Upcoming WW2 Sub Movie "USS Seaviper"

[jazzabilly]

My best war movies of all time. I'm a sucker for "Top Ten" lists. In no particular order:

1. All Quiet On The Western Front (1932)
2. Lawrence Of Arabia
3. Der Untergang English title: "Downfall"
4. Das Boot (Director's Cut)
5. The Best Years Of Our Lives
6. Glory
7. Apocolypse Now (Redux)
8. Paths Of Glory
9. The Burmese Harp (this one made me cry) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burmese_Harp_(film)
10. The Thin Red Line - far superior, IMHO, to Saving Private Ryan, which I consider a CGI Sargeant Rock Comic)

Honorable mentions:
~Breaker Morant
~Gallipoli
~The Cruel Sea
~The Great Escape
~J'Accuse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27accuse_(1919_film)

[kiwi_2005]

Seaviper looks promising.

[Carl Lyons]

The New Seaviper web site is up.

www.ussseaviper.net.

Best,
Carl Lyons
Seaviper the Movie
USS Drum Documentary

[snakeyez]

New video about filming

In the short video found in the link above, you get to meet Tom Bowser and Lesley Waters, the caretakers of the USS Drum.

[AVGWarhawk]

I hope the producers listen and listen good. A hokie sub movie we do not need. Thanks for posting Snakeyez.

[Folducker]

Originally Posted by surf_ten

I can't wait to see the Hollywood messages this movie is going to contain. Throwing away any true historical context I expect to see a strong female character that captain's the boat and can easily emasculates any male chavinists twit that get's in her way. She is accompanied with her faithful minority second in command that has that folksy charm and wit . Add in a gay couple that just seeks civil justice but is tormented by several homophobe crew members that seeks to deny them their rights. The crew members who don't exhibit the stereotypical insensitive warmongering redneck behaviors will be countered by the rationally thinking atheists, enviromentally senisitive crew members. Yup should be a winner alright.

Don't forget the reference to Fox News as the root of all evil.

[Sensekhmet]

I actually quite liked Saints and Soldiers.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373283/

[Wicked Popsicle]

Originally Posted by snakeyez

New video about filming

In the short video found in the link above, you get to meet Tom Bowser and Leslie Waters, the caretakers of the USS Drum.

Lulz the anchorman at the end said USS drum sank 15 ships in WWI. I hope I am not the only one to catch that.

[Marinesko]

Originally Posted by surf_ten

I can't wait to see the Hollywood messages this movie is going to contain. Throwing away any true historical context I expect to see a strong female character that captain's the boat and can easily emasculates any male chavinists twit that get's in her way. She is accompanied with her faithful minority second in command that has that folksy charm and wit . Add in a gay couple that just seeks civil justice but is tormented by several homophobe crew members that seeks to deny them their rights. The crew members who don't exhibit the stereotypical insensitive warmongering redneck behaviors will be countered by the rationally thinking atheists, enviromentally senisitive crew members. Yup should be a winner alright.

Oh you mean like when they put all those women, gay guys, black dudes(OH NO!!!), etc. into Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers, etc.?

[Marinesko]

I guess this came from the site?

A U.S. submarine is trapped below by a Japanese destroyer,
and its crew holds a secret for the turning point of WW II.

Doesn't this film take place in 1944? They missed the turning point of WWII by a year.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Marinesko

I guess this came from the site?

A U.S. submarine is trapped below by a Japanese destroyer,
and its crew holds a secret for the turning point of WW II.

Doesn't this film take place in 1944? They missed the turning point of WWII by a year.

If you take the commonly accepted turning point of the Pacific War at the 1942 Battle of Midway, more like two years. Looks like the plot includes some Germans. I guess the Japanese aren't dangerous enough.

[Marinesko]

Guess someone with screenwriting software needs to start working on adapting Wahoo or something to movie format. There really should be a submarine equivalent to Band of Brothers.

[MetalMania]

Sorry, this post is probably gonna be a bit lengthy. I'll probably get slammed for this, but I liked U-571. I took it for what it was, a Hollywood WWII FICTIONAL action drama with some events (very) loosely based on things that actually happened, or could have happened. I'm not a submariner nor do I know any, so no I am no expert but I'm not exactly sure what bits of it seem to have cut people so deeply here. It wasn't a documentary nor was it supposed to be. I haven't seen it in a while but I think at the end they DO scroll some text saying that the British were the ones who recovered the Enigma along with some other factual information. Got a problem with Matthew McConaughey and Jon Bon Jovi? At least they were recognizeable names that might have brought some viewers that might otherwise have passed it up.

Whenever these movies come up people always start crying over "that's not right! That's not how it happened! Oh God, there's a WOMAN in the plot!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Heresy!" It's kind of the same thing when a new sim comes out, everybody jumps all over it because it doesn't model this targeting system absolutely accurately, this rivet is out of place, this plane's flight model isn't right, that ship's guns are too accurate. Some things, when they are glaringly wrong deserve to be corrected. I am not saying realism is not important, it is. But whether it's a movie or a game (even though it's a simulation it's still a game), the people who produce it need to sell it and try to make a profit. It's not cheap making high end games/ sims or movies. They need to be entertaining. Deciding to make a WWII submarine product is already limiting market appeal, so tailoring it to the nth degree to appease the ultra hard core crowd is only going to further limit its reach. Please don't misunderstand me, I would be in an uproar too if we saw Gato class subs racing around submerged at 20 kts after taking depth charge hits and firing active homing Mk-14's. However, I think with the realities of the media market we have to allow some wiggle room for people to tell their stories and give respect to the realities of what people really experienced in a context that people beyond the hard core will watch.

I think USS SeaViper sounds promising, like they are trying to "keep it real" while still making a movie that a non sub-nut could watch. The fact that they are simultaneously doing a genuine documentary - *all reality* - especially since it seems like they aren't working with a mega blockbuster budget, really deserves a round of applause. Like has been said earlier in this thread, they chose to make a film based on a subject we're all interested in here in a day where that doesn't happen very much. It's not going to be "perfect" and nail every detail, but if we crucify it for taking hopefully minor liberties the next guy just might not bother. I will see this movie when it comes out, and judge it then on its own merit of being just that - a movie that hopefully is engaging to watch with the requisite thrills and dramatic turns while maybe giving a decent glance at the atmosphere of a particular niche of the Pacific War.

I'm just finishing reading "Wahoo" and will follow it with "Clear the Bridge". I'd love to see a well done movie or HBO miniseries on Richard O'Kane. Mr Hanks, Mr Spielberg?

Oh yeah, for what it is I enjoyed Pearl Harbor too. Inaccuracies aside the flying scenes (except for the silly on the deck criss cross midair collision duel during the attack) were good and uh, Kate Beckinsale.

[snakeyez]

Well said, MetalMania.



As I previously stated, Ralph Villani is the director and co-writer of this movie. His father P.J. Villani was a WWII submariner and served on the USS Drum for what would have been the 14th war patrol if the war hadn't ended.

His heart IS in the right place. The producer, Rob Norris, feels very strongly about the subject as well. These are good people.

[Stealhead]

Hanks and Berg have been working on a miniseris about i belive a group of marines in the Pacific so i dont think that they will be doing anything about O'Kane soon(if they ever even plan to). Band of Brothers was pretty expensive and that was the last thing they did together and that was about 8 years or so ago now. The thing with a submarine movie is that it is very niche and of course any one who is going to make or put money into a movie is going to be concerned about the market and you are going to get a lot more market out of a movie or miniseris about either infantryman or fighter pilots hate to say they get all the glory. But at the same time you must admit that there is alot more action to be had in a movie about a group of soliders than there is a submarine. Even a very good movie like Das Boot I only watch every few years there just isnt enough mass intrest in WWII submarines that is going to attract any large well funded group into making a movie or mini-series the hayday for WWII subs in main stream media was the 50s and early 60s. There is are alot of other less well known units and such from WWII for example you think they are going to make a movie about the CBI like Marels Marauders? not likely.Myself to be honest Id find a miniseries about Marines who fought in the Island hopping much more interesting than WWII subs those Marines went through hell on earth. MetalMania is correct all movies are going to have some "hollywood" in them Das Boot does just like any other of Enemy at The Gates a pretty good movie but much of the story is very "hollywood" but it made someone who most americans never heard off a little more famous. Something dose not have to high budget to be good either anyway you cant knok it down until you see a movie.