Word: roustabout
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...film revolves around the affairs of a small town Newfoundland roustabout named Will Cole. Among the principal events that he either witnesses or participates in are the marriage and death of his best friend, a prolonged and painful series of encounters with a girl, (an upper-class former high school friend) and a couple of visits to an old man in a nursing home. They do not accumulate to produce either a change in Cole or even a clear definition of an unchanging character type...
...Schwartz, director of the Hennepin County program: "If the people with master's degrees who come to us had their intuitive skills, we'd be a lot further down the road." The once wayward Dan, now off probation, credits the Morins with transforming him from a worthless roustabout into a steadily employed construction worker with a union badge. "All my life I've been in trouble," he admits. "But they came over and made me talk. Now I feel grown up. It's not that they order you to do things. They're more like...
...Roustabouts or technicians, all are effectively imprisoned on their tight little island. No alcohol, not even beer, is permitted on board. Fighting means immediate dismissal; lateness to a post a severe reprimand. Always, the threat of death or serious injury is with the crew. Two months ago, about 100 miles away on the gulf, a fiery blowout on one platform killed six men and destroyed 20 operating wells. Several veteran roustabouts have fingers missing from accidents. Last September, a roustabout was killed when a 600-lb. section of pipe fell and crushed his skull...
...never realized that human beings could work this hard," says James Mc-Alister, 22, a Belfast-born roustabout who fled the religious wars of home. "At 6 in the morning, it's dark, wet and cold. You begin sweeping the water from the deck that accumulates from the night's mists. The deck must be kept dry so that the men don't slip and fall. Everything is steel, so a fall can really do damage. Whatever you do, you get filthy. Your hands, your face, your shoes, trousers and shirt become smeared with grease, rust...
...mess hall, a young, rawboned roustabout drains his coffee cup, zips up his waterproof jacket and stands, listening briefly for the fickle north wind that whips cruelly across the gulf this time of year. Then he sighs: "Well, 1 guess it's time to feed my young'uns." Somehow his words sound like a motto for the offshore oilmen...