Cabin Boy

Last updated
Cabin Boy
Cabinboyposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Adam Resnick
Screenplay byAdam Resnick
Story by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographySteve Yaconelli
Edited by Jon Poll
Music by Steve Bartek
Production
companies
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • January 7, 1994 (1994-01-07)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million
Box office$3.7 million

Cabin Boy is a 1994 American fantasy comedy film directed by Adam Resnick, co-produced by Tim Burton, and starring comedian Chris Elliott. Elliott co-wrote the film with Resnick. Both Elliott and Resnick worked for Late Night with David Letterman in the 1980s as well as co-creating the Fox sitcom Get a Life in the early 1990s.

Contents

Plot

Nathaniel Mayweather is a snobbish, self-centered, arrogant, virginal "fancy-lad." After graduation, he is invited by his father to sail to Hawaii aboard The Queen Catherine. After annoying the limousine driver who is taking him to board the boat, he is forced to walk the rest of the way.

Nathaniel makes a wrong turn into a small fishing village where he meets the imbecilic cabin boy/first mate Kenny of The Filthy Whore, which Nathaniel believes to be TheQueen Catherine as part of a theme. The next morning, Captain Greybar finds Nathaniel in his room and explains that the boat will not return to dry land for three months. Nathaniel unsuccessfully tries to convince each fisherman to set sail to Hawaii, but convinces Kenny into doing so. However, the crew reaches Hell's Bucket, a Bermuda Triangle-like area where strange events occur. The ship is caught in a fierce storm and Kenny is knocked overboard and drowns. With only one island in the entire area, the crew decide to set sail there. Without a cabin boy, Greybar forces Nathaniel to do the chores in return for taking him to Hawaii, as well as teaching him how to become a better person.

After failing all the chores he is assigned, the fishermen decide to give Nathaniel another chore that involves dragging him on a floating raft for a week. Nathaniel quickly runs out of supplies, begins consuming salt water, and suffers extreme sunburn after confusing cooking oil as lotion. He also realizes he might be going insane after sighting Kenny's ghost and seeing a floating cupcake that spits tobacco. After falling into the water he is saved by a shark-man. After nine days, Nathaniel is pulled back in and tells what happened. It is revealed by Skunk and Big Teddy that the shark-man is known as Chocki, the offspring of a male viking and female shark.

Nathaniel spots a beautiful young woman named Trina swimming in the ocean. After she is pulled up in a net, Nathaniel becomes smitten with her. Not pleased with another passenger on board, the fishermen decide to strand Trina and Nathaniel on the island they're sailing toward. Finally reaching the island, the crew searches for components to fix their boat. Nathaniel tries to get closer to Trina, who constantly rejects him.

Greybar and Skunk suggest to Nathaniel that a blue-skinned, six-armed woman named Calli can help build his confidence. After an encounter with Calli that results in his first sexual experience, Nathaniel again meets Trina, who becomes attracted to him immediately. Calli's husband Mulligan, a giant, comes home to find a man's bag. Realizing what Calli has done, Mulligan decides to find her lover and kill him. Nathaniel tries to save everyone by confessing to the giant he's the one who slept with Calli. Mulligan is about to kill Nathaniel with a giant nail clipper when Chocki saves him. Nathaniel then kills Mulligan by choking him with his own belt.

Finally reaching Hawaii, Nathaniel offers his newfound companions a job at the hotel where his father is the owner, which they refuse. They tell Nathaniel he's a fancy lad who should stay in Hawaii with his dad where he belongs. Nathaniel and the fishermen part ways, including Trina. His equally-snobbish father, William Mayweather, condemns his son's actions. Seeing through his father how snobbish he used to be before boarding The Filthy Whore, Nathaniel discards his wig and leaves to find Trina. They then both join the crew on The Filthy Whore.

Cast

Production

The project was originally to be directed by Burton, who had contacted Chris Elliott after seeing Get a Life. Resnick took over after Burton was offered the film Ed Wood . [1]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 48% rating based on reviews from 27 critics, with a weighted average of 5.2/10. [2]

Chris Elliott earned a Razzie Award nomination for Worst New Star, but lost to Anna Nicole Smith for Naked Gun 33+13: The Final Insult . [3] [4] The film was nominated for Worst Picture at the 1994 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards but lost to North .

Year-end lists

Legacy

Hip hop producer Dan "the Automator" Nakamura named his publishing company, Sharkman Music, after the film. [6] References to the film have appeared in multiple works by Nakamura. [6] For example, the Bulk Recordings edition of Kool Keith's debut solo album Dr. Octagonecologyst , contains a dialogue excerpt from the film preceding the song "halfsharkalligatorhalfman"; the hook of the song, "Half Man, Half Shark", is sampled from the same dialogue. [7]

Post-hardcore band A Static Lullaby reference the film in their song "Half Man, Half Shark; Equals One Complete Gentleman", the title of which is a paraphrase of an Elliott line spoken in the film.[ citation needed ] The song can be found on their Faso Latido album.

Related Research Articles

<i>Captains Courageous</i> 1897 adventure novel by Rudyard Kipling

Captains Courageous: A Story of the Grand Banks is an 1897 novel by Rudyard Kipling that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the spoiled son of a railroad tycoon, after he is saved from drowning by a Portuguese fisherman in the North Atlantic. The novel originally appeared as a serialisation in McClure's, beginning with the November 1896 edition with the last instalment appearing in May 1897. In that year, it was published in its entirety as a novel, first in the United States by Doubleday, and a month later in the United Kingdom by Macmillan. It is Kipling's only novel set entirely in North America. In 1900, Teddy Roosevelt extolled the book in his essay "What We Can Expect of the American Boy", praising Kipling for describing "in the liveliest way just what a boy should be and do".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Elliott</span> American actor, writer, and comedian (born 1960)

Christopher Nash Elliott is an American actor, comedian and writer known for his surreal sense of humor. He appeared in comedic sketches on Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1988), created and starred in the comedy series Get a Life (1990–1992) on Fox, and wrote and starred in the film Cabin Boy (1994). His writing has won four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards. His other television appearances include recurring roles on Everybody Loves Raymond (2003–2005) and How I Met Your Mother (2009–2014), and starring roles as Chris Monsanto in Adult Swim's Eagleheart (2011–2014) and Roland Schitt in Schitt's Creek (2015–2020). He also appeared in the films Groundhog Day (1993), There's Something About Mary (1998), Snow Day (2000) and Scary Movie 2 (2001).

Adam Resnick is an American comedy writer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his work writing for Late Night with David Letterman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Handsome Boy Modeling School</span> American hip hop duo

Handsome Boy Modeling School is an American collaborative project between hip hop producers Dan the Automator and Prince Paul. The collaboration originally lasted from 1999 to 2006 and resulted in two albums, featuring a vast cast of guest rappers, singers, comedians and DJs. In February 2018, the duo played a concert in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Callis</span> Canadian professional wrestler

Donald Callis is a Canadian professional wrestling manager, color commentator, actor, and former professional wrestler and business executive. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he works as the on-screen manager and leader of The Don Callis Family ; as well as working as a backstage consultant for the company.

Kenny the Shark is an American animated television series produced by Discovery Kids. The series was first premiered on Discovery Kids' Saturday morning block on NBC on November 1, 2003, and ended on February 19, 2005, spanning two seasons and 26 episodes in total having aired. The series is about an anthropomorphic tiger shark named Kenny, who was tired of being a predator, and wanted to live with a suburban family.

The Giant of Thunder Mountain is a 1991 drama film starring Richard Kiel and Noley Thornton. Bart the Bear also appeared in the movie. The screenplay was jointly written by Richard Kiel, Chrystle Fiedler, and Tony Lozito. It was directed by James W. Roberson.

<i>The Homecoming</i> 1964 theatre play by Harold Pinter

The Homecoming is a two-act play written in 1964 and published in 1965 by Harold Pinter. Its premières in London (1965) and New York (1967) were both directed by Sir Peter Hall. The original Broadway production won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Play. Its 40th-anniversary Broadway production at the Cort Theatre was nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for "Best Revival of a Play".

<i>Album III</i> 1972 studio album by Loudon Wainwright III

Album III is the third full-length album from Loudon Wainwright III. It was originally released in 1972 on Columbia Records. Album III would spawn Loudon Wainwright's most popular hit single, "Dead Skunk", one of the many 'novelty songs' sprinkled throughout Wainwright's career. Although Wainwright has maintained an ironic, sometimes sepulchral sense of humor, "Dead Skunk", despite its commercial success, has dogged him ever since, as he comments on 1985's album I'm Alright, "Were you embarrassed about 'Dead Skunk'"?

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Mundus</span> Fisherman

Frank Mundus was a fisherman and charter captain based in Montauk, New York who is said to be the inspiration for the character Quint in the book and movie Jaws. He started out as a shark hunter but later became a shark conservationist. Up until his death, he chartered out his boat Cricket II for those seeking the thrill of big game fishing.

<i>The Old Man and the Sea</i> (1999 film) 1999 Russian film

The Old Man and the Sea is a 1999 paint-on-glass-animated short film directed by Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov, based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film won many awards, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Kenny Bayless is an American boxing referee from Nevada. He is best known for having refereed many of the sport's most well-known fights.

<i>The Stalking Moon</i> 1968 American Western film

The Stalking Moon is a 1968 American Western film in Technicolor directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck and Eva Marie Saint. It is based on the novel of the same name by T.V. Olsen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skellington Productions</span> Defunct film production company

Skellington Productions was an American animation studio and production company that was a joint venture between Walt Disney Feature Animation and directors Henry Selick and Tim Burton. The company specialized in stop motion animation and made use of the art in its two films. The studio's last work was season one of KaBlam!, after which it was closed by Disney.

<i>The Nickel Ride</i> 1974 film

The Nickel Ride is a 1974 American neo-noir crime film directed and produced by Robert Mulligan and starring Jason Miller, Linda Haynes, Victor French, Bo Hopkins, and John Hillerman. It is the debut film of screenwriter Eric Roth. It was entered into the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or. On December 13, 2011, Shout! Factory released the film on DVD as part of a double feature with 99 and 44/100% Dead.

<i>Get a Life</i> (American TV series) American television series (1990–1992)

Get a Life is a television sitcom that was broadcast in the United States on the Fox Network from September 23, 1990, to March 8, 1992. The show stars Chris Elliott as a 30-year-old paperboy named Chris Peterson. Peterson lived in an apartment above his parents' garage. The opening credits depict Chris Peterson delivering newspapers on his bike to the show's theme song, "Stand" by R.E.M.

<i>Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick</i> Television special by Ben OBrien and Alan Resnick

Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick is a television special written, created and directed by Alan Resnick and Ben O'Brien for Adult Swim, as part of the Infomercials series. The special is presented as a parody of self-help infomercials, advertising a four-step program for creating a digital avatar that acts as a backup of its host. The special is hosted by Alan Resnick as himself, and is presented by Dan Deacon. Both, along with O'Brien, are members of the Baltimore-based art collective Wham City, who co-produced the episode under their video production division, AB Video Solutions.

<i>Hello Again</i> (2017 film) 2017 film

Hello Again is a 2017 American musical film directed by Tom Gustafson and written by Cory Krueckeberg. Based on the Off-Broadway musical of the same name by Michael John LaChiusa, the film stars Audra McDonald, Martha Plimpton, T. R. Knight, and Rumer Willis and follows 10 lost souls across 10 periods in New York City history. The daisy-chained musical explores love's bittersweet embrace as the pursued becomes the pursuer and slip in and out of one another's arms, spinning through 10 music-fueled vignettes that come together in one soulful circle.

<i>Wildlife</i> (film) 2018 film by Paul Dano

Wildlife is a 2018 American drama film directed and co-produced by Paul Dano, in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Dano and Zoe Kazan, based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Richard Ford. It stars Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould, and Bill Camp.

<i>The Man from Toronto</i> (2022 film) 2022 film by Patrick Hughes

The Man from Toronto is a 2022 American action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes. The film stars Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson, Kaley Cuoco, Jasmine Mathews, Lela Loren, Pierson Fodé, Jencarlos Canela, and Ellen Barkin.

References

  1. ""This is Just So Sh**ty, We Gotta Watch": The Beautiful, Inspirational Disaster of 'Cabin Boy,' 25 Years Later". 5 December 2018.
  2. "Cabin Boy".
  3. "Costner, Stone, Cruise, Pitt and Simpson Get Film Raspberries". AP News . March 26, 1995. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  4. Scott, Vernon (March 26, 1995). "Razzie Awards dis-honor 'Color of Night'". UPI . Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  5. Strauss, Bob (December 30, 1994). "At the Movies: Quantity Over Quality". Los Angeles Daily News (Valley ed.). p. L6.
  6. 1 2 Crain, Zac (November 25, 1999). "Handsome Dan, Automator Man". Miami New Times . Retrieved 27 January 2009.
  7. Jenkins, Sacha; Wilson, Elliott; Mao, Chairman Jefferson; Alvarez, Gabriel; Rollins, Brent (1999). "You Might Have Missed" . Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists. Macmillan Publishers. p.  311. ISBN   0-312-24298-0.