Cheyne (Melvyn Douglas), while vomiting after consuming six ice cream sodas.He falls into the ocean - unbeknownst to anyone.He is rescued by a crusty, but likeable and kindly Portuguese fisherman with curly-locked hair named Manuel (Spencer Tracy), who works as a doryman on a Gloucester, Massachusetts fishing vessel off the Grand Banks [in the North Atlantic Ocean S/SE of Newfoundland]:Fifteen years I"ve been fisherman.She gave him a present of a white horse statuette, that reminded him of his previous night"s "really good dream," in which his mother was dressed in white like a beautiful ghost, and walking down a white sanitarium hallway leading a big white horse.This one came way before absurdist spoofs likeAirplane! (1980)andThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988).They discussed speaking to the Russian Federation leader - but President Zorkin was reported missing and there was a coup in Moscow, and General Bulgakov was in charge ("the asshole who wanted to use nukes in Chechnya").The French government has recognized Soviet Russia and he doubts that hey will risk a war for my poor sake.