A family in Chicago inherits the yacht formerly owned by Clark Gable. They decide to sail it from the island of Ste. Pomme de Terre to Miami, and they sail with the assistance of Captain Ron and their lives will never be the same again.
Written by
Anonymous
Plot Synopsis:
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Martin Harvey (Martin Short) is a middle-aged office worker who lives in Chicago with his wife, Katherine, their 16-year-old daughter, Caroline, and 11-year-old son, Ben. When he learns his recently deceased uncle has bequeathed him a 60' yacht once owned by Clark Gable, he decides to take his family to the island of St. Pomme de Terre ("Saint Potato") to retrieve it so he can sell it. Katherine resists the idea, but agrees after Caroline announces she has just gotten engaged.

When the Harveys arrive at the island, they discover that the yacht, the Wanderer, is in terrible condition. Upon hearing this, the yacht broker cancels his plan to send an experienced captain to help them sail it to Miami, and instead hires a local sailor, Captain Ron Rico (Kurt Russell), a one-eyed man with a very laid back attitude, and Navy veteran who claims to have piloted the USS Saratoga. He launches immediately when he sees the car he arrived in roll off the dock and sink. Its owner arrives at the dock and shoots at him.

Captain Ron takes Ben's money in a game of Monopoly, giving him beer to drink and charging him for it later, but shows loyalty to Martin, who he refers to as "Boss". Martin, who doesn't like him, calls him "Moron" in his diary, and believes that he doesn't know what he's doing.

The Harveys decide to stop off in the Caribbean, but learn that Captain Ron doesn't know how to navigate. While on a random island, Martin decides to go on a nature hike, but runs into a small band of Latin American guerrillas led by General Armando. Captain Ron bargains for Martin's freedom by giving them a lift to the next island, and receiving some firearms in return to fight off pirates. This angers Martin, as he declares there will be no firearms on his yacht and tosses them overboard, before realizing that without them, he is going to have to give the guerrillas a lift.

In the yacht's cabin, Katherine shows Martin the initials of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard marked on the bedpost. They are so excited that they share their feelings and have passionate sex.

When they arrive at their next destination, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Martin and Katherine are arrested for smuggling the guerrillas to the island. Caroline and Ben party with the locals and Captain Ron, which ends with Caroline getting a tattoo, Ben breaking his glasses, and Captain Ron losing his glass eye. Martin and Katherine are released from jail, but forced to leave that night. Martin decides to leave Captain Ron behind and they encounter pirates who steal the yacht, and are stuck floating in a raft.

They land in Cuba and discover the yacht there. The pirates find them, but with the help of Captain Ron, they are able to escape with the yacht. Captain Ron learns that they underrate Martin, and he decides to play hurt, forcing Martin to take control of the escape. Using the skills that Captain Ron taught them, they are able to get the sails up after the engine breaks from lack of oil to distance themselves from the pirates. The United States Coast Guard fires once at the pirates, scaring them away and creates a safe passage to Miami.

They arrive in Miami and part ways with Captain Ron. As they sail to their destination, they decide to turn the yacht around and keep it.

In the final scene, Captain Ron (now cleaned up with his hair pulled back and wearing a suit) appears and is now employed by a wealthy couple in a small motorboat. He tells them they should take it out for a spin.

Both of the cars that Captain Ron drives in the movie are missing a headlight on the same side as his missing eye.
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When Captain Ron introduces himself to the Harveys, he says his full name is Ron Rico. Ron Rico is a brand of rum.
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When the Harveys are coming into dock at the end, one of the boats being stacked is the "My Way." My Way was one of Paul Anka's biggest hits, sung by Frank Sinatra, amongst others. Paul Anka plays the boat dealer.
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Much of Captain Ron's personal wardrobe came from Kurt Russell's closet. Many of Ron's mannerisms (wearing the speedo, the pirate-like raspy voice, etc..) were also suggested by Russell. His only objection was his encouragement of underage drinking, but was persuaded when told it would fit the character.
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The name of the pirates' boat is "Albondiga", which means "meatball" in Spanish.
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Was originally sold as a Walt Disney Pictures film, but Disney had problems with the underage drinking, mild nudity, and the use of the "F" word. It was immediately handed over to Disney's affiliate Touchstone Pictures.
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The "St. Haag Yacht Club" in the docking and board game scene was shot at the Puerto del Rey Marina in Fajardo, on the east coast of Puerto Rico. The "yacht club" building is the Dock Center, located in the approximate center of the marina docks, built on pilings (of course), and bridging the main pier.
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The film's original title was "Martin Harvey Takes a Cruise".
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The dock and shoreline where the Wanderer is first shown, and where Captain Ron makes his first appearance, are located in Bahia de Arroyo, on the south-eastern shore of Puerto Rico.
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One of three movies that Kurt Russell has a patched eye, two of which are Escape from New York (1981), and Escape from L.A. (1996), in which he played Snake Plissken.
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When Kurt Russell was cast, John Carpenter was nearly called in to direct. Carpenter admits that he would have said yes, but mostly for the excuse to shoot in the Caribbean.
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The musical trio, Grupo WAO, listed in the movie's credits, can be seen in the festival reunion of Caroline and her parents. They are dancing in-line, right behind Caroline and Martin at 1:10:08 (NTSC). Caroline yells "You guys!" to signal the band behind them to stop, so she can talk to her parents. The movie credits name their musical number: "Besito en la Boquita".
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Feature film debut of Roselyn Sanchez, Meadow Sisto, and Benjamin Salisbury.
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The "Wanderer" is actually a Formosa 51 Ketch. Three separate boats were reported to have been used in filming the movie.
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The script was written in mind for Chevy Chase to play Martin. Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, John Ritter, John Candy, and Richard Dreyfuss were all considered for Martin as well.
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In the scene in the San Pomme de Terre magistrate's office, there is a potato on the magistrate's desktop.
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There is double-take shot near the beginning of the film. In the scene where Ben spills the milk on Kathrine's drafting print, he stands up the jug and in the following shot the jug is shown tipped over again.
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At one point regarding the debate over the existence of guerrillas Martin says "what did you do grow up in Disney Land" Ron states "never heard of the place". Ron (Kurt Russell) was in many of the Disney Movies as he was growing up, Old Yeller etc.
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When Martin short heads into work in the "city" he gets news immediately that he inherited the vessel the wander. He then leaves work immediately and drives home where his wife is looking like she just got home and his kids both get home within the next 5 minutes. So unless he heads to work at 4:00am and it takes him at least 6 hours to get home the timeline doesn't work
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When the man with the gun is yelling at Captain Ron his lips are not moving although he is shouting.
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When the pirates are shooting at the boat, we hear Captian Ron say, "Aw, geez, gunfire!" but his lips never move.
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In Miami, Martin says (in voice over) that Captain Ron hadn't been in the US for more than seven years (something about a statute of limitations) but in another scene Ron said he'd been to Dollywood. At the time this movie came out (1992), Dollywood had only existed for six years. Prior to 1986, the park was named "Silver Dollar City".
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During the first game of Monopoly, Captain Ron and Ben settle on 10 cents equals $100. When Captain Ron lands on B&O Railroad, Ben tells him he owes $1.25. It should be 13 cents.
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When Ben spills milk on his mother's plans, he picks up the carton. In the next shot the carton is on its side again.
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When the Harvey family is trying to get back on the boat from San Juan, Benjamin is seen with a tattoo on his chest, he then shows his mother that it wipes off by removing half of it. In a later scene, the full tattoo is back
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The belt sander that Ben holds changes orientation.
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In the shower, we see the facecloth go all the way down the drain. The next time we see the floor of the shower, the top two inches of the facecloth are showing.
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When Martin falls overboard and Katherine runs up the stairs, she is removing her rubber glove from her left hand and placing it in her right, but when she emerges from the top of the stairs, the gloves are nowhere to be found. Insufficient time passed to get rid of them.
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After being adrift in a raft, the family lands in Cuba. When Caroline gets out of the raft, the seat of her cut-off jeans is soaked. A few seconds later, her short jeans are dry.
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The wheel of the ship changes from metal to wood and back again.
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The lifeboat for The Wanderer appears and disappears throughout the entire movie. In the first scenes it is on the cabin roof to the left of the steering wheel where, in fact it is sitting in the cradle that was designed to hold the life boat, soon after it's on the deck sideways, then the boat is nowhere to be seen at all, then it is back again and so on for the entire movie.
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In Cuba, Captain Ron drives to the dock and hits the pirate's truck. The left headlight is lit immediately after impact and is broken/burnt out when he backs up to rescue the family.
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When the boat is pulling into St. Haag, Captain Ron tells Martin, "Get ready to kick those fenders over, boss". Martin is already on the starboard side of the boat with a fender in his hands. In the next scene he is on the Port side of the boat, on Captain Ron's left, and has not started to throw any fenders.
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When everyone is starting put put the sails up on the boat, Captain Ron gives Ben his beer. In the shot immediately afterwards, Ben is seen in the background setting his beer down, and once again, in the shot after that, still holding Ron's beer.
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As they approach St. Haag and Martin is calling for Captain Ron, the nearer of the two cowl vents in the background starts out facing port side aft, next is shown facing forward as Caroline comes up the companionway, then is shown facing forward again as the boat passes close to the camera and in subsequent shots in its original orientation, including in distant shots from the starboard side as they come into port, then back again as Martin throws fenders over the starboard side and as the boat is docked.
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When sailing to escape the bad guys, the boat changes tack several times.
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The yellow life raft is oval shaped when they first get in it and are drifting. When they get out on shore it is a hexagon or octagon.
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Martin places the guns on the table, but we see the stock of the MAC-10, which is waving as if it is still in his hand, and is obviously not on the table. A minute later, Martin picks the guns up off the table again.
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While Katherine is in the attic talking to Ben downstairs, her left hand changes from being held against the post to being placed on her knee.
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As they are chased by the pirates in Cuba, Captain Ron reverses the car into a dark, unlit area so that the pirates in their truck will not see them. However, the close shots of the family in the car show them and the car lit by a light source from outside the car.
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In the scene where calypso band plays on the dock, as Captain Ron first pilots the Wanderer into the harbor, the Fender bass is not plugged into an amplifier. It would be impossible to hear the bass, unless it is plugged in.
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While being chased in Cuba, they are being chased by an early 60s Ford truck, and there is a 70s Dodge truck in the background. No American cars have been imported into Cuba since 1959.
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When they are arrested at the Carnival in San Juan they are met at the jail by an official of the US Department of State. San Juan is in Puerto Rico, a US Commonwealth - the US State Department has no role in what would be a matter for local law enforcement. Furthermore, US citizens can no more be deported than someone could be thrown out of the State of California or Pennsylvania.
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Numerous times during the movie, the boat is supposed to be under sail. However, the boom is visible swinging freely back and forth above the helm. This would not happen unless the boat was heading directly into the wind (in which case they would not be moving) because the wind would push the sail to one side
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When Caroline runs into the house to announce her engagement, it appears she overruns her mark, as she looks to her left at the floor as she runs in, then quickly moves back to the mark before speaking to her parents.
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When Captain Ron explains to Benjamin Salisbury (Ben) what his parents were doing below decks, Ben spits out his beer into his hand. However, Ben starts to lift his hand too early indicating he is going to spit out the beer before Captain Ron gets to the punch line.
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When the Harveys are seen at the beginning they have barely left the dock, yet in a few shots later they are seen far off the dock.
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When they are pulling into St. Haag when captain Ron takes over for Martin at the helm he down gears down the boat. It then shows the boat from the water and the camera panning back up with nobody at the helm. Then it cuts away and with them both back at helm with Martin telling captain Ron to slow down.
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When Martin is in the elevator at the beginning of the movie he is disgusted as a lady sneezes in his cup of coffee which he bought in the lobby. When he gets out of the elevator, it is clear that the cup is not only empty, but unused.
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