The Perfect Storm

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)

Factual error: The movie was set in 1991, but there is a newspaper with a Kia advertisement. Kia's first U.S. cars arrived in 1994.

Continuity mistake: As the Coast Guard cutter is making the second attempt to rescue the helicopter pilot and the injured para-rescuer, in one overhead shot we see the crew on the foredeck holding the cargo net. After the two men are swept off the net, another shot shows the foredeck empty, though the ship's crew is still at the cargo net attempting the rescue.

More mistakes in The Perfect Storm

Trivia: The Crow's Nest is not on the water. It's actually about four blocks away from where it was in the movie. Also, it's a three-story building.

Trivia: The film is accurate in its depiction of how the Perfect Storm actually formed (a combination of two weather fronts and one dying hurricane) except for the depiction of Hurricane Grace; in the film, it's stated to be a Category 5, while in reality, it was only a Category 2.

Bobby Shatford: Last night was worth it. There's nothin like sleepin' with you... just sleepin'... lyin next to you... all warm and sweet... Me wishin' the mornin' would never come.

Dale 'Murph' Murphy: So, I guess you're the big hero, huh?
David 'Sully' Sullivan: You would have done the same for me. Isn't that what I'm supposed to say?
Dale 'Murph' Murphy: You can say what you want, but... I'm sure glad you know how to swim.
David 'Sully' Sullivan: Well, that's real big of you, Murph.
Dale 'Murph' Murphy: It's all I can manage right now. I'll work on it. All right?

Moss: What in Jupiter's Balls?

Answer: Diane Lane played Christina Cotter, Bobby Shatford's girlfriend. As of 2007, Christina was living with her new boyfriend in the White Mountain area.

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: 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.

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.

Question: When they were trying to refuel the chopper, why didn't they turn the pipe on, regardless of whether the chopper was joined to it? The chopper would've been able to get some fuel, even if not a huge amount. Surely, it would've been better to waste loads of fuel than let the chopper crash?

Answer: That's not how the refueling line works; it would only dispense fuel if the helicopter's line was attached. Even if it didn't, the fuel they released would have been immediately swept away by the gale, diluted with the rainwater, so any minute amount that miraculously entered the helicopter's line would have been completely negligible and wouldn't have made a difference.

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