphics (in news scenes), long framing shots, camera movement, medium and close shots on board the boats, and excellent narrative editing thrill the eye and our love of story.Contrast between the ocean and the desert where designer and builders construct the American challenger boat bring a delightful balance to the iconography.Preppie clothing and elegant on land settings let us pretend ourselves into a special and exclusive world. With all this, the actors play their hand in the melodrama with just the right pitch. I enjoyed the movie. Well worth watching again.

How can you make a great movie about sailing and then shoot half of the film in the desert? The short answer is you can't. If you love sailing and love watching sailboats this movie offers you all the sights and sounds of racing however marred by the occasional bit of inane prattling dialog. If you prefer your movies to not have a patronizing plot you've come to the wrong place. Maybe I just hate when Hollywood gets their hands on an action film but has to add in backstory that includes a bad love story. Thinking they need a love story to get the female audience to see it. It's a formula that seems to suck all the life out of the script and distill it down to pretty photography and vapid characters. Mathew Modine turns in a decent performance despite the garbage they have him saying. Jennifer Grey on the other hand plays it like she's still Baby stuck in that corner. She really should have approached her character as if she was playing Ferris Beullers sister. Clift Robertson turns in a performance so dull and un-inspiring one would hope the Academy would take back that Oscar for "Charly" as a warning for future actors to not phone it in. My advice is to watch it for the sailing with one finger on the FF button for every other scene.

It's as far as i know the only movie about regatta sailing, which makes it automatically the best available. I love it, the sailing sequences make you feel as if you're on board yourself. The film does a good attempt to make you experience the excitement felt on the water. To illustrate: i was totally sucked into the regatta sequence and caught myself shouting directions and boo-ing people at a certain point. All other story-filling and plot is not that bad, it gives the movie an acceptable background and a good excuse to show the excitement and hard work which makes "the art of sailing" so great. The best reason to go and watch it? obvious, the sailing, so for non-sailors it's probably less interesting but still nice. I loved it the first time i saw it in 1995 in a regatta weekend, and i still love it after seeing it again today. (funny note: I think there is functional nudity implemented in the movie; half-naked cheering Australian women at the introduction of Geronimo @ the cup, just before the crew's tribal dance).