Best sub movie ever seen?!

[Dogfish40]

Since there was a post about the worst sub movie, I thought, why not post the best!! It's probably been done all the same but why not? Of course this is a hard decision, I've got three.
1. The Hunt for Red October. I think I paid to see this one two times before buying the video. Edge of my seat the entire time....
2. Run silent, Run deep. I just got the DVD in the mail and it's a great movie. Of course it's not perfect but they do address things like the TDC and several other technicalities that other older sub movies pass over. It's got a little bit of the "Capt Ahab" theme with the Skipper going after his white Whale.
3. And of course "Das Boot". I feel a little masochistic every time I watch this one, asking myself, why...why do I want to put myself through this again. However, I watch it again and again. Once a year.
Let's have some feedback
D40/Currently riding the Snapper:salute:

[Armistead]

Das Boot for realism. I love all the old WW2 movies, but most unrealistic, so Das Boot would be close.

Torpedo Run, OK.

[aanker]

- "Run Silent, Run Deep" - (my favorite) followed by:

- "Das Boot" - The German language with English subtitles version.

I will watch a WW II era submarine movie no matter how many times I have seen it.

However I do enjoy "Down Periscope". Some good shots of PAMPANITO which stood in for the fictitious "USS Stingray SS-161" - (the real USS Stingray SS-186 was sold for scrap).

Happy Hunting!

Art

PS: of course I watched "Yellow Submarine" in 1969 (and yes, I do remember )

[Alky]

U-571 was realistic not exactly sure how factual though. :)

[xnavytc]

Graylady down, very realistic, so much so, that when it came out in the theaters many years ago, the submarine squadron in charleston sc sent a letter to all th wives of gf, asking them not to go see it, and then they had a special showing of it, on base, for the squadron wives and gf, moms and dads. The admiral came out and spoke, then afterwards, the CMC came out and answered questions for about an hour

[Rip]

Graylady down, very realistic, so much so, that when it came out in the theaters many years ago, the submarine squadron in charleston sc sent a letter to all th wives of gf, asking them not to go see it, and then they had a special showing of it, on base, for the squadron wives and gf, moms and dads. The admiral came out and spoke, then afterwards, the CMC came out and answered questions for about an hour

That used to be our initiation film. It was always scheduled for the first night out on patrol.

Lots of fun being underway at extreme depth with the bottom many thousands of feet below and watching the noobs watch this flick. We usually watched for the guys that joked through it as candidates for the damage control team. Guys on that team should be unfamiliar with fear.
:lurk:

[Sailor Steve]

Das Boot, hands down. There are a lot of good ones out there, but the question was the best?


U-571 was realistic not exactly sure how factual though. :)
Not factual at all, nor particularly realistic.

[WernherVonTrapp]

I concur with Dogfish. Though fictional and very loosely based on an actual event, I found The Hunt For Red October to be a very good movie. I too own a copy on DVD. As far as realism, well, one aspect of realism, I liked Das Boot. Especially since, when it first showed in theaters, it gave a different perspective than what I had been previously experiencing or had learned.
On the other hand, I thought U-571 was rubbish, sheep dip, but what do I know?

[Swabbie]

Das Boot and Hunt for Red October are great movies. But I grew up with the old back & whites stuff. My list of three favorites are:

Run Silent Run Deep, great picture. Too bad it was almost nothing like Beach's book though.

Operation Pacific, John Wayne. Need I say more?

The Enemy Below, classic destroyer vs submarine story.

Two other great submarine movies. That probably wouldn't otherwise be mentioned in this thread. Because they are not factual nor realistic are:

Operation Petticoat, the 1959 version with Cary Grant. Can you think of a better submarine comedy?

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Disney 1954 version with James Mason as Captain Nemo. Who did love that one when they were a kid?

U-571 was a good movie if you didn't know anything about submarines.

I guess after movies will come television shows.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.:up:

[Gerald]

U-571 was realistic not exactly sure how factual though. :) FYI; http://www.uboat.net/boats/u571.htm

[Diopos]

Das Boot. There are moments where you almost "smell" it. (People that have lived with others, in "close quarters", will understand what I mean ...)

.

[Alky]

Das Boot. There are moments where you almost "smell" it. (People that have lived with others, in "close quarters", will understand what I mean ...)

.
In an interview I saw with Werner Hirschmann, the engineer on U-190, mentioned that the scenes in Das Boot where they were being depth charged was very unrealistic. He said the boat doesn't roll around like in the movie, it's more of a violent shudder.
I do however like Das Boot and have the full length version (5 hrs?) and have watched the German with english sub-titles and the english version. Reading the movie was a pain but the lip syncing was just as annoying but slightly easier to watch :DL

[Armistead]

U-571 was realistic not exactly sure how factual though. :)

:har::har::har:

[danurve]

Run Silent Run Deep was BS, the sub / story line - whatever had the sub doing neither.

The Enemy Below was a good story but the details made it boderline BS.

U571 is based on complete fiction but had good details and special affects.

Red Oct. - Needs no words, holds it's own.

Same goes for Das Boot.

There will most likely never again be another movie like it. So how about all the spoiled self proclaimed historicaly accurate whiners get over yourselves. The rest of us are going to watch and enjoy what we want to dispite your opinion.
Deal with it. :arrgh!:

[Sailor Steve]

That was rude.

[aanker]

Rude but cool Firefox Subsim search trick. Thanks! ( almost as good as the Firefox search box: "subsim.com: search terms" search).

Also, I liked "The Enemy Below" too, it counts, and I forgot to include it.

Happy Hunting!

Art

[Rockin Robbins]

Analyzed sufficiently, any submarine or other movie falls apart in absurdities. This is because it just would take way too long to do it right. We'd probably die of boredom in the process. How can you have an action movie if you have to stop and explain everything all the time? Counting rivets is a terrible way to critique a movie.

You can take Das Boot for an example. The sub is beneath the waves and the captain comes up for a look around. He pops up the scope and of course, to build suspense, at first the waves make it very difficult to resolve anything. Then as the vision clears, suddenly looming at great speed is this previously undetected destroyer. ALAAAAAAARRRRRRMMMMM!!!!!! Panic ensues and the viewer is all shook up there.

In real life there is a procedure for raising the scope. Before you do such a thing, you call for your sonar operator to search all around. This may not detect a destroyer at great range due to surface conditions, but it certainly will detect one running down your position at close range at high speed. The sonar operator would merely announce a fast approaching destroyer on the bearing, the captain would go to silent running and get some depth.

But that would mean the great scene could never happen! So what do you do? Withhold some reality to make an impressively moving scene or stick to reality and have no scene at all? Come on! These are movie people! You KNOW what their decision is.:D

[Platapus]

Having read the book Das Boot a few times, I would never want to sit through a "faithful" movie of the book

ZZZzzzzzzzz

[Mr.Rooster]

Hay guys don't forget Crimson Tide.Which is an excellant movie.
Then there a old B&W based on the British X Craft which I believe is called Submarine X. I thought it was an ok show but the real star of the show was the Sub.

[Dogfish40]

Analyzed sufficiently, any submarine or other movie falls apart in absurdities. This is because it just would take way too long to do it right. We'd probably die of boredom in the process. How can you have an action movie if you have to stop and explain everything all the time? Counting rivets is a terrible way to critique a movie.
:D

This is a good point, and I have to count this in when Judging a movie that is part History/Part Hollywood. The movie is still produced (if it's a story, not a Documentary) for the public. So I definitely factor this in when judging these films. Most of the films (or all) that have been mentioned in this post are really good ones. A little adjustment for personal taste, but great all the same.
I mentioned Run Silent for instance because, when it was made, the public still had not heard a lot about the Submarine war and there are a few scenes that surprised me for it's attention to detail. Even though the story never happened (with the IJN sub surprising everyone), it was written by a navy man.
So, I still pop all these in sometimes while I'm playing, and I'm glad there here and available to watch. I didn't mention "Destination Tokyo" 'cause that one seemed to lack a bit for me anyway. Good stuff.
Happy Hunting.
D40:salute:

[Gargamel]

Watched grey lady down the other night. Good film. I can see how it would scare the crap outa FNG's on a boat their first tour. The acting was a little hokey, I did enjoy watching the crew intentionally run into things to act like the deck was heaving. What made it cool was the attention to detail, and the use of actual Navy equipment. Not sure on the sub detail (never been on one), but the rest of it was damn good. I'm usually a stickler for details like that, and I enjoyed it.

Also saw Sea Wolves. Story about the RN DF's a Nazi transmitter to an "interned" boat in Gao (Neutral Portugal port in India). And basically hasa bunch of retiree's take it out. Roger moore plays a james bond'esque character in it. Basically, imagine the Navy asking a bunch of subsimmers (us) to go on a special ops misison. Good flick.

[rssb69]

Das Boot was the best submarine movie I ever saw, in my book nothing comes close.

[Kongo Otto]

Also saw Sea Wolves. Story about the RN DF's a Nazi transmitter to an "interned" boat in Gao (Neutral Portugal port in India). And basically hasa bunch of retiree's take it out. Roger moore plays a james bond'esque character in it. Basically, imagine the Navy asking a bunch of subsimmers (us) to go on a special ops misison. Good flick.

Well Sea Wolves based on true events:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcutta_Light_Horse

I liked the movie too, was a really good one.
Greogory Peck, David Niven, Trevor Howard, Roger Moore great cast.

[TorpX]

Yes, that is one of my favorite films. I had always wondered if it was based on any actual events. A forgotten gem.

Thank-you for posting this link. This made my day. :up:



As far as the more traditional, sub movies, I would have to say Das Boot, with Hunt for Red October being a runner up. It has been too long since I've seen the older flicks to fairly rate them.

I vaguely remember one with Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine. Does anyone know the title?

[Kongo Otto]

I vaguely remember one with Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine. Does anyone know the title?

Torpedo Run was the name i think.

[TorpX]

Thanks.

[Hylander_1314]

Except for U-571, I liked them all for little things they had, even the old WWII propaganda films like Destination Tokyo. The special effects weren't the greatest by today's standards, but the story was good. As long as the story is good, that's what really counts.