U-571 writer admits (some) mistakes

Rose · 05-23-07, 11:25 PM

Sorry if this has been posted before (It's about a year old...), but I just found it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5263164.stm

Thought it was a classy move on his part. Would have been classy-er if he had not done it in the first place.

And, while he ackknowledges the change from British to American, he mentions nothing of the other historical and technical inaccuracies of the film.

I have to admit it was one of my favorite films when I was younger -- before I discovered SH2 and 3 and Subsim where I learned the REAL history. The film was quite entertaining.

Onkel Neal · 05-23-07, 11:27 PM

Yeah, the film was quite entertaining, I really enjoyed seeing Bon Jovi in a uniform. Sorry they wasted what could have been a great performance by Brian Keith. The film was never meant to depict actual events, it as a submarine story, that's all. Anyway, the US did actually take and board a U-boat in the war.

bookworm_020 · 05-24-07, 01:09 AM

It's good for mind dead entertainment, but it's light of for fact.

Nice that he admits to some of the mistakes!!

NefariousKoel · 05-24-07, 01:45 AM

They did run some credits at the end stating which allied vessels captured which Uboats. It was obviously very lopsided towards the Brits so I think they were trying to apologize about the historical inaccuracies after it was all over (if you read between the lines).

They were apologizing about their fictional creation already.

DanCanovas · 05-24-07, 02:59 AM

Im British and I wasn't bothered about the historical inaccuracies! everyone knows who captured the Enigma first, i'll not be bitter about it. I was more bothered about the 4 or 5 crew operating a full u-boat with higher efficiency than a whole crew :rotfl:

August · 05-24-07, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Yeah, the film was quite entertaining, I really enjoyed seeing Bon Jovi in a uniform. Sorry they wasted what could have been a great performance by Brian Keith. The film was never meant to depict actual events, it as a submarine story, that's all. Anyway, the US did actually take and board a U-boat in the war.

I especially enjoyed seeing Bon Jovi get nailed by that flying hatch cover and yes the US did capture a U-Boat during WW2 on the high seas by boarding (arrr). The first time the command "Away boarders" had been issued by an American Navy Captain against an enemy ship since the war of 1812.

http://www.fransorb.com/cve60.htm

Jimbuna · 05-24-07, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanCanovas

Im British and I wasn't bothered about the historical inaccuracies! everyone knows who captured the Enigma first, i'll not be bitter about it. I was more bothered about the 4 or 5 crew operating a full u-boat with higher efficiency than a whole crew :rotfl:

Precisely

Frau_Phillips · 05-24-07, 10:35 AM

I've never seen that one. When I was asking Rich for good Sub movies to watch, he specifically referred to that one as "****" and "Worst movie ever" etc.

Smaragdadler · 05-24-07, 11:44 AM

The point about U-571 is, that it makes so much stupid mistakes, but at the same time thinks itself so ********** seriously. Not a good combination - if you want to impress people with some intellect...
But in a way because of this, it has become a classic of its own league now...

August · 05-24-07, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smaragdadler

The point about U-571 is, that it makes so much stupid mistakes, but at the same time thinks itself so ********** seriously. Not a good combination - if you want to impress people with some intellect...
But in a way because of this, it has become a classic of its own league now...

A Hollywood movie takes itself seriously? Isn't that a contradiction?

Smaragdadler · 05-24-07, 02:09 PM

No. The seriousness of Hollywood lies in the will to make money, no matter the cost...

Chock · 05-24-07, 02:14 PM

The thing about U-571 is that, for a lot of people who aren't rivet-counters, they don't really notice the mistakes, so it probably seems fairly accurate in those circumstances. If people can watch it like that, fair enough.

When I saw U-571 at the cinema, and they were figuring out the German sub's controls and getting it going, I was waiting for the A-Team music to kick in, it really is that silly. And I laughed my ass off at the German 'destroyer' in the movie that was evidently loaded up to the gunwales with Napalm and C4 when it exploded. But, I suppose if you switch your brain off, it passes the time.

Must admit, I think that as far as people being upset by historical innaccuracies, they'd have been better off putting a caption at the end of U-571 apologising to the men of the Kriegsmarine, as opposed to pointing out that the Brits got an Enigma machine before the Americans. The cardboard cut-out portrayal of Nazi scumbags on a submarine in U-571 was as preposterous as it was innaccurate, and far more of an insult than anything else in the film. You only have to read the story about U-27 and the Q-Ship Baralong, or U-156 and the British troopship Laconia to see exactly who the ones are with something to be ashamed of when it comes to atrocities in submarine warfare, and it certainly wasn't the Germans.

In any case, the Enigma machine was hardly the key to sussing out German messages, the code books were the important stuff. You could have popped along to the Patent Office in London in the 1920s and 1930s and checked out patents for rotor encoding machines similar to the ones the Germans used quite easily, and the thing was available commercially in many countries well before the Second World War started.

The real work of decoding German communications was in the computing advances made at Bletchley Park by Alan Turing and his colleagues. A man incidentally, who was treated appallingly by the British after the war, which is something the British Government should be ashamed of. Although Manchester in the UK, a city where I work, has at least had the decency to put up a sculpture of Turing, and name a road after him.

U-571 is a popcorn movie, nothing more, and not even a very good one.

Chock

Rose · 05-24-07, 02:17 PM

I completely agree Chock. As I said before, when I first saw it I was about 9 or 10 years old -- far too young to notice the preposterous innaccuracies. However, last time I saw it on HBO I couldn't sit through five minutes without laughing.

Frau_Phillips · 05-24-07, 09:23 PM

I also notice that U-571 has been the submarine movie that I've seen the most on American television, which must mean its the generally accepted film documentation of U-Boats.

Ah, it is quite sad.

ASWnut101 · 05-24-07, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frau_Phillips

I also notice that U-571 has been the submarine movie that I've seen the most on American television, which must mean its the generally accepted film documentation of U-Boats.

Ah, it is quite sad.

I know. In fact, that's the only submarine movie (besides Crimpson Tide) that ever plays at all anymore.

Do you get DirecTV? U-571 plays on "Bravo" like every other week. Crimpson Tide plays on Showtime every so often.

I've only seen Das Boot twice on the show listings, and at that time I was not into the whole submarine thing (It was about 4-5 years ago). I shamefully say that I've got to be the only one here who hasn't seen the full showing of Das Boot.

...anyone got a spare DVD with it or something?

05-23-07, 11:25 PM	#1
Rose Grey Wolf Join Date: May 2006 Location: New York City Posts: 966 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	U-571 writer admits (some) mistakes Sorry if this has been posted before (It's about a year old...), but I just found it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5263164.stm Thought it was a classy move on his part. Would have been classy-er if he had not done it in the first place. And, while he ackknowledges the change from British to American, he mentions nothing of the other historical and technical inaccuracies of the film. I have to admit it was one of my favorite films when I was younger -- before I discovered SH2 and 3 and Subsim where I learned the REAL history. The film was quite entertaining.

05-23-07, 11:27 PM	#2
Onkel Neal Born to Run Silent Join Date: Jan 1997 Location: Cougar Trap, Texas Posts: 21,385 Downloads: 541 Uploads: 224	Yeah, the film was quite entertaining, I really enjoyed seeing Bon Jovi in a uniform. Sorry they wasted what could have been a great performance by Brian Keith. The film was never meant to depict actual events, it as a submarine story, that's all. Anyway, the US did actually take and board a U-boat in the war. __________________ SUBSIM - 26 Years on the Web

05-24-07, 01:09 AM	#3
bookworm_020 Navy Seal Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sinking ships off the Australian coast Posts: 5,966 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	It's good for mind dead entertainment, but it's light of for fact. Nice that he admits to some of the mistakes!! __________________ "There is always one person in any organization who knows whats going on, That person must be fired"

05-24-07, 01:45 AM	#4
NefariousKoel Ace of the Deep Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: No-good Missouri scum Posts: 1,223 Downloads: 43 Uploads: 0	They did run some credits at the end stating which allied vessels captured which Uboats. It was obviously very lopsided towards the Brits so I think they were trying to apologize about the historical inaccuracies after it was all over (if you read between the lines). They were apologizing about their fictional creation already. __________________ "When Gary told me he had found Jesus, I thought, Yahoo! We're rich! But it turned out to be something different." - Jack Handey

05-24-07, 02:59 AM	#5
DanCanovas Grey Wolf Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 778 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Im British and I wasn't bothered about the historical inaccuracies! everyone knows who captured the Enigma first, i'll not be bitter about it. I was more bothered about the 4 or 5 crew operating a full u-boat with higher efficiency than a whole crew :rotfl: __________________

05-24-07, 10:35 AM	#8
Frau_Phillips Machinist's Mate Join Date: May 2007 Location: The wrong side of the ocean Posts: 122 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I've never seen that one. When I was asking Rich for good Sub movies to watch, he specifically referred to that one as "****" and "Worst movie ever" etc.

05-24-07, 11:44 AM	#9
Smaragdadler XO Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Thuringia Posts: 429 Downloads: 16 Uploads: 0	The point about U-571 is, that it makes so much stupid mistakes, but at the same time thinks itself so ********** seriously. Not a good combination - if you want to impress people with some intellect... But in a way because of this, it has become a classic of its own league now...

05-24-07, 02:09 PM	#11
Smaragdadler XO Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Thuringia Posts: 429 Downloads: 16 Uploads: 0	No. The seriousness of Hollywood lies in the will to make money, no matter the cost...

05-24-07, 02:14 PM	#12
Chock Sea Lord Join Date: May 2005 Location: Under a thermal layer in chilly Olde England Posts: 1,842 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	The thing about U-571 is that, for a lot of people who aren't rivet-counters, they don't really notice the mistakes, so it probably seems fairly accurate in those circumstances. If people can watch it like that, fair enough. When I saw U-571 at the cinema, and they were figuring out the German sub's controls and getting it going, I was waiting for the A-Team music to kick in, it really is that silly. And I laughed my ass off at the German 'destroyer' in the movie that was evidently loaded up to the gunwales with Napalm and C4 when it exploded. But, I suppose if you switch your brain off, it passes the time. Must admit, I think that as far as people being upset by historical innaccuracies, they'd have been better off putting a caption at the end of U-571 apologising to the men of the Kriegsmarine, as opposed to pointing out that the Brits got an Enigma machine before the Americans. The cardboard cut-out portrayal of Nazi scumbags on a submarine in U-571 was as preposterous as it was innaccurate, and far more of an insult than anything else in the film. You only have to read the story about U-27 and the Q-Ship Baralong, or U-156 and the British troopship Laconia to see exactly who the ones are with something to be ashamed of when it comes to atrocities in submarine warfare, and it certainly wasn't the Germans. In any case, the Enigma machine was hardly the key to sussing out German messages, the code books were the important stuff. You could have popped along to the Patent Office in London in the 1920s and 1930s and checked out patents for rotor encoding machines similar to the ones the Germans used quite easily, and the thing was available commercially in many countries well before the Second World War started. The real work of decoding German communications was in the computing advances made at Bletchley Park by Alan Turing and his colleagues. A man incidentally, who was treated appallingly by the British after the war, which is something the British Government should be ashamed of. Although Manchester in the UK, a city where I work, has at least had the decency to put up a sculpture of Turing, and name a road after him. U-571 is a popcorn movie, nothing more, and not even a very good one. Chock

05-24-07, 02:17 PM	#13
Rose Grey Wolf Join Date: May 2006 Location: New York City Posts: 966 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I completely agree Chock. As I said before, when I first saw it I was about 9 or 10 years old -- far too young to notice the preposterous innaccuracies. However, last time I saw it on HBO I couldn't sit through five minutes without laughing.

05-24-07, 09:23 PM	#14
Frau_Phillips Machinist's Mate Join Date: May 2007 Location: The wrong side of the ocean Posts: 122 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I also notice that U-571 has been the submarine movie that I've seen the most on American television, which must mean its the generally accepted film documentation of U-Boats. Ah, it is quite sad.