If they try to rush the guards with out their TWIC the guards can club them in the head with the card reader.
Speaking of which, you guys that work in the gulf ever seen/heard of them being used? Never been asked by a rent-A-cop gate guard or a coastie myself. What a f’n boondoggle.
If you mean has anyone asked for my TWIC card then the answer is yes. I get asked just about anytime making a crew change at a facility’s dock. The oil companies seem to want it more than anyone else.
Of course the taking hostage of an offshore oil production platform had already been theorized for over 30 years and was even made intoa rather minor feature film staring the intrepid Roger Moore. Just this lobby poster tells of the quality of the movie!
Misogynist freelance marine counter-terrorism consultant Rufus Excalibur ffolkes (Roger Moore) is asked by Lloyd’s of London to develop a contingency plan should any of the North Sea oil installations they insure be threatened.
Months later, “Esther”, a North Sea supply ship, takes on board a group of men posing as reporters who are visiting the oil production platform “Jennifer”. The leader of this group, Lou Kramer (Anthony Perkins), along with his second-in-command (and possible lover), Harold Shulman (Michael Parks), hijack the ship, and two scuba diving henchmen attach limpet mines to the legs of “Jennifer” and its oil drilling rig, “Ruth”. From the bridge of “Esther”, Kramer issues a ransom demand for GBP 25 million or he will blow up “Ruth”; then, if the ransom is still not paid, he will destroy “Jennifer”. For good measure, he rigs “Esther” with explosives and has all the charges wired to a control panel that never leaves his side.
Lord Privy Seal Dennis Tipping (Jeremy Clyde) informs the British Prime Minister (Faith Brook) of the situation. The choice of a female Prime Minister character is likely to have been prompted by the fact that Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister when the film was released. The British government is opposed to conceding to terrorist blackmail, but Tipping suggests that, as a compromise, Lloyd’s could pay the ransom. After Lloyd’s is consulted, the Prime Minister is shown a video of ffolkes practising a rescue mission aboard a mock-up ship. He anticipated terrorists might hijack a supply ship and has worked out a plan. Flying out to “Jennifer”, ffolkes first proposes that, to buy time, a large explosion lights up the night sky, fooling Kramer into thinking “Ruth” has exploded by accident so he won’t push the button at the deadline. Ffolkes and Admiral Sir Francis Brindsen (James Mason) are to meet with Kramer onboard “Esther”. Ffolkes makes Brindsen practice accidentally dropping cigarettes on the floor, the idea being that the admiral distracts Kramer, giving ffolkes the opportunity to kill him before he sets off the bombs; his team of commandos will in the meantime take out the guards posted on the vessel.
A sub-plot involves the imprisoned crew trying to poison their captors using the ship’s medicine supply. A reporter who came with Kramer’s men offers to do this, but the crew quickly suspects him to be a plant, so they tie him up. Unfortunately, Kramer has been spying on them, and when the food is delivered he forces one of the ‘conspirators’ to drink the poisoned coffee; Sanna, the other main participant and the only woman on board, flees and allegedly falls overboard.
Later, Kramer demands that Brinston and King (David Hedison), “Jennifer’s” manager, join him on “Esther”, unintentionally going along with ffolkes’ plan. However, Kramer doesn’t trust ffolkes when he meets him and orders him to leave the ship. The reporter who had got the blackmailers onto the ship gets cold feet and wants to leave, so Kramer agrees to release him. At the last moment, Kramer shoots him in the back as he is being winched aboard the helicopter.
With time running out, the Prime Minister considers paying the ransom, but ffolkes replies angrily that that would send a message that “anyone with a rowing boat and a stick of dynamite could hold this country to ransom.” Ffolkes still thinks he can rescue the hostages. However, to save the lives of the 1,200 men and women aboard “Jennifer”, ffolkes urges to obliterate “Esther” with a bomb if his team cannot rescue the hostages in time.
Ffolkes’ men storm “Esther”, bringing down the guards. Ffolkes joins them wearing a borrowed vermilion scuba suit, but is forced to throw his second-in-command overboard who has mistaken him for a terrorist; Sanna, who had been hiding in a lifeboat, manages to take out one of the terrorists who tries to take a shot at ffolkes. Ffolkes races for the bridge as the helicopter carrying the bomb approaches. At the allotted time, Brindsen offers a cigarette to Kramer, drops them on the floor and bends down to pick them up. Ffolkes appears at the window and shoots the distracted Kramer with a spear gun, pinning him to his seat. Seeing armed men running by, Schulman races for the detonator switch, but he gets impaled at the controls with a spear in each side. Just as the Royal Navy helicopter drops the bomb down its rear loading-ramp, ffolkes fires his signal flare into the sky and the helicopter pilot pulls away just in time so that the bomb falls down away from “Esther”.
However, Kramer isn’t quite dead, and he slowly reaches for the detonator. Ffolkes pulls the wires out and watches Kramer die. “I … still … don’t … like … your … face” are his last words.
A ceremony is held at ffolkes’ castle to celebrate the end of the hijack. Among those present are the former hostages, the oil rig staff and the commandos. Ffolkes has expressed his disdain for medals, so the Prime Minister presents the cat-loving eccentric with a new litter of kittens, named Esther, Ruth, and Jennifer. For once moved, and a little lost for words, ffolkes leaves amidst a round of applause to give his new kittens a saucer of milk.
Maybe steps to protect platforms has never been taken seriously because the plot of the movie was too ridiculous to comprehend? It’s not that Hollywood has no concept whatsoever of the actual daily operation of an offshore platform is? Of course, we all remember the scenes of Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck on the jackup in “Armageddon”…now don’t we?
Ffolkes has to be one of the most abhorrent, abominable, appalling, awful, beastly, cruel, detestable, disagreeable, disgusting, dreadful, execrable, fearful, frightful, ghastly, gruesome, heinous, hideous, horrible, loathsome, lousy, nasty, obnoxious, offensive, repellent, revolting, scandalous, shameful, terrible, terrifying, ungodly movie ever made. It is truly painful to endure!
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I’m not sure who the anyone else is, but I find they use them much less then what was needed sailing blue water. 90% of the time I use my driver’s license to crew change in Fourchon, when going onto a container terminal, it was TWIC or nothing.
[QUOTE=salt’n steel;78718]The opportunities to inflict catastrophic damage and loss of life is almost infinite but the scenario described could give the Hadjies a good ticket to the 40 virgins. As for Russian subs patrolling in our back yard, probably happening more than you read about. I’m sure we are doing the same with our subs. The cold war isn’t really over- just more complicated.[/QUOTE]
As for subs in the GOM, our detection system in place today is incredibly accurate. Without a doubt some Russian subs have been there, probably are today as we are poking our beaks in the Russian waters. Games are being played. “The Bedford Incident” (a 1965 movie) comes to mind. Our Military-Industrial Complex seems bent on carrying our current Cold War to another level. Most news item out of Israel these days points to an ominous situation looming on the horizon. Will “it” happen? I surly hope not. Your line “The cold war isn’t really over- just more complicated” is very much spot on, salt’n steel.
[QUOTE=Sweat-n-Grease;78765]As for subs in the GOM, our detection system in place today is incredibly accurate. Without a doubt some Russian subs have been there, probably are today as we are poking our beaks in the Russian waters. Games are being played. “The Bedford Incident” (a 1965 movie) comes to mind. Our Military-Industrial Complex seems bent on carrying our current Cold War to another level. Most news item out of Israel these days points to an ominous situation looming on the horizon. Will “it” happen? I surly hope not. Your line “The cold war isn’t really over- just more complicated” is very much spot on, salt’n steel.[/QUOTE]
Of course if the sub was detected (and my bet is that it was, only two ways in and out of the Gulf and they are both fairly easy to place a subsea transducer array), why would the US Navy say that they knew it was there? That would be poor gamesmanship.
‘The Bedford Incident’ was a good movie about cold war cat and mouse games that go too far.
Cmakin is right, don’t believe everything you read. I doubt that Russian sub was undetected.
[QUOTE=salt’n steel;78780]‘The Bedford Incident’ was a good movie about cold war cat and mouse games that go too far.[/QUOTE]
Excellent Cast, riveting performances by all the Actors.
German Commodore Schrepke: This is insane
US Navy Captain Finlander: Now don’t worry, Commodore. The Bedford’ll never fire first. But if he fires one, I’ll fire one.
US Navy Ensign Ralston: [[I]launching the rocket] [/I]Fire One
I was at sea in the Fall of 1962, in the middle of the North Atlantic during the Cuban Missile Crises, we all thought we will shortly be in the Big One.
A time to remember !!
[QUOTE=cmakin;78773]Of course if the sub was detected (and my bet is that it was, only two ways in and out of the Gulf and they are both fairly easy to place a subsea transducer array), why would the US Navy say that they knew it was there? That would be poor gamesmanship.[/QUOTE]
Yup, that is how I look at the situation. Games are being played !!!
It appears this isn’t a dead issue yet.