Pierman: Peter Falk	Guigliani: Andy Garcia
Skippy: Charles Durning	Joe: Robert Forster
Stan: J.J. Johnston	Fireman: Denis Leary
Dale Katzman: Tony Mamet	Fred: Jack Wallace
Collins: George Wendt	Prostitute/cop/party girl: Roberta Angelica
Janice: Lori Gordon	Fred (at 18): Steven Grayhm
Director: Joe Mantegna

30 Second Bottom Line: A 24 four year old graduate school student comes of age, when he takes a summer job on a freighter with a bunch of jaded older men.

Story Line: Peter Falk out Colombo's himself with his wit as a worker who launches freighters on the Great Lakes. He uses his friendly demeanor rather than his analytical skills to set up the story of the characters on the ship.

Dale Katzman (Tony Mamet) is on break from grad school for the summer and wants to make some money by working on a freighter, sailing the Great Lakes. The Seaway Queen has a small crew of crusty old men, led by Skippy and Collins (Charles Durning and George Wendt), who set the tone. They are overweight and mushy headed to the point that you wonder if they enough skills to leave the dock, let alone sail through a set of tight locks from one lake to another. Their main focus seems to be to ensure that Dale, who's hired on as a cook, is able to produce an egg sandwich within five minutes of the request.

Dale comes into contact with older men who think they have something to tell him about life. Joe and Stan (Robert Forster and J.J. Johnston) have more to say to each other than to Dale, as they jive talk about hard drinking and embellished sexual escapades. At one point Joe tells Dale, "You got it made." Joe sees that Dale's life is all in front of him; whereas, he and the others must live with the lifetime of decisions they've made….remembering dreams of the past that may never have really happened.

When I was working my way through college, I worked at the US Post Office, long before the term "going postal" meant what we now understand all too well. Yes, there were men, who were ten to twenty or so years older than the college kids, that talked about life and how to make the transition from a young man to a grown man. This film will probably remind you of adults you met when you first had real relationships with them on a peer-to-peer basis. It should be interesting to reflect back and ask yourself the question, did they help me at all?

Tell Me More About It: Knowing that this is based upon Mamet's first theater play may help you better enjoy the film. At least you know not to expect too much of a change of scenery which the movie previews lead you to believe. When I envisioned a freighter on the Great Lakes, I expected that the route taken by the boat was an important component of the story. Instead, the ship was really just the stage for the dialogue to take place. Recent movies making the translation from stage to screen, that are very talky and similar to Lakeboat, are The Big Kahuna and Once in the Life.

In Lakeboat, I found the explanation confusing as to why Guigliani (Andy Garcia), the ship's night cook, was not able to make it back to the boat, after his carousing at a local bar. Roberta Angelica and Garcia appear together in three different scenarios of three possible explanations for Guigliani's downfall; all involve the treachery of women. This gives the crew a tale to tell, full of embellishment, since no one really knows what happened. But that's what these guys do best. Depending on which one you accept, Angelica's character is a prostitute, an undercover cop or a party girl. Had Guigliani made it back to the ship, I'm not quite sure what Dale's job would have been.

Some movies qualify as chick flicks because they are aimed at a female audience. Then there are films aimed at men that are not action oriented, such as Lakeboat. These could be called a name, which rhymes with chick flicks, except the word before flicks… starts with a "d." The focus of this film is on sex talk among men. There is one particularly effective segment when the grown Fred (Jack Wallace) tells the story of the teenagers Fred (Steven Grayhm) and Janice (Lori Gordon). They begin with plenty of heavy petting (dry humping) and end with doing the real thing.

Dale begins his journey on the freighter as a somewhat enlightened person. Not wise in the ways of the world but book smart. He's here to observe and learn about a culture of men that he knows nothing of. This may come as a revelation, even to him. But he's destined to be a writer, the voice of David Mamet, no doubt.

Charles Durning: O Brother, Where Art Thou?	Robert Forster: Supernova
J.J. Johnston: The Spanish Prisoner	Denis Leary: The Thomas Crown Affair
Tony Mamet: The Spanish Prisoner	Jack Wallace: Boogie Nights
George Wendt: SNL-TV	Roberta Angelica: Urban Legend
Peter Falk: Columbo-TV	Andy Garcia: Ocean's Eleven
Lori Gordon: Relic Hunter-TV	Steven Grayhm: Debut
Joe Mantegna: Liberty Heights