This film is a near technical disaster as city folk attempt to survive in the wilds of Alaska, yet the photography and the superb participation by the animals, as well as the credible acting of the human participants bring off a pleasant and suspenseful film for any family. Overlook the technical improbabilities and enjoy a thoroughly enjoyable film.
15 Reviews
Scenic drama. Family fare. Stranded!
michaelRokeefe29 August 2001
Beautiful scenery, romantic and just enough action. A Seattle yachtsman, his two daughters, a stowaway and a young reporter are stranded on an Alaskan island. At times a little too "touchy, feely", but a tender and warm family flick. Robert Logan is convincing as the cool dad and Miki Jamison-Olsen is very good as the reporter. Rescuing a caribou is tender, while the salmon catching scene is a relaxed frolic. Scenes of the natural wildlife are wonderful. Nothing here to really cause you any stress...sit back, relax and enjoy.
Great movie for young children
party_girl_8129 January 2002
I think this is a great children's movie. I enjoyed this movie when I was five and I still enjoy it today. The movie has a little bit if everything in it, excitement, danger, romance, comedy etc. I think the acting was very good. The scenery was beautiful. There were a lot of fun scenes in the movie. I like the part when they are trying to catch the salmon and the scene where the dad lets the deer free. It is definitely a movie I would recommend for young children. It was very enjoyable without sex, drugs and violence.
Very positive
gewsmith24 April 2000
This is one of the best Stewart Rafill films. The plot and story are exciting and well written. The acting is well done, particularly the character played by Mikki Jamieson-Olsen. The location wilderness settings were beautifully photographed. An excellent and very memorable film.
Definitely made for kids
webmaster-2175 September 2000
Here's a movie that I would have a pretty hard time watching even though it is a family movie. Plot, Circumstances, etc. just aren't anything for most adults to get excited about in any way, shape or form. However, keeping in mind that "G" rated movies are made not only for families but also for children who can view such movies without supervision - this was certainly not a bad movie at all. My kids loved it and that's why this movie deserved the rating that it received.
GOD AWFUL
hendersn7521 February 2000
I don't know how in the world this movie has gotten 7.1 so far, because it is the absolute worst. I was flipping through the channels last night and saw it on HBO Family and laughed my butt off through the last hour of it. I couldn't stop watching because it was so bad it was hilarious!!! Even if it is supposed to be a family movie, it still sucked!!!
Simply Wonderful!
ssepper18 March 2002
This is a GREAT movie! Highly recommended for everyone. I saw this movie as a child and loved it then. Seeing it again, now as a father of two, more than twenty years later; it is STILL a wonderful movie! Today's world is full of harsh news, disrespect, and a hardened society. This is one of those movies that will take you back to a different time when people actually cared about life and each other! I don't understand hendersn75's awful review at all. I live in Alaska. If he knew what it was like to live here, let alone try to film in this environment, I think he would change his mind. I think the cinematography in this film, especially considering being a 70's film, is simply wonderful. This was all done entirely on location, unlike most films of today. If you see this movie and like it, then also check out "The Dove" 1974, a true story. Not as visually stimulating as "Sea Gypsies", but very interesting also.
Great movie for the whole family
nic197320 October 2005
This is a great family movie. I watched this movie as a child and loved it. Now my daughter is enjoying it (and so am I second time around). Even though it is a 70s movie it is great to watch something free of drugs & violence. The scenery is a feature with beautiful shots of Alaska. We certainly had a lot of laughs with the exploits of this castaway family and how they survived their adventure in the wilderness. This movie never has a dull moment and you are left wondering what will happen next. I have to say this is the best of Stewart Raffill movies. If you are looking for a good clean cut family movie then this one is for you. Definitely a 10 out of 10 in my book.
Great for children
jonah-51 November 2001
We encourage our children to watch the movies that are more appropriate for their age. At a time when Walt Disney and others are using burping (and other unmentionable acts) to entertain children, I would certainly choose this movie.
a great family film
garyldibert27 January 2007
This is the second of Robert Logan classic films who star in The Adventure of Wilderness family back in 1975. Robert Logan plays the role a farther who lost his wife and decide to take his girls around the on a ship. Along comes Nancy Kyes who's a reporter who wants to go along to write a story on this boat journey around the world. Heather Rattray stars in her role as Courtney Maclaine the daughter of the father. Heather after this goes on to star in Robert Logan other two films and Heather pick up a role on the Young an the Restless later on. As the journey begins they fine another person on the ship a little boy named Jesse (Cjon Damitri Patterson) who jumps on the boat as it's leaving the dock. The journey starts out smooth until dark comes and that's when start to go wrong. This is a great film that the whole family can sit and enjoy and I will give this movie 8 weasel stars based on the beauy of he Island.
I'm glad this wasn't me!
ajramsey-112011 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this movie 2 years after high school. I loved it then as it was an adventure. After watching it now, 43 years later, I realize it's dated. The actors didn't turn in Oscar winning performances. But it's a fun, family-friendly story that lets me know it's ok to be a city dweller. I have no sailing experience and very little camping skills. I would NOT have faired as well as this little family.
I wish the movie name had stayed Sea Gypsies, as the title Ship Wrecked kind of gives it away.
I love the theme music. I don't think movie music ever gets enough credit. I LOVE movie soundtracks! And I LOVE musicals-not that this is one.
I thought the romance element and blending of people into a family was a nice touch. I was impressed by the problem solving skills portrayed and the ability of the family to roll with the punches.
To enjoy this movie, you should move your thoughts back about 40 years when life was SO much more simple. I think it's a fun, feel-good treasure. Still.
I wish the movie name had stayed Sea Gypsies, as the title Ship Wrecked kind of gives it away.
I love the theme music. I don't think movie music ever gets enough credit. I LOVE movie soundtracks! And I LOVE musicals-not that this is one.
I thought the romance element and blending of people into a family was a nice touch. I was impressed by the problem solving skills portrayed and the ability of the family to roll with the punches.
To enjoy this movie, you should move your thoughts back about 40 years when life was SO much more simple. I think it's a fun, feel-good treasure. Still.
Bring a seasickness bag
arkent22 March 2002
This movie is filled with unintended laughs, starting with its title. Originally called "The Sea Gypsies," it was apparently renamed "Shipwreck" in order to attract cable TV viewers who enjoyed "Castaway." Fair enough. The two films have plenty in common. However, a more accurate title for this film would be "The Wilderness Family Washes Up on the Beach."
I missed the first ten minutes or so of the film, but its story seems simple enough. A young single father named Travis (Robert Logan) takes his daughters on a round-the-world cruise on his sailboat. This guy is the ultimate devoted father. There is no risk Travis wouldn't take to save his children from danger and there is no sacrifice he wouldn't make for their benefit. In fact, when things get desperate, it seems like he goes days at a time without eating, to ensure the children never miss a meal. What a guy. Best of all, Travis never loses his boyish optimism. No matter how bad things get, he's always grinning. When he's not busy hunting game (a problem for him, since he hasn't got the heart to kill critters that are cute) or fighting off wolves and bears, he's leading the family hootenanny or playing Tarzan on swinging vines. Yes. Travis is exactly the kind of character you would pay good money to slap.
Mikki Jamison-Olsen (in her only movie credit) plays Logan's obligatory love interest, Kelly. She's a journalist who hitches a ride on the boat to write a magazine story. She's attractive but bland; she does little more than hug the children when they're scared, scream when danger approaches, and be available when Captain Travis gets his horns up.
The final member of the cast is a young orphan (so he claims) stowaway named Jesse who isn't discovered until the boat is well on its way to the Aleutian Islands. Jesse persuades Travis's younger daughter, Samantha, not to reveal his presence to anyone else. Then, while everyone is eating lunch below deck, he proceeds to fall overboard when he leans over the side to fill a bucket of water so he can brush his teeth, I don't know why he's so anxious to brush his teeth; there's no reason to believe he's had anything to eat for days. In any case, he's a lucky guy, for Sam does three unlikely things:
First, she notices Jesse's missing and goes looking for him,
Second, she quickly concludes he has fallen overboard and sounds the alarm.
Third, she persuades her father to turn the boat around to search for a stowaway whom no one else has ever seen. Not bad. I wouldn't have believed her, if I had I been her dad.
After they find Jesse, everyone naturally welcomes him with open arms. They all make him feel so welcome that I was surprised that Travis didn't use his authority as captain to adopt the boy on the spot. More surprising, however, is how calmly Jesse takes his brush with death. Imagine yourself falling off a boat in the middle of the ocean, realizing that the only person who even knows you were aboard is a little girl who talks to her doll. As you watch the boat disappear over the horizon, what possible reason could you have for thinking anyone is going to save you? I don't know about you, but if that happened to me, I would still be having nightmares about it years afterward. However, that ain't Jesse's style. This boy's got nerves of ice.
Back to the plot: After a few more days at sea, the boat sinks in a storm one night, but everyone manages to get to a nearby shore safely in a liferaft. That stroke of luck raises a question: What the heck was Captain Travis thinking by having the boat under full sail so close to land in the middle of the night? Granted the storm blew the boat toward land; however, the storm scene was so brief, the boat couldn't have been far from the shore to begin. Frankly, I'm wondering about the guy's navigational skills. Besides, who the hell sails around the world by way of the Aleutian Islands? Let it go.
Everyone's ashore now, but they're short of equipment and supplies (no tools, no weapons, no food). Nevertheless, they seem to be tolerably well supplied with clothes and blankets. That's great because they're in a northern latitude, and winter is on the way. If you watch the film, keep an eye on the scene when they get on the liferaft and see if you can spot anyone carrying blankets or extra clothes.
This raises another question: There are lots of references to cold weather, and it even snows briefly, but no one really seems to mind the weather. Moreover, they all spend a lot of time in the water. They splash around trying to catch fish, they get chased into the surf by a bear, they even engage in purely recreational swimming. Yet no one is even shown visibly shivering. I don't get it. Aren't they supposed to be in Alaska on the threshold of winter? Why aren't they freezing their buns off? And how do they get dry? Do you suppose when they were filming the water scenes off the coast of Southern California, they forgot where they were supposed to be? Don't they know how cold the water off Alaska can get?
I mentioned a bear chasing the Sea Gypsies into the surf. He (or she) is the only real villain in the film. Until he appears late the story, our castaways have close encounters with deer, moose, musk ox, reindeer, sea lions. and even wolves, but the brown bear (apparently a Kodiak) doesn't appear until fairly late. Just in time to keep anyone who hasn't already fallen asleep awake. I think the bear was introduced for one reason: To force the people to leave where they are. After laying in a large stock of smoked salmon, they're all getting entirely too complacent with their situation. For people who are facing a life-and-death struggle, they spend in inordinate amount of time cavorting on the beach and admiring the sunsets. The situation was starting to remind me of "Swiss Family Robinson," which ends with Mr. and Mrs. Robinson deciding to stay put on their island when rescue is at hand. (I daresay that if their island had a few Kodiak bears, their decision would have been different.)
Incidentally, the trained bear in the film appears to have been heavily sedated because he's about the slowest-moving bear you'll ever see in a movie. Real bears can outrun Olympic champion sprinters, but this bear can't catch anyone. In fact, he's so slow, that the people he's chasing have to fall down a few times to give the poor critter a chance to catch up.
I missed the first ten minutes or so of the film, but its story seems simple enough. A young single father named Travis (Robert Logan) takes his daughters on a round-the-world cruise on his sailboat. This guy is the ultimate devoted father. There is no risk Travis wouldn't take to save his children from danger and there is no sacrifice he wouldn't make for their benefit. In fact, when things get desperate, it seems like he goes days at a time without eating, to ensure the children never miss a meal. What a guy. Best of all, Travis never loses his boyish optimism. No matter how bad things get, he's always grinning. When he's not busy hunting game (a problem for him, since he hasn't got the heart to kill critters that are cute) or fighting off wolves and bears, he's leading the family hootenanny or playing Tarzan on swinging vines. Yes. Travis is exactly the kind of character you would pay good money to slap.
Mikki Jamison-Olsen (in her only movie credit) plays Logan's obligatory love interest, Kelly. She's a journalist who hitches a ride on the boat to write a magazine story. She's attractive but bland; she does little more than hug the children when they're scared, scream when danger approaches, and be available when Captain Travis gets his horns up.
The final member of the cast is a young orphan (so he claims) stowaway named Jesse who isn't discovered until the boat is well on its way to the Aleutian Islands. Jesse persuades Travis's younger daughter, Samantha, not to reveal his presence to anyone else. Then, while everyone is eating lunch below deck, he proceeds to fall overboard when he leans over the side to fill a bucket of water so he can brush his teeth, I don't know why he's so anxious to brush his teeth; there's no reason to believe he's had anything to eat for days. In any case, he's a lucky guy, for Sam does three unlikely things:
First, she notices Jesse's missing and goes looking for him,
Second, she quickly concludes he has fallen overboard and sounds the alarm.
Third, she persuades her father to turn the boat around to search for a stowaway whom no one else has ever seen. Not bad. I wouldn't have believed her, if I had I been her dad.
After they find Jesse, everyone naturally welcomes him with open arms. They all make him feel so welcome that I was surprised that Travis didn't use his authority as captain to adopt the boy on the spot. More surprising, however, is how calmly Jesse takes his brush with death. Imagine yourself falling off a boat in the middle of the ocean, realizing that the only person who even knows you were aboard is a little girl who talks to her doll. As you watch the boat disappear over the horizon, what possible reason could you have for thinking anyone is going to save you? I don't know about you, but if that happened to me, I would still be having nightmares about it years afterward. However, that ain't Jesse's style. This boy's got nerves of ice.
Back to the plot: After a few more days at sea, the boat sinks in a storm one night, but everyone manages to get to a nearby shore safely in a liferaft. That stroke of luck raises a question: What the heck was Captain Travis thinking by having the boat under full sail so close to land in the middle of the night? Granted the storm blew the boat toward land; however, the storm scene was so brief, the boat couldn't have been far from the shore to begin. Frankly, I'm wondering about the guy's navigational skills. Besides, who the hell sails around the world by way of the Aleutian Islands? Let it go.
Everyone's ashore now, but they're short of equipment and supplies (no tools, no weapons, no food). Nevertheless, they seem to be tolerably well supplied with clothes and blankets. That's great because they're in a northern latitude, and winter is on the way. If you watch the film, keep an eye on the scene when they get on the liferaft and see if you can spot anyone carrying blankets or extra clothes.
This raises another question: There are lots of references to cold weather, and it even snows briefly, but no one really seems to mind the weather. Moreover, they all spend a lot of time in the water. They splash around trying to catch fish, they get chased into the surf by a bear, they even engage in purely recreational swimming. Yet no one is even shown visibly shivering. I don't get it. Aren't they supposed to be in Alaska on the threshold of winter? Why aren't they freezing their buns off? And how do they get dry? Do you suppose when they were filming the water scenes off the coast of Southern California, they forgot where they were supposed to be? Don't they know how cold the water off Alaska can get?
I mentioned a bear chasing the Sea Gypsies into the surf. He (or she) is the only real villain in the film. Until he appears late the story, our castaways have close encounters with deer, moose, musk ox, reindeer, sea lions. and even wolves, but the brown bear (apparently a Kodiak) doesn't appear until fairly late. Just in time to keep anyone who hasn't already fallen asleep awake. I think the bear was introduced for one reason: To force the people to leave where they are. After laying in a large stock of smoked salmon, they're all getting entirely too complacent with their situation. For people who are facing a life-and-death struggle, they spend in inordinate amount of time cavorting on the beach and admiring the sunsets. The situation was starting to remind me of "Swiss Family Robinson," which ends with Mr. and Mrs. Robinson deciding to stay put on their island when rescue is at hand. (I daresay that if their island had a few Kodiak bears, their decision would have been different.)
Incidentally, the trained bear in the film appears to have been heavily sedated because he's about the slowest-moving bear you'll ever see in a movie. Real bears can outrun Olympic champion sprinters, but this bear can't catch anyone. In fact, he's so slow, that the people he's chasing have to fall down a few times to give the poor critter a chance to catch up.
Fun Family Entertainment
jzorn30 March 2002
Just watched the movie, may have seen it years before. I thought it was entertaining, fun, and worth the time. Great family entertainment, nothing objectionable. The acting was not the best, but they did an ok job. I happen to like boating movies and this was a good one.
Fascinating!
JohnHowardReid16 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Some quite remarkable confrontations between the human cast and wild animals. especially a monster brown Kodiac bear, wolves and even a whale dramatically enliven this sharply paced, realistically acted and directed, stunningly photographed on actual Alaskan locations, modern and up-to-date Swiss Family Robinson.
It's a well-constructed film that maintains interest right throughout its running time, despite some cliches of plot and characterization.
The director has an eye for the dramatically effective shot, the film editing is delightfully sharp. In fact, all the technical credits throughout are highly professional.
What's more, the drama is put across with punch!
It's a well-constructed film that maintains interest right throughout its running time, despite some cliches of plot and characterization.
The director has an eye for the dramatically effective shot, the film editing is delightfully sharp. In fact, all the technical credits throughout are highly professional.
What's more, the drama is put across with punch!
Not bad
jaybabb31 January 2002
The best way to describe this film would be that it has a first rate story, second rate acting and third rate production values. What do you expect from a late 70's film? You can line up "Rollercoaster" & "Scavenger hunt" along the edge as well-what you see is what you get.
This is a good story, it's just isn't executed very well. This would be a better movie if they have good production values-it just doesn't. I was never crazy about Robert Logan from "Wilderness Family" fame. Isn't any wonder why he isn't well known?
A family attempts a voyage around the world on a sail boat-that run into trouble-you guessed it-A storm and they are shipwrecked. Do I need say more?
I enjoy this movie on a rainy day when I want pass 1 hour & 40 minutes or so of time.
This is a good story, it's just isn't executed very well. This would be a better movie if they have good production values-it just doesn't. I was never crazy about Robert Logan from "Wilderness Family" fame. Isn't any wonder why he isn't well known?
A family attempts a voyage around the world on a sail boat-that run into trouble-you guessed it-A storm and they are shipwrecked. Do I need say more?
I enjoy this movie on a rainy day when I want pass 1 hour & 40 minutes or so of time.
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