MovieChat Forums > Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) Discussion > hard astern? LOL

hard astern? LOL

posted 12 years ago by bpress54
1 reply | jump to latest

When they're backing the boat up trying to pull the branches out of the water, one of the actors says "Hard astern." There is no such command on a boat; hard to port or hard to starboard are steering directions, all/full astern or ahead are commands to the engine room.

[–] namaGemo 12 years ago

I can only guess whoever wrote the script recognized the character was not a sailor, and chose the appropriate lines for someone without full knowledge of the terms used. That said, regardless of accuracy, one can speculate that they got the lines from somewhere from someone who knew boating lingo.