Today’s movie is a disaster film with a scene that happens
on March 23. Watch this film tonight and enjoy.
DEAD AHEAD: THE EXXON VALDEZ DISASTER
On March 23, 1989 [2:36 to 6:.12]
the oil tanker Exxon Valdez hits the rocks in Prince William Sound,
Alaska and starts leaking oil. Captain Hazelwood was not on the bridge at the
time of the collision. Dan Lawn with
the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation springs into action to
start the cleanup, while Frank Iarossi, President of Exxon gets the bad news.
The Coast Guard notices that Captain Hazelwood smells of alcohol. The ship
leaks 8 million gallons of oil. Due to various problems the Alyeska Pipeline Company’s
response is very slow. Gov. Steve Cowper goes on board the Exxon Valdez and
Dan Lawn tells him Alyeska is not handling the cleanup like it is supposed to
do so. Frank Iarossi’s plane flies over the spill site and the ship. Exxon’s
cleanup proceeds very slowly. The State of Alaska learns that it can’t take
over cleanup unless Alyeska fails to do so, at which time it’s too late to do
anything, but if the State tries to intervene before Alyeska has failed Alyeska
could escape liability. Exxon starts spraying chemical dispersants, over the
objections of environmentalists and fishermen.
Dan Lawn authorizes Exxon to do a test of burning off the oil. He also
recruits local fishermen to deploy booms to protect bays. Exxon finally gets
permission to use dispersants, but a storm comes up and the oil starts washing
up on shore. Hazelwood gets fired for being drunk. The oil devastates the
wildlife in Prince William Sound. The Exxon Valdez is finally hauled off
the rocks and emptied.
This is a very good docudrama. It
tries to give an objective view of the incident. Keeps from becoming too
political.
Out of The Channel: The Exxon
Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound by John
Keeble (HarperCollins, New York,
1991) at pages 36-39 and the film at 3:40 give the date of the disaster.
Director - Paul Seed
Producer - John Smithson and
David M. Thompson
Screenplay - Michael Baker
Runtime – 1 hour 26 minutes
Released – December 21, 1992
Starring –
John Heard as Dan Lawn
Bob Gunton as
Larry Dietrick
Mark Metcalf as
Dennis Kelso
Christopher Lloyd
as Frank Iarossi
Remak Ramsay as
Craig Rassiner
Paul Guilfoyle as
Cmdr. Steve McCall
Rip Torn as Adm.
Paul Yost
Copyright by Ivan
Walters in 2015
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