Submarine movies

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Graham Kennedy
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Submarine movies

Post by Graham Kennedy »

So I adore Submarine movies. Right now I have The Hunt For Red October on, which is one of the more awesome sub movies ever made. It strikes me that they are really quite science fictiony in a way... advanced warship setting with a captain and crew, it's very Star trek in some angles. Maybe that's part of why I like sub movies... or why I like sci fi.

Anyway, what are your favourites? I tend to like the more modern ones. WWII sub movies are good, but give me Crimson Tide or Red October any time. How about you?
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Nutso »

Red October definitely. Das Boot also. Don't know any others.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Graham Kennedy »

You should definitely watch Crimson Tide. The setup is a bit clunky.... although maybe not so much now, lol.

But it generates some fantastic tension, and it's one of the few films where it's genuinely debatable whether it's the "good guy" or the "bad guy" who is justified in what they do.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Tsukiyumi »

Graham Kennedy wrote:You should definitely watch Crimson Tide. The setup is a bit clunky.... although maybe not so much now, lol.

But it generates some fantastic tension, and it's one of the few films where it's genuinely debatable whether it's the "good guy" or the "bad guy" who is justified in what they do.
That's a fact; the resolution is one of my favorites in modern cinematic history.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Graham Kennedy »

I love the scene where Denzel questions Hackman during the drill. You can see right there that Hackman thinks Denzel screwed up, trying to talk about the fire during a missile drill. And you can see later that Denzel thinks Hackman was stupid to run a drill during a real emergency. But Hackman is actually right here, IMO - it's fine to practice when everything is running smoothly, but doing a drill during a genuine emergency adds real stress and pressure to the situation. It's a valuable training aid, and Hackman used it very effectively. Denzel is supposed to be the good guy, but all the seeds of distrust between them were caused by his screw up.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Mikey »

Das Boot has got to be at the top of the list, in that it transcends the genre and is a great movie - EOS - rather than just a great submarine movie. The Enemy Below was a pretty good depiction of the cat-and-mouse tension between a destroyer and its u-boat target. IDK if you'd count it in the genre, because the themes run beyond the submarine movie, but the original On the Beach was good, and of course the greatest submarine-based comedy was The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Atekimogus »

Crimson Tide and Hunt for Red October are fun to watch........but the best has to be "Das Boot".

No other movie catches the sheer terror of being on a submarine like this one. Granted, it is not for people with short attention spans, but then one doesn't need concern oneself with the oppinions of sheep. :wink:
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Das Boot is a personal favourite of mine, and one of the few films where I'm a purist about it. Normally I dislike watching subtitled movies, but even though the dubbed version of Das Boot has one of the best dubbing jobs ever (the original actors all dubbed their own lines in English), I'll only ever watched the subtitled German version of Das Boot, and only the full length version. It just feels more real, somehow.

I like U-571, even though it's obviously terrible history and kind of gung-ho silliness that hits every cliche in the book right between the eyes. It's just a fun movie, the kind of simple straightforward adventure film you got in WWII done with modern production values.

Also like The Enemy Below, which was the direct inspiration for the Star Trek episode Balance of Terror. It has one of my favourite all time lines, where after the ship dodges a torpedo attack a sailor on deck says in a mystified voice "How do you suppose the Captain knew to turn just then to miss them?" "Because he's the Captain," he friend says. "And that's why he is, and you ain't!" And the German Captain's discussing how terrible World War II is, is just a fantastic scene. "It's not a good war... there is no honour in this war. The memories will be ugly, even if we win. And if we die... we die without God... It's a bad war. It's reason is twisted. It's purpose is dark. It's not for a simple man."

I have a soft spot for K-19 : The Widowmaker, it's one of the rare modern films where Harrison Ford looks like he gives a crap about what he's doing. Though his Russian accent is a bit dodgy, lol.

One of the things I really would have liked to see in Enterprise is a more submarine model of doing things. I'd have had a much more claustraphobic set for the bridge with no viewscreen, just radars and such to see outside. And weapons that behaved like actual torpedoes - fire one or two, and then ships manoeuvring whilst trying to dodge the weapon. One hit, one kill from a nuclear warhead. See the "submarine dogfight" in Hunt for Red October - that's how Enterprise should have fought.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Mikey »

Forgot about U-571. It was a fun movie, even if possessed none of the submarine gravitas of Das Boot or The Enemy Below.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Tsukiyumi »

Graham Kennedy wrote:...One of the things I really would have liked to see in Enterprise is a more submarine model of doing things. I'd have had a much more claustraphobic set for the bridge with no viewscreen, just radars and such to see outside. And weapons that behaved like actual torpedoes - fire one or two, and then ships manoeuvring whilst trying to dodge the weapon. One hit, one kill from a nuclear warhead. See the "submarine dogfight" in Hunt for Red October - that's how Enterprise should have fought.
That would have been awesome, and more in line with what I expected from a show set in that era.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Tsukiyumi »

Mikey wrote:Forgot about U-571. It was a fun movie, even if possessed none of the submarine gravitas of Das Boot or The Enemy Below.
Also, Bon Jovi can actually act. Who knew?
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Mikey »

Tsukiyumi wrote:
Mikey wrote:Forgot about U-571. It was a fun movie, even if possessed none of the submarine gravitas of Das Boot or The Enemy Below.
Also, Bon Jovi can actually act. Who knew?
Um... I did, but then again I'm from Dirty Jersey. He was pretty good many moons ago in a small part in Moonlight and Valentino.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by IanKennedy »

Who could forget "Down Periscope". I know I wish I could :)
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by Teaos »

Or the American remake of U571.
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Re: Submarine movies

Post by McAvoy »

IanKennedy wrote:Who could forget "Down Periscope". I know I wish I could :)
What? I liked it.
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