Rowing is everything in an exclusive The Boys In The Boat clip
The George Clooney-directed film premieres December 17
Film News The Boys in the Boat
A refrain often heard at regattas and amongst collegiate rowers is how powerful and all-consuming the sport can be. That can, of course, be a negative thing in many ways. Rowers wake up at the crack of dawn, wear down their bodies and crack the skin on their hands every day for a shot at a few minutes of glory in a career that, for most people who’ve ever stepped foot in a boat, will end at age 21 or 22. It’s an obsession and occasionally a dangerous one, an angle that Lauren Hadaway took in her 2021 rowing thriller, The Novice.
But on the flip side, that level of commitment to one common goal often lends crew teams a rare sense of fellowship, camaraderie, and unconditional belonging that’s hard to find elsewhere. That’s the experience of Joe Rantz, the protagonist of George Clooney’s upcoming The Boys In The Boat (based on Daniel James Brown’s 2013 book of the same name), which tells the true story of an underdog team of rowers who went on to claim gold for the United States at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
In an exclusive clip shared with The A.V. Club, Rantz (Callum Turner) asks his coach (Joel Edgerton) for his seat back after a disagreement saw him swapped out for the team’s alternate at a pivotal moment in his career.
When Coach Ulbrickson asks Rantz why he wants back in, Rantz responds: “All that time I spent in it. The work we all did together. That boat… it’s all I got.” He goes on to say “the boys,” but trails off, again reiterating, “it’s all I got.” (Don’t worry, no cringey title drops here.)
The Boys In The Boat also stars Peter Guinness, Sam Strike, Thomas Elms, and Jack Mulhern. The film premieres December 17 in theaters.
13 Comments
Rowers wake up at the crack of dawn, wear down their bodies and crack
the skin on their hands every day for a shot at a few minutes of glory
in a career that, for most people who’ve ever stepped foot in a boat,
will end at age 21 or 22.
Ya know, if I had any kind of commitment to anything, I’d start a National Rowing League and fill it with teams of 30-something, 400-lbs muscled monsters that competed to row yacht-sized canoes across Lake Michigan.
Rantz responds: “All that time I spent in it. The work we all did together. That boat… it’s all I got.”Missed the opportunity for a film titled Rantz’s Rant.
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A refrain often heard at regattas and amongst collegiate rowers is how powerful and all-consuming the sport can be.
Not to mention how quickly one can get bored of singing “row, row, row your boat.”
There’s only two rowers on the planet I want to see a movie on.
I saw a doc on Joe Rantz, probably on PBS. His brother (I think) talked about how he ran after the car as the rest of his family left him behind as just a kid, and it sounded like he lived by himself in the forest for awhile in school.An amazing story.
This should do well to compete for the title of the Whitest Movie of All Time
Rob Lowe wants a word.
Or for anybody preferring the Americans to be the bad guys…
Yo I got to see a sneak preview screening of this and it’s actually really good. My first two thoughts leaving the theater were “did I just watch a whole-ass movie about competitive rowing?” and “did I LIKE it???” So while it’s not gonna be the blockbuster of the year or anything (and I know movies are expensive as hell these days), I’d definitely encourage people to give it a shot, even if you’re like “who the actual fuck cares about rowing?”
The book was fantastic, whether you care about rowing or not. The same vibe and compelling underdog story as Seabiscuit, which cared not a whit whether you knew about or appreciated horse racing.
Someone made a good movie about the Barbie doll. I am ready to believe there is a good movie about rowing.