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Radar and electro-lightning panels, suffocating thigh spaces, moments of crisis and despair, running out of breathable air—these are the hardships that characters in submarine films have to face. These high tension spaces are usually posted war He seeks and finds those who run him into perilous situations where their choices will mean life or death.
Submarine crews are essentially blind to most senses, scurrying around in the dark with their sonar ears on and their ears as their eyes. The spooky scenarios involving all things submarines would crush almost anyone. Films depicting these brave individuals aboard these underwater ships during wartime have brought the resources to meticulous technical filmmaking, superb acting, and building claustrophobic tension to bring the dangerous lives of sailors aboard submarines to screens around the world. These are the 10 best movies that depict submarines at war.
10 Run Softly, Run Deep Down (1958)
Clark Gable leads the World War II story of a submarine captain looking for revenge. Commander PJ Richardson (Gable) finally gets a chance to take on a submarine again, after his former submarine was sunk by a Japanese destroyer, sending him to a desk job for over a year. In this new opportunity to prove himself, Richardson looks to sink said destroyer, no matter the cost or how reckless his actions towards his crew are.
Silent running, deep rubbing It runs 93 minutes and is technically somewhat similar to modern submarine films as the footage is quite familiar. Even though it had a lot of star power and was directed by the great Robert Wise, it was a box office flop and didn’t do well with critics.
9 Pacific Operation
Not only was John Wayne keen on portraying Old West stories, but he was also keen on filming wartime films. Pacific Operation He is found by the second-in-command of a submarine with botched torpedoes that do not appear to do any harm to Japanese destroyers in World War II. At the same time, he struggles to win back the love of his ex-wife, now engaged to his commanding officer’s brother.
It follows exactly what Wayne’s war movie is, being patriotic, heroic, and overtly patriotic, Pacific Operation Sticking to his script, he managed to create an entertaining and at times humorous war drama.
8 crimson tide
While many would find that the Cold War was not a “real war,” the fact is that proxy conflicts fought around the world had the support of both the United States and the Soviet Union, so there is a very good case to be made that it was a very real war. crimson tide It is set at the end of the conflict, yet still deals with its aftermath.
The plot finds Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington as captain and first officer respectively, struggling over the right decision to make regarding the use of nuclear weapons aboard an American submarine. The movie features excellent cinematography and a nerve-wracking psychological battle between its leads with a nuclear shield looming every second.
7 Torpedo run
A morally complex story of individualism in the face of collective tragedy. Torpedo run is another submarine revenge tale, done in a cool and realistic way. The plot follows a submarine commander being sent to destroy the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinaro, the ship that led the attack on Pearl Harbor, while feeling angry that the Japanese took his wife and infant daughter ten months earlier. The movie takes a rough turn early on as he finds out that the ship carrying his family and other POWs is checking out Shinaro and attacking it could mean endangering the prisoners on the other ship.
6 U-571
U-571 is the unrealistic story of an American submarine sent to capture a German U-boat and steal the Enigma machine cipher on board. After taking control, they find difficulties as both the Germans and Americans (unaware that they have captured) attempt to sink them.
Despite the film being narratively sound and good enough at what it attempts to be a box office success, well received by critics and earning the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, it received backlash across the sea. The English media and government were outraged that those who first captured the Enigma Machine were British sailors. Prime Minister at the time Tony Blair considered it an “insult” to English sailors.
5 destination tokyo
submarine movie original, destination tokyo is a historical film that established many of the popular audiovisual and narrative techniques now associated with submarine films. Released in 1943 as an attempt to recruit more people into the Navy during World War II, this film is based on an original story by former submarine writer and writer Steve Fisher, and is about a submarine crew heading to Tokyo Bay looking to gather information for a future air-raid on City. Although today it is mainly seen as a propaganda film, it set a precedent for the genre and is iconic in its own right.
4 Bedford incident
James B. Harris has produced all of Kubrick’s films up until now lolitaand then the husband had a fallout because he didn’t like it Dr. Strangelove It was made as a satire rather than a thriller. He took matters into his own hands by directing Bedford incident which was released less than two years later Dr. Strangelove. The film is a paranoid Cold War thriller about a maniacal submarine captain who begins a hunt for a Soviet submarine in international waters, risking a direct conflict between the Americans and the Soviets.
3 enemy below
enemy below It deals with what has been made of submarine films up to the moment, in a battle of wits between American and German commanders in a naval battle between a destroyer escort and a submarine.
Robert Mitchum and Kurt Jurgens face a complicated battle, as the two begin to feel respect for each other. The film is also notorious for presenting the war in an unfashionable way, and its impact is evident through two of its leads, who are not fans of their governments and understand that the situation they live in is terrible and sad.
2 Hunt for Red October
One of the best Cold War movies is Tour de force with flawless performances by Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. Set in the last years of the conflict, Hunt for Red October It is based on Tom Clancy’s bestselling novel about a Soviet captain (Connery) who takes a technologically advanced Soviet submarine to the American coast.
The Americans think it’s an attack, and the Soviets hunt him down, but a CIA analyst (Baldwin) thinks he’s actually trying to defect, leaving him only a few hours to prove it before disaster strikes. The film was a box office hit, winning an Academy Award out of three nominations and earning Connery a Best Actor nomination.
1 Das shoes
All of the previous entries on this list are incomparable with the monumental masterpiece that is Wolfgang Petersen magnum opus, Das shoes. This 210-minute journey follows a German U-boat crew in World War II who chase Allied ships, until they become pursuers, and must find a way to survive the horrors of war in the deep sea.
Das shoes It does what every submarine movie desires to achieve in a more unique and perfect way, and what makes it so amazing is the combination of intricate storytelling and character building, and the masterful direction of Petersen that must be considered one of the greatest art direction works in film history. The German Master pushes the psychological limits of his characters as well as the physical endurance of his submarine as every second becomes a struggle for survival.
