Men of the Tall Ships

1976, 53 mins

Credits

Robert Drew

Producer - Photographer

Anne Drew

Associate Producer - Sound

Thatcher Drew

Field Producer - Photographer

Robert Elfstrom

Photographer

Stephen Ascher

Photographer

Peter Sandomire

Photographer

James Fitzgerald

Photographer

Frank Rohr

Photographer

Denis Maloney

Photographer

Coulter Watt

Photographer

Juliana Wang

Photographer

Greg Shuker

Photographer

Sam Kerlin

Sound

Pam Weiss

Sound

David Pierce

Sound

Derek Drew

Sound

Phyllis Chinlund

Editor

Marylin Frauenglass

Editor

Deborah Shaffer

Editor

Peter Thomas

Narrator

Diane Rynone

Assistant to the Producer

Awards

Blue Ribbon, 1982 American Film Festival

A trans-Atlantic sailing race of tall ships ends with a grand entrance into New York Harbor for “Op-Sail ’76” to commemorate the nation’s bicentennial.

High on a lofty mast, standing on a stretched rope, manhandling sails with one hand while holding on for dear life with the other, are the men of the tall ships, who are really boys. Mostly teenagers, they are training for the sea in ways long gone from the navies they serve — among them British, French, German, Russian, and American, north and south.

Tall Ships_ 10

The competing captains press their crews up the masts to adjust sails for maximum speed. They try to outwit each other through changing winds, a meandering Gulf Stream, and the most destructive threat of all: dead calm.

Tall Ships_ 14

On July 4, 1976, the men of the tall ships parade into New York Harbor standing proudly on the prows and yard arms of their ships.

Tall Ships_ 20

Drew Associates actually made three versions of this film. The first version, called “The Tall Ships Are Coming,” was a preview of the July 4 spectacle and the second version, “Parade of the Tall Ships,” focused on the pageantry of the occasion. Those two films each won a Cine Golden Eagle, one in 1976 and the other in 1977, from the Council of International Non-Theatrical Events.

 

Tall Ships_ 18

 

Filmography
Sort Films
By Alphabet
By Year
Filter by
See A Film You Like?

Films currently available for consumer purchase can be found here:

To request rights for public screenings or clip licensing of Drew Associates films, email films@drewassociates.com.

All of our original film prints are on deposit at the Archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Not all films currently exist in digital form. If you are interested in a digital copy of a film, email films@drewassociates.com.

Learn more

© Drew Associates 2016

Designed by Visually Dynamic