Movie – U-571 (2000)

U-571 is the final submarine movie I am going to recommend.  It is a WWII thriller about an attempt to steal the Germans’ Enigma coding machine off a disabled U-boat.  It is not a film you watch for historical accuracy, but for the tension and thrills as events unfold.  It has many of the things you might expect from a sub movie: sonar pings, cat and mouse games with surface ships, depth charges, leaks, having to do dives that are too deep, etc.  What makes this movie a little different is that there are additional challenges in that the submarine the characters are on is unfamiliar to them, and it is badly damaged.

Movie – Innerspace (1987)

In my last post I reviewed the 1966 adventure film Fantastic Voyage, which had a small submarine and crew being miniaturized and injected into the body of a man.  (You can read that review here.)  Now imagine the same concept, but played for comedy.  What if a miniaturized sub and gung ho test pilot were injected into a random hypochondriac who can’t get anyone to believe that he is feeling weird things and hearing voices?  What if that hypochondriac is played by the master of the nervous twitch Martin Short?  And what if he has to try to thwart a criminal organization intent on getting the miniaturization technology?  The result is the 1987 film Innerspace - a shut your brain off and just enjoy the zaniness kind of movie.

Book and Movie – Fantastic Voyage (1966)

How can you have a submarine movie when there is no body of water for the sub to travel in?  When the medium the sub navigates in is an actual body, of course.  Fantastic Voyage features the concept of miniaturizing a small submarine and injecting it into a man’s body so that the crew can perform a life-saving surgery.  You may be thinking, “Hold on, are you talking about that Martin Short comedy with Dennis Quaid?”  The answer is no, not yet.  That is the 1987 movie Innerspace, which was a comedic take on the idea.  You can read my review of that film here.  No, Fantastic Voyage is a serious adventure film, full of Cold War intrigue, thrills, death-defying adventures, and enough real biological knowledge that parts of it were used for years afterwards to demonstrate to students some concepts of human biology.

Movie – Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)

In my prior review of Crimson Tide (1995) – which you can read here – I wrote that it was closer to Run Silent, Run Deep than to other submarine movies it was trying to emulate.  Crimson Tide featured Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington as a Captain and XO of a submarine who clash with each other.  In Run Silent, Run Deep it is Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster – two people who certainly know how to command the screen.  Now imagine having both of them in the same movie, sometimes opposed to each other and you get an idea of why Run Silent, Run Deep is an entertaining movie.

Movie – Crimson Tide (1995)

Crimson Tide was the first major submarine movie to be released after the huge success of The Hunt for Red October (1990).  You can read my review of that film here.  It was obvious that Producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson were hoping to capitalize on the success of that earlier film.  The first clue is the title.  Yes, it ties in with the name of the submarine, the U.S.S. Alabama, since the University of Alabama’s sports teams are named the “crimson tide”, but the fact that the title was very similar to Red October’s was probably the biggest reason they went with it.  The second clue was the marketing.  Notice anything familiar about it?  

The thing is, Crimson Tide was far closer to submarine movie Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) than to The Hunt for Red October.  Where Run Silent, Run Deep had a clash between veteran Captain Clark Gable and Executive Officer Burt Lancaster, Crimson Tide casts Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington in those roles.  The result (for both films – see my next post for my review of Run Silent, Run Deep) is a movie whose best reason for watching is these two huge personalities battling each other for command.

Movie – Operation Petticoat (1959)

When most people hear “submarine movie” they probably think of intense war films, edge of your seat tension, battle scenes, etc.  Not all films in this genre have been ultra-serious, though.  Now and then people have decided to have a little fun with the situations that could arise on a submarine.  For instance, what would happen if some nurses had to seek safe passage onboard a submarine during WWII?  Imagine the funny issues that could arise.  Operation Petticoat tackled that story and as a reward it received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.  It was also the first big film of director Blake Edwards' career.

Movie – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

In the early 1950s when Walt Disney (the man, not the studio) saw some footage his photographers had shot of underwater scenes in anamorphic widescreen he decided to make an entire live action film to take advantage of the stunning presentation – a first for his studio.  And what better story to film for this than the classic 1870 Jules Verne novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?  Two prior versions had been filmed, but both were in the early 1900s so they were limited in what they could show.  Disney’s version would be the first to take advantage of what studios could do with modern technology.  This was only Disney’s fifth live action movie ever yet it is still remembered today as one of the best produced by the studio.

Movie and Book – The Hunt for Red October (1990)

While flipping through channels on the TV do you ever find yourself stopping to watch a movie that you’ve already seen, even if you own it on DVD?  The Hunt for Red October is one of those movies for me.  I couldn’t count how many times I’ve stopped and watched whatever scene is playing, at least until the next commercial break.  Sometimes it even prompts me to get out the DVD and watch it again from the beginning.  Someday I will do a category of those kinds of movies for me (hint: Groundhog Day is another.)  Just as Das Boot is clearly the best submarine movie ever made, in my opinion, so too is The Hunt for Red October clearly the second best submarine movie ever made.

Movie – Das Boot (1981)

The best way to start my Submarine Movies category is with by far the best submarine film ever made – Das Boot.  I consider it not only the best sub movie ever made, but the best war movie ever made, too.  It is a German film (the title translates as “The Boat”) and it easily stands as one of the very best films to ever come from that country.  I would have a hard time picking between it and M (1931) as the best, quite frankly.  That means it is also one of the very best non-English language films ever made – definitely in the top ten, quite possibly in the top five.

Submarine Movies

“Who’s the U-boat commander?” – Service Manager, Risky Business

Those who have seen the movie Risky Business (1983) will recognize that quote and probably smile in remembrance of what it accompanies.  Those who have not seen the film, should.  I won’t spoil this moment for you by explaining the humor; you should see it in the context of the movie.

The concept of a submarine has been around for centuries.  As far back as the American Revolutionary War the U.S. military used an experimental craft named the Acorn that could travel under the surface of the water.  It was used to attack the HMS Eagle, the flagship of the British Navy in 1776.  Around fifteen years ago a forgotten piece of history - an American Civil War Confederate States submarine named the Hunley – was found, recovered, and researched.  It was the first submarine to ever successfully sink a naval military ship, although it also sank before it could return.  A few years later in 1870 Jules Verne wrote the novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea about Captain Nemo and his fantastic submarine The Nautilus.

When most people hear the words “submarine movie”, though, it probably brings to mind one of two things: Cold War subs with nuclear missiles pointed at the enemy, or WWII subs playing cat and mouse with enemy ships.  While I will certainly have at least one film fitting each of those descriptions, there are other kinds of submarine movies that are well worth seeing, including some that have nothing at all to do with war, some that are funny, and some that don’t even take place in a body of water.

I will not be including films that happen to have a submarine in them, like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), or even movies like 1941 (1979) which have submarines in subplots.  For the purposes of this category, “submarine movie” will be one where the large majority of the events take place on a sub and/or because of a sub.

As always, to post a review of a film here I have to like it enough to recommend it to others (at least 3 stars out of 5).  This means if you were looking forward to a review of Down Periscope (1996) then I’m afraid you are going to be disappointed.

On another note: you might be able to help me.  When brainstorming what movies to include in this category I noticed that I had nothing newer than 2002, and it’s a film I’ve already posted a review of in another category (K-19: The Widowmaker).  Have you seen a good submarine film made in the last ten years or so?  In addition, I’ve never seen Yellow Submarine (1968).  I’ve seen both A Hard Days Night (1964) and Help! (1965).  I loved the music in them, of course, but found the jokes to be purely for kids.  I know I’d like the music in Yellow Submarine, but is the humor in it more of the same, just animated?

I will add the links to the reviews of the movies below as I post them.

Das Boot (1981)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Operation Petticoat (1959)
Crimson Tide (1995)
Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
Innerspace (1987)
U-571 (2000)

K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) – (posted October 31, 2011)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) – (posted April 6, 2012)

The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966) – (posted March 22, 2013)

On to the reviews…

Movie – The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)

The movie The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (hereinafter known as TRAC²) was released in the 1960s not too many years after the Cuban Missile Crisis when tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were very high.  That therefore makes this film very notable for the fact that the Soviets (or “Russians” as Americans commonly mislabeled them) are shown to be regular people just like Americans.  The impact of this was wide-ranging.  The film was very popular in the U.S.  It garnered four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.  It won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy.  It was discussed in Congress.  And it was even shown in the Kremlin, where some of the Soviet leaders were visibly moved according to director Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, The Thomas Crown Affair, A Soldier's Story.)

Movie – Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was a big budget disaster flick written, directed, and produced by Irwin Allen.  Allen specialized in these kinds of movies (The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, etc.)  He was sort of the Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla, 2012, etc.) of his day.  At first I had some fun being amused at the outdated machinery and some bad science, but after a while I found myself caught up in the story.  I ended up liking the film and it made me curious about the TV show that spun off from it.

Movie – K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

K-19: The Widowmaker is a submarine movie that is supposedly a true story.  In reality the filmmakers changed almost everything about it in order to pump up the tension and to make the stakes higher.  In fact, surviving crewmen of the K-19 sent an open letter to many involved in the movie complaining about the fictional parts of the story.  In any case, it is a movie, not a documentary, so the filmmakers can do whatever they want to pump up the plot.  While this is no Das Boot (1981) – the gold standard of submarine movies – it is also better than some others (which will remain nameless).