Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where they are getting ready to leave, it's dark and George Clooney is in the wheelhouse - you can clearly see a face of a crew member in the depth finder.
![The Perfect Storm](/images/titles/0-999/971_sm.jpg)
The Perfect Storm (2000)
1 visible crew/equipment mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, George Clooney, John C. Reilly, Diane Lane, William Fichtner, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Karen Allen
Continuity mistake: When the crew pull the hook out of the man's hand, he puts a spoon in his mouth - its facing right, but when he's done it's facing left. (00:55:15)
Moss: What in Jupiter's Balls?
Question: Now I know this is based on a true story, but theoretically speaking: 1) Why did Bobby hold off gunning the engine until the very last second? If he'd have acted sooner then maybe the ship would have made it up the wave 2) Why not just slam her into reverse and wait for the wave to collapse? I mean, wouldn't that have been the safest bet?
Answer: I think you sort of answered your own question. I'd say at a guess he himself would have been wondering what the best action would be and in the end decided to go full throttle. Sadly, no-one will ever know the final moments aboard the Andrea Gail.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: Not a ship captain, but will take a shot. If a massive wave is close to cresting, as I seem to recall in this scene, the boat would have to climb a near vertical wall of water and would likely be flipped back and upside down by the advancing wave. Perhaps he was planning to gun the engine to penetrate the wall of the wave, and bob to the surface after it passed. Reversing the engine would just let the thousands of tons of water in the breaking wave smash down on the boat, crushing it.