Review of Dead Calm

After tragically losing their son in a car accident, wealthy Australian Sam Neill (as John Ingram) and his exceptionally beautiful young wife Nicole Kidman (as Rae) take their dog "Benji" and set sail for a hopefully restful vacation on their yacht. Out on the "Dead Calm" Pacific Ocean waters, they find handsome Billy Zane (as Hughie Warriner) in distress. He claims his boat is sinking and everyone else on board has died from food poisoning. As this seems a likely story, they rescue the attractively shirtless and suspicious-looking Mr. Zane. This leads to the problems you'd expect, under these circumstances. This situation, probably done best by Roman Polanski in "Knife in the Water" (1962), is built on the supposition that the handsome newcomer may be dangerous and will reveal an aggressive sexual interest in the pretty woman. The cast is attractive, the formula works and the photography (by Dean Semler) is beautiful.

****** Dead Calm (4/7/89) Phillip Noyce ~ Nicole Kidman, Billy Zane, Sam Neill, Rod Mullinar