Best submarine movie

[billyjex]

I voted for Hunt for Red October. Great f'ing movie.

Crimson Tide is 2nd.

[Rick Nebiolo]

Das Boot and it's not even close. In the eighties I worked for a defense contractor with many ex-submariners, some of whom served in WW2 vintage boats. All of them enjoyed it and thought the degree of realism was extremely high. I've seen the various versions about six times.

Crimson Tide is a joke. You don't send a Trident to sea to respond to some dubious third world threat, Trident was primarily part of MAD i.e., if you destroy our cities say goodbye to all of yours.

Hunt For Red October was OK but diverged from the book in critical ways that didn't make sense. For example, the Soviet Typhoon sub approaching American shores doesn't make it more dangerous since it's missles are long range and it's easier to detect and track the closer it gets. In the book the analysts understood that. A Typhoon's typical mode of operation was to stick itself under the thick icecap a short distance away from thin ice where it could break through and launch.

- Das Boot Spoiler Warning!!!!! -

Regarding Das Boot, many years ago I saw the longer director's cut in a local theater (I told this story more or less before when 2+2 was a baby but can't find it).

In a critical scene near the end the sub is stuck on the bottom with all sorts of flooding and mechanical problems. About the only one working the problem at this point (fourteen hours after the original incident) is the Chief of the Boat, since oxygen was in running out (sleeping men use less oxygen) and he was the best mechanic.

Anyway, things are very grim. The reporter who was along for the ride is alone with the Captain and asks "Is there any hope?" The Captain slowly shakes his head and the reporter breaks down and cries, describing how there is no glory in death and all he feels is fear, etc (this is an emotional scene that I can't put into words).

The chief slowly makes his way to the Captain's quarters. The Captain's face slowly turns to hear the news.

"What is it Chief?"

"Damage report Captain. Main pump fixed. Batteries now bridged and we have half power. Compass now working, etc. etc." (They were now in position to pump the water out of the bilge into a ballast tank and have one shot with compressed air to lighten the boat enough to have a chance to get it off the bottom).

The Captain finally says "Good Chief, now get some rest"

"No Captain, there still are a few problems with whatever."

The Chief slowly leaves to fix the last problems. The Captain looks down and says: "You've got to have good people"

I almost jumped out of my chair. Of course in the original movie put out years earlier (actually derived from a mini-series on German TV) the quote was "You've got to have good men" but somehow this line was changed to be politically correct. I just hate PC when it conflicts with reality.

A couple years ago I ended up buying the director's cut DVD and was pleasantly surprised to find that line was changed back to ""You've got to have good men". I always like to think they were reading my post on 2+2 and decided to make it right.

~ Rick

[offTopic]

Ringo: Hey, I wonder what'll happen if I pull this lever.
Old Fred: Oh, you mustn't do that now.
Ringo: Can't help it. I'm a born "Liver-pooler."

[youtalkfunny]

As soon as I put the list up, I realized I left off "Yellow Submarine".

But I was OK with it. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

As for "20,000 Leagues", direct your questions to CinCSub.