“He sleeps with clenched hands; and wakes with his own bloody nails in his palms.”
—A description of the vengeance of Ahab in ”Moby Dick” written by Herman Melville
(Something Gregory Peck conveyed well as Ahab in the movie version.)
Here’s my breakdown of John Huston’s Moby Dick (from the screenplay by Ray Bradbury and Huston, and based on Herman Melville’s novel). Keep in mind that this came out in 1956, the same year as Giant (with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean) and The Searchers (with John Wayne), and three years before Ben Hur (with Charlton Heston). Back when free TV was starting to make inroads into American homes. Hollywood responded with giant spectacles to separate themselves from the small screen.
Opening image: A young man walking through the countryside carrying a backpack. Very similar to the opening of First Blood with John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) wandering the countryside.
Act 1: A young man named Ishmael arrives in New Bedford, Massachusetts, looking to have a great adventure on a whaling ship. This is set up in the first five minutes. Being an outsider and to new town, he’s told he needs permission from the locals in a pub. At the 6-minute mark Captain Ahab is introduced in passing. Ishmael is accepted by the whalers. That night he uncomfortably shares a room—even a bed—with a cannibal named Queequeg. He goes to church and hears a sermon about Jonah. He and Queequeg join captain Ahab’s ship. The ship is loaded with provisions. They hear a strange prophesy from a man on the docks who says his name Elijah. They set off for what is intended to be a three year voyage. The women of the town watch as the large ship named Pequod leaves port.
Act one ends on a wide shot of the ship heading out to sea and fades to black at 29:36.
Act 2: Life aboard the ship. VO narration explaining that the crew who came from the ends of the earth. Introduction of other key characters (Pip, Starbuck, Stubbs). The crew scrubs the decks. We see the blacksmith, harpooners, and a carpenter. No sign of Captain Ahab but we hear his peg leg walking the deck at night while others sleep. He’s a mysterious man. One who lost his leg hunting the white whale.
At 35 minutes Ahab addresses the crew and says they are to “look for the white whale.” He nails a Spanish gold ounce doubloon to a mast saying whoever first spots the white whale gets the coin. It’s obvious that this is an obsession for Ahab, and he works the crew into a frenzy to hunt Moby Dick to the death.
The crew later dumps some exposition about the dangers of whaling and the legacy of Moby Dick. “Are you trying to scare us?” That discussion is interrupted by the cry “Thar she blows” as a whale is spotted at the 41-minute mark. At this point, the movie shifts over to documentary-style shooting for the sequence of how a whaling ship operates in full gear as they hunt, capture, and then cut and boil the whale blubber into oil that will eventually keep “lights burning in a thousand homes.” When done they cast the whale bones into the sea and have a grand celebration with drinking, music, and dancing. It’s one of the best sequences in the film and lasts about 6 minutes.
But Ahab does not participate in the celebrations, instead, he is studying his maps and charts for when he has the best chance to find the white whale. He gets some push back from Starbuck who says he came to hunt whales, not to partake in one man’s vengeance. Ahab says the crew is behind him. Starbuck senses impending doom. Is the captan cray cray?
They sail around the Cape Horn far from home, and Ishmael gets his chance to climb up the spotter’s area high above the boat. He’s having the great adventure he was hoping to find— “Removed from the cares of all the people of the land.” Finally he gets to chance the yell, “Thar she blows.” But what’s different about this spotting is it’s not just one whale, but many. The crew jumps again to action and they capture whale after whale.
It appears to be a great success, but Ahab seems less thrilled. A fellow ship comes along the Pequod and the Captain ends up telling Ahab that he spotted the white whale a month ago—off the Cape of Good Hope heading to Madagascar. This causes Ahab to call off the hunt and to set sail at the 61-minute mark. The crew can’t believe they would leave such a grand catch. They see no reason. Ahab says, “I give no reasons Mr. Stubbs, I give orders.” They cut their lines to the whales and set sale.
A debate is started with some of the crew whether Ahab is mad. Will a mutiny take place? Starbuck says that Ahab is “a champion of darkness.” Starbuck’s concerns are overruled by the others. Later they get to the waters where Ahab thinks he will meet Moby Dick and he rejuvenates the crew to look for the white whale and earn the gold.
Things take a turn for the worst when a man falls overboard and the can’t save him. Then the sea becomes calm and the wind still leaving them dead in the water for the time being. Dullness sets in. It’s the opposite of a great adventure. One of the crew thinks they are cursed.
The cannibal Queequeg tosses bones “which tell everything” and it’s like a spell comes over him and he says “goodbye” and asked that the carpenter to make a casket his size that floats. There’s an impending doom of some sorts. Then someone shouts “Thar she blows” and Ahab looks out to see Moby Dick at the 79-minute mark.
They put boats in the water despite it being nighttime, but the whale goes underwater. He breaches the water and appears to swim away. False hope. There is no wind, so the crew of the Pequad will have to row to pick up the wind. As they row until exhaustion, Ahab becomes more tyrannical. They do pick up the wind and Ahab gives the gold doubloon to the one who first spotted the white white.
Ahab takes the occasion with the crew gather to double down on his quest. He tells them that when they capture Mody Dick that they will split his share, “My 10% of this entire voyage.” This pep talk works, and they shout out cheers at the prospects.
At 85-minutes a fellow ship out of New Bedford passes them. Ahab shouts out asking if they’ve seen the white whale. They say they have just 10 miles away. It turns out that the captain lost his 12-year-old son in an accident at sea and asks Ahab to help search for him. Ahab replies that he won’t help as he seeks the white whale. No time to waste. Later Ahab pledges “death to Moby Dick” and the screen fades to black at the end of Act 2 at the 89-minute mark, leaving the last 26 minutes for the third act.
ACT 3:
In pursuit of Moby Dick, a mighty storm kicks up and instead of playing in safe by lower the sails, Ahab calls for full sails to be out risking the crew’s life as the men hold on from being swept away. With all hands on deck, the waves crash over the boat. When one on the crew attempts to cut the sail, Ahab threatens to run him through with a harpoon. That’s when the mysterious lights of Saint Elmo’s Fire shines in the sky. Ahab see it as a sign that he will be led to the white whale. Later on a calm day, Ahab reflects on his first whale hunt. Starbuck arms himself with a small pistol and pleads one more time to Ahab to head home and give up his unreasonable quest. Starbuck pulls out his gun on Ahab. Ahab asks what ails him and why he trembles and Starbucks regrets “not having the balls to slaughter thee and save the whole ship’s company from being dragged to doom.”
When the crews smells a coral reef, Ishmael recalls the prophecy before he boarded the boat that a day would come when the sea would smell like land and Ahab would die and rise again. Once again, “Thar she blows!” is shouted as Moby Dick is spotted again. Game on with the clock running and just 13 minutes left in the movie.
Ahab gets in one of four smaller boats to purse the white whale. All four boats land harpoons in Moby Dick and Ahab thinks they’ve finally gotten him, but Moby Dick proves relentless and attacks them. Ahab is in the water when Moby Dick swims by and he reaches out to grab the ropes from a harpoon that is on the side of the whale. Ahab stabs the whale with the harpoon before the whale submerges. When the while whale emerges, Ahab’s intangible on the side of the whale, presumably dead. Moby Dick attacks the remaining small boats before ramming the large ship. The Pequod begins to sink.
Just when all seems lost, the coffin that’s made to float pops to the surface giving Ishmael a lifesaver. He floated on it for a day and a night until the ship Rachel found him. “I only escaped alone to tell thee.”
The End.
Total run time 1 hour and 56 minutes.
Scott W. Smith is the author of Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles
Screenwriting from Iowa 