Maersk Alabama captain going Hollywood

Richard Phillips, captain of the hijacked Maersk Alabama, became a media celebrity after being rescued from Somali pirates by Navy SEALS back in April of 2009. Next, he became a best selling author upon the publication of his book "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea." Now he's about to become the stuff of screen lore with the recent announcement that Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks is set to play him in a major upcoming motion picture.

The media has bought into the narrative that Phillips was the man of the match in the Alabama story, that he "sacrificed himself to Somali pirates to save his crew." That he is "now a folk hero."

The 18^th Century had John Paul Jones. The 19^th Century had William Bainbridge. The 20^th Century had Admiral Halsey.

Not everyone believes that the 21^st Century has Richard Phillips.

An Amazon.com reviewer of "A Captain's Duty" sums up the opinion of many.

"I did some investigation using Google and various newspapers and Wikipedia and found that - indeed - most of his own crew disagrees with some points of Capt Phillips' version of the hijacking," Esteban Ess reviewed.

"A very one sided story told from the vantage point of one man out of the crew - the Captain who was being held hostage while some of the other crew members had a more global view of the event," Ess continued.

"Especially the crew members who captured and held the pirate leader."

"What is Captain Philips doing now?" Ess asks.

Why, he's making movies while several of his crew are forced to go to the courts to get the justice they deserve after their captain knowingly sailed them into pirate infested waters.