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"During WWII, Germany's objective" - while a World War ONE, Austro-Hungarian submarine enters harbor on a wonderfull, colored reel.... If you run out of movies, you might make an "After Hours" from Georg von Trapp's book, "To the last salute" - if you like Das Bot, you will love it. Bottoms up!
If you get the chance and you haven't already done it, you should do a review of Gladiator. It was a damn fine film and I think it has a LOT of messages we desperately need today.
Just to show how powerful the story was, when it was released in France, the audience cheered when the opening titles stated that 30,000 of the 40,000 German submariners never made it home. By the end of the film, they rose to their feet and applauded it for the masterpiece this is. I rewatched it the other day, and 3 and a half hours flew by, not a shred of boredom. Just a phenomenal film
@@TheSchaef47 Didn’t America just surrender to a racist fascist regime that locked everyone down, stole an election and is illegally continuing with an eviction moratorium against the Supreme Court?
@@AuchInAgil A masterpiece, am master piece is the piece a craftsman would produce to pass the examination to become a mster himself and be allowed to teach his craft to others.
This movie is without any question THE best submarine movie ever made. And the Drinker is right, if you´re gonna watch it, you owe it to yourself to watch the whole damn thing.
@@MrGregroberts55 Tip my cap to you Sir. Never mind being a Submariner IRL, I was traumatised by simply experiencing the U-Boat simulation at a living history museum over here in England called Eden Camp. As soon as you wander in it's already a disorienting assault on the senses, but when the sonar starts to ping faster and faster and the "sub" is hit by a depth charge that's when all Hell breaks loose, including a wailing siren, flickering lights, screams of terror, men (very realistic dummies) drowning in compartments filled with water which are suddenly illuminated in red light, and the sound of the hull contorting and breaking apart as you sink to the ocean floor... I needed a strong cup of tea after that ten minutes, I'll tell you!!
My old man was a war baby, born in '44 in London. When my English grandad came back from Germany and my old man was old enough to ask him how many Germans he'd killed in the war my grandad said "none I hope" My dad was a bit confused after hearing his mates in school bragging about how many Germans their dads had killed. So he asked "What do you mean?" to which my grandad replied "I hope I never killed anyone, they didn't want to be there any more than I did. I hope I never killed anybody." It's always good when a production shows war from the fighter's perspective, the real people who fought it regardless of pride, politics or pomp.
One of the best comments I ever read. Most respect to your grandfather -they were all just figures in a gruesome game. Personal note: One of my granddads was a civil seafarer(radio-operator) in these times, ( the other one a coal-deliverer, a job considered too hard for women, therefore not drafted) never returned from a cruise in 1944. War's shitty on both sides! Again, thanks for your comment.
German guy here: we talked to veterans in a school project back in 2004. The grandfather from a friend of mine served in north Africa under Rommel. He was captured by the British and held captive in an life stock train cart (I don't know if this is the right word, but I'll guess you guys know what I'm talking about). The Germans had cut off the supply of the British so the British guards and the German prisoners of war had nothing to eat. The Britisch soldiers gave some plane papers to the Germans and they used cole to shrivel some symbols on to it. The British hid nearby and the Germans loured some Africa food sellers near them, pretending that they had money, showing there pieces of paper. The Germans grabbed the poor African guys through the bars and held them captive so the British soldiers could take the food. Later they sheared it. The old man told me that there was no difference between the soldiers from both fronts. If it wasn't for the war they could have been friends.
@@moritzlaszlo3115 I've heard stories about Germans and the Allies during both wars coming together at Christmas to celebrate as humans in the middle of battles nobody wanted to be part of. They broke the rules for a day, became brothers, and then went back to fighting each other the following morning.
@@moritzlaszlo3115 - A moment of silence for those poor africans who got nothing to do this war but got their food stolen by the very colonists that made their life hell in the 1st place..
The whole set is the inner part of the real u-boot. It was put on a huge see-saw. In the attacks, they really swung that shit around like mad. Many actors got hurt, some had broken ribs. And the actors really look so sweaty and broken, because inside the closed set they had to put in hanging movie lamps so the cameras could shoot. Back then those got really hot, no LED lamps, so it was a sweat box and the actors soon were physically exhausted all the time from the heat. It all adds to the realism and the cast bringing their a-game. You can still visit the set in the German movie studio in Munich. I did so some 25 years ago. Really interesting stuff.
The whole set is just a movie set, extraordinarily designed and built to the last detail, but a movie set. It's at the Bavaria Atelier studios in Múnich, and a big attraction open to the public. Some parts (the Zentralle or control room, and the forward Torpedo room) were built twice in order to have those two specific sections of the boat mounted in the hydraulic platform you talked about.
@@W4ldgeist Well, the fact is that I´m a big fan of submarines and specially U-Boats (just look at my nickname and icon), Das Boot is my favorite war movie and I´ve watched it about 45 or 50 times in all the 3 versions: the theatrical one, the director´s cut, and the 5 hours mini-series. So obviously I know some details either from the movies and the making off that not everybody knows. But you was definitely right in some of the details of the filming you included in your comment: it was very very hard for the actors, that spent almost a whole week learning how to walk and run and move inside the set without breaking some body part (no worries about breaking something in the set, all of it was solid metal 😄)
There's an actual type VII U-Boot at the U-Boot crew memorial very near Kiel (Laboe), so they didn't need to imagine the layout or exterior. I've been on U 995 and can attest the sets are 100% accurate. For equipment taken out of U 995 for visitor safety reasons, there are plenty of photos of wartime U-Boot interiors and all the design drawings are freely available too. Hell, you could probably build one if you wanted.
Fun fact: The full scale submarine was lent to Steven Spielberg who was shooting "Raiders of the Lost Ark" at the same time. The submarine Indy climbs on and the submarine base where he steals the Nazi uniform are the same as in "Das Boot".
I´m not sure if it´s still there, but you can actually enter the boat at Bavaria Filmstudios in Munich, which is a interesting experience to get a sense of the scale (especially when you imagine, to sit in this for months without any way out)
@John Syzlack Love The Drinker. Have seen every vid uploaded. I am still hoping we will get Happy Hour of Das Boot. Das Boot is one of the most realistic war movies and definitely most realistic submarine movie. Not much that has been made in last 10 years can get close to this movie when it comes to story, acting, directing and cinematography.
I've noticed that the drinkers attitude changes doing reviews on whether he's talking about a pop culture movie or a movie that has nothing to do with pop culture purely on the merits of the movie and not its impact on Pop culture. Anyone who feels that he got anything wrong should spend some time actually reading about submarine warfare during the second world war. And yes there were multiple instances where torpedoes were evaded because they were seen coming. This is a very somber and sobering movie and his presentation for something like this I believe was just perfect.
But like he said: don't bother with the directors cut. It does itselve a disservice. It flopped at the movies and right so. Try to really see the 6x45min somewhere. Here in Germany it's on Amazon.
Juergen Prochnow is a legend. I still love his role in Beerfest where he pokes fun at his time on “Das Boot” “Sorry, I’m uncomfortable in these U Boats, Had a bad experience once”
To me, he didn’t have a “bad” experience, but a legendary one. He was the rock, and simultaneously the glue that held that boat together when things went bad. His character’s forgiveness of Johann showed his compassion, but you could see it pained him to go get the P38 as well. Only a solid actor could portray both a need to do one’s duty, with the pain of doing so flawlessly.
I remember, when the series was first shown in german Television. It was an event. Weeks before broadcasting it was in every newspaper. The ratings were as high as they can go. Everybody saw it. We considered it to be the best piece of german entertainment ever. And in my opinion, it still is.
If we narrow the field to WW2 dramas, I'd say its only competition is Der Untergang, because the casting of Hitler there was...scarily good. Too good. You could've told me they'd used a time machine and brought the actual Hitler to act in the film, and I wouldn't of questioned it.
Fun fact: The way they got the cast to look so tired and haggered, like they hadn't seen the sun for months was because of exactly that - they were under strict conditions to not shave nor be out during the day time for the months the film was shot
Another fun fact is during the film when the boat is in rough water, you can see a hatch on deck flapping open, this was a mini submarine built for the film, unfortunately it was loaned to Hollywood to make the film U571 and they broke it. as told by Wolfgang Peterson himself.
@@spinaway U571 was made in 2000. Das Boot was made in 1981. The film that borrowed the submarine was "Raiders of the Lost Ark". :) Edit: Apologies. You were talking about the series - not the movie - which was made in 2018. Looks like both productions had their boat borrowed!
Truly one of the most tense films I’ve seen. Fucking terrifying amount of pressure, communicating perfectly the danger presented between the enemy at the surface and the deadly environment around, which is yet the only hope for survival
Yeah this film creates such tension and suspense, that you really sympathize with the German sailors - just people, doing a tough job in awful conditions. I remember seeing this in 1981, at the end you feel like you've been on the journey with them, and you feel the Captain's anguish as he dies of shrapnel wounds as he watches the U boat sinking. Great film all around.
After growing up on a steady diet of 'Kellys' Heroes', 'The Dirty Dozen' and 'Where Eagles Dare', this was the first gritty, "war is hell" war movie a 12 year old me ever saw. Trust the germans to take all the fun out of war... films. This is a timeless classic.
@@NPC_-mf4dw Agree, they're still not happy about losing the war. Also check out Der Untergang (Downfall) a German-Polish movie about the last days of Adolf Hitler. This is the movie that spawned the Hitler losing his mind meme. Beyond the meme, this movie is well done and pulls no punches.
Yesss.....as a submariner myself, this was required watching for all submarine sailors. We all feel the pain shown onscreen, especially during sub on sub battles..we dont see sub sailors from other countries as enemies, but as brothers. Whenever a sub is lost in the real world, our entire community mourns as if we served along side them.
The subs of WW2 had no meaningful way of fighting each other. Many models had a deck cannon but that was only useful for attacking surface vessels. There were no anti submarine torpedoes, and no anti submarine submarines. So they just shared the same shitty reality. Most submariners never came home.
@@comingviking you're right. Today's subs are submersible boats that can surface if needed, WW11 subs were surface ships that could submerge if needed....whole different type.of warfare. Australia still uses the WWII-esque type sub..in size and shape. OMg I don't know how they did it. That was one ofnthe smallest subs I'd ever been on, and I went down on a Skipjack class in Groton, and that was tiny compared to the floating city of Tridents I spent my years on.
@@collincutler4992 are you possibly referring to the HMAS Onslow? She's an Oberon class submarine currently docked at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney and was an early post war submarine, now a museum exhibit. Today we use the Collins-class diesel electric, based on the Swedish Gotland. With a snorkel, they too remain submerged until they need to surface, running a snorkel to charge batteries at periscope depth for a few minutes a day. The Gotland based classes are highly successful - the Swedish beat a US carrier group and the Aussies beat a US ASW TF during war games!
'Das Boot' put Wolfgang Petersen on the world map. He went on to make memorable movies that were not about war, but of every genre available to a film maker, including fantasy "Never Ending Story", science-fiction, "Enemy Mine", political thriller "In the Line of Fire" and epic mythology, "Troy." Just about every film this remarkable director has made thorughout his long career is worth seeing.
I watched this as a child 30 years ago. There are scenes i still remember very clearly - like the end at the shipyard, the time when they were stranded at the bottom of the sea and when the machinist had a mental breakdown. I was completely absorbed by the claustrophobic and intense world they lived in - It is an amazing masterpiece!
My favourite line of the movie is when they're stuck on the bottom & everything's all busted & the crew's trying to make all the repairs & everything before the oxygen runs out, and the captain is asked: "Can we ever make it back to the surface?" And the captain just looks at him and says, "Good question."
@@MrPGC137 That was awesome. And wasn't it Johann who saved the crew and got the boat to rise from the bottom after his mental breakdown? That's a character arc right there!
When the series was shown on the BBC back in the eighties, obviously you couldn't binge-watch it like nowadays. You lived with it in your head over an extended period of time, which really added to the impact. Week by week you got to know the crew and wonder if they would survive all while waiting to see the next episode. Needless to say, the ending was an emotional experience...
I felt exactly the same, mate! And at the same time. The most memorable scene for me was the cock examination scene, when the doctor told him that he was surprised that the army of crabs hadn't eaten his little cock off!
Yeah I remember those days ( showing my age here as well). It was so well done you got attached to the crew and just wanted to them to survive (even though they were the "bad guys"). Ending was really sad, just give those guys a break.
The scene when the chief engineer loses it and makes inhuman squeaks as he tries to climb the ladder to the coning tower. Wonderful acting and has stuck with me since I first watched it.
The most memorable scene for me is transiting the Straits of Gibraltar. When the captain screams "ALARM" still gives me chills every time I think about it.
It was the head machinist. But yeah, the moment where the commander puts the gun away afterwards and you realize, he was about to shoot him... that was so intense.
A great scene. That engineer was somewhat crazy from the beginning, he would spend all his time in the engine room listening to the cylinders, or the pistons, or whatever. Once he appeared on the tower, and they told him 'It's nice to have some fresh air, eh?' and he's like, 'No, it isn't', and went back immediately. And as you watch the depth charges scene, you feel the absolute terror of the situation, which made this kinda guy leave his beloved diesel engines and run for his life, at 200 meters beneath the surface.
I remember leaving the movie theater after this movie and walking outside. Seeing the sun and sky after that movie felt like a balm on my psyche. The sense of claustrophobia during depth charge attacks is unforgettable. Hands down, the best submarine movie ever made.
As an old retired cold-war submariner, I can tell you that this series is at the top of the list for most of us as the most realistic, gritty, and honest of the submarine moves out there (before and since). Your comment, "submarine duty is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of panic" is spot-on. Thank you for reviewing this one. Green Board.
This was one of the movies of my childhood. My Dad was a submariner, needless to say this was often on our box. Great movie and helped form all the nautical knowledge I have to this day 😆
Same here it's one of those movies my Dad and I can put on and enjoy at anytime. In many ways it makes me regret that I didn't go into the Navy and see if I could become a submariner like my father before me. So I settle for Navy history.
I remember when this was out in theaters, and I remember it received great critical praise. But, until today I did not realize it was actually originally a miniseries.
As a German speaker, I can't imagine seeing this movie in any other language. When I lived in Switzerland, my parents took me to the studio where they made the film in Bavaria. I was in the actual model where they made the film and as a kid, even I felt almost claustrophobic. Then they showed us the pool and the two models they used for the underwater shots. So every time I watch this movie (yeah, movie. Can't get the whole series in Australia), I have to think back that I was on this set. Can highly recommend this movie. Just alone for the music.
Music is spot-on, masterpiece by Doldinger, funnily he had only the main theme composed before seeing the cut and composed the pieces around the scenes... but yeah been there in the Bavaria Studios back in the late 80s or early 90s as a child and the Boat as well as riding on Fuchur was like the highlights... Cheers from Ireland to Down Under
Fun fact. German U-Boat Veterans broke out in tears while watching the movie in the cinema, because the tension and and immersion in the movie felt for them like the real thing back in the 40s.
The U-Boat menace in the Atlantic was one of the last fronts to finally turn in favor for the Allies. It's literally the one thing that reportedly kept Churchill awake at night. By the end, those who served on U-Boats suffered one of the highest loss rates in the war with roughly 70% lost IIRC. I wager the only unit that suffered a higher loss rate was the Japanese Kamikaze pilots.
@@damienmayne7205 Yeah, once coverage by air power of the Atlantic was achieved by Spring 1943, serving on a U-Boat was increasingly a dangerous task. Radar on planes and escort ships plus the widespread deployment of a naval mortar called the "Hedgehog" was a death sentence for the U-Boat crews but they fought on till the very end.
@@1977Yakko Yet, few of them were Nazis. Like the fallschirmjager, too. They were just brave Germans who were doing their part like any soldier/sailor/airman would in war. The only difference is they did it with such deadly professionalism it was terrifying.
You have to understand the chances of survival for Uboats varied during course of the war. At the end they could count themselfs lucky if they even got out on the atlantic.
This is an absolutely amazing series. The German's ( incredibly serious ) answer to all those gung ho American WW2 flicks ( Hey - I love those too ). My Dad sat me down to watch this when I was a kid. I'm still impressed that he reckoned I was mature enough to deal with such an impacting experience.
I was in college when the "movie cut" of this came out and was showing in our theater. (Had an on campus public/student movie theater!! Those were the days!) Any way, I worked in the restaurant section of the Student Union. There was a father/son( Prof Emeritus/Professor) I knew who ate breakfast regularly. They went to see Das Boot. This is how his son found out his dad was an enlisted Submariner in the US NAVY in the Pacific during WWII. The Son was telling me about how much the movie just affected his Dad. Just like Das Boot, he was bombed, depth charged, surface battle, had two boats shot right out from under him. Lost a bunch friends and family. But he fought on. His Dad almost broke his arm when the first charges went off on the screen, kept saying we're fine, get out, hang on, and so on. They left the theater he said, and his Dad was soaked in sweat, just like several other older men that were there. The Son was a Marine in Vietnam for two tours and said he had never seen that "stare" like his Dad had, even with being in Vietnam. We both agreed that his Dad was right there in that Boat with those men, even with it being a movie. The family knew "Dad" was in the Navy during the War. That was it. He said his Dad asked his wife, (the son's Mom) to never tell them what service. She showed him his service ribbons, and he had several rows. Suddenly "Dad" wasn't just some retired Early American history professor! Submariners have a bond across the board, but Submariners from WWII, whether friend or foe, share a bond that only"they" will ever know.
My favorite part of Das Boot is when they are stuck on the bottom, almost out of hope, and then they are able to repair it enough so that it rises back to the surface and the engines restart. You almost forget it's a war movie but rather a Poseidon Adventure type survival story.
And the soundtrack is simply wonderful! Never have Diesels sounded better!!! Und die Filmmusik ist einfach unübertroffen! Niemals klangen Diesel sooo gut!!!
One of the cooler elements to the filming is they shot it in sequence like it was a road movie, and kept the cast inside the warehouse where they filmed the whole time. Thus as time passes in the film they legitimately become pale dirty and unhealthy.
Something you don't hear much about is how bad the men smelled after after a patrol. I doubt the officers on the supply ship would have been able to be so nonchalant about it.
If you're gonna watch the movie instead of the series, I highly recommend the Director's Cut, with lots of added scenes that really show the psychological boredom and intellectual starvation of months at sea stuck in a cramped submarine. And while I would be terrified of being crushed like a can from depth charges, my greatest fear is the two toilets for 50 men.
You mean the two toilets where one was filled with supplies at the beginning of the trip, leaving only one toilet available for 50 men in the beginning? :-)
The Director's Cut is the one I'd recommend. The mini-series is a bit much for the average viewer, and is quite slow-paced. If you love the film version, you can always watch the mini-series later and appreciate the extra material.
I FIRST viewed this video in Holland , IN A VIDEO store that allowed me to sit on a bench watching the entire VIDEO without charge ... I have seen it about a dozen times SINCE , AND HAVE A DVD I. German ... A FANTASTIC MOVIE , PERHAPS ONE OF THE VERY GREATEST EVER X. O S V CAPT. P. van ESS
I watched it last month for the first time. And I was not a disappointed. As a German I can say the acting in this one is unbelievable good. This movie deserves all the praise and the high IMDB rating it got.
The sub actually was a 1:1 build and you could visit it back in the day in the film studios. I was lucky enough to walk through the sub. Btw, I also read the book twice, its a good read.
The same u-boat type (but a real one and the last of one) can be visited in the german town Laboe. You can walk through the entire thing. The only obvious difference is that in comparison to the movie boat the original boats were painted white on th inside to make better use of the lights inside.
The boat (as in the inside of it where most scenes were shot) is still on display at the Bavaria Studios in Munich today and you can still walk through it on a guided tour.
@@stable_confusion That old girl is the best thing that ever happened to them. And they keep paying their respects while making a buck or two on her past glory.
In Munich you can visit the set of "Das Boot", walk inside the U-96 and look at all the details you can see in the movie. Also you get an impression of the confinement of a submarine. Really a great experience. Great movie, great soundtrack.
I was there as a child. I was always small for my age and still it was very claustrophobic. As an adult it must be much worse. By the way, if in munich, one might visit the "Deutsches Museum". There one can compare "das Boot" with a real german U-Boot from WWI. Those were even narrower. The one in the museum is cut open on the side, so you cannot go "inside", though.
I mentioned it here elsewhere, but it´s a really interesting experience to visit the boat (at Bavaria Filmstudios). You can get a real sense of space, especially imaging to live in this thing for weeks and months
And I give you middle finger one. For this period of time alone, your so-called - nation cobbled together barely century earlier, should have been wiped form face of the planet, as you have been enthusiastically trying to do to others.
@@piotrd.4850 And other nations like the british empire, Japan, various middle east countries, the roman empire and others didn't want to destroy other lands or don't have skeletons in the closet? No, it's always Germany. Give me a break.
Being german I grew up with this movie (or mini series) I visited the set at bavaria movie studios and I remember when "Das Boot" was on TV the streets were empty. Absolutely love the whole vibe of this thing, the terror, the authenticity and the whole cast. This is not only the best U-Boat movie, but also the best german Movie, at least after the war. I am german, and I think this was a very bold project in the first place, the topic as such is not exactly something that is easy to get money for. I also love "The Hunt for Red October" but for other reasons, if you only judge a U-boat movie by how authentic the life on board a U-boat was actually represented, I think "Das Boot" absolutely nails it. (OK, I only was on a U-Boat once, so I'm no expert) I guess the cast knew from the start that they are part of something big and they put everything they had into this movie, which shows in my opinion. I mean Grönemeyer is a musician, still he performs like he never done anything else than acting, and Prochnow ties it all together with a performance that is simply legendary.
Many times Germans of this Era are shown as ruthless, evil, almost comic book like Villains, when in reality most of them were just Soldiers. Today it's easy to say "I would have stood up to the Government" but is it really the case? Beeing seen as a Traitor in that time was very serious. See Hans and Sophie Scholl for example.
We will never really be able to completely comprehend what ordinary Germans lived through- the immense pressure, just in their day-to-day lives- especially those in government-appointed positions: _They_ went after teachers & even sports coaches - Elsbeth Emmerich (no idea if she’s related to Roland...) who was a school girl during the war, described something of the pressure people in such positions were put under, to join. I’ll quote from the book I got it from, **Reader’s Digest- Journeys into the Past- Life on the Home Front, Chapter; The Axis Powers: Behind Enemy Lines** _Her mother, a keen sportswoman, took up coaching young athletes during the early war years. Not long after, there was a knock at the door. ‘Enter a stranger. A strange man with a notebook & pencil, & a N*** pin in his lapel. He’d heard about my mother & her achievements. He’d assumed that she was a member of the Party, & only found out she was not when he checked his records.’ (Of course, anyone who referred to the Party meant the N- - - Party, there _*_was_*_ only one). ‘No doubt that was just an oversight, he went on, & would she join? He had his pencil at the ready but my mother froze over & said firmly “NO”. She did not want to become a member of the Party. He wanted to know her reasons, & she had reasons of her own. He didn’t understand. “You realise you cannot keep your position as coach to our young girls, unless you are a member of the Party?” My mum said surely coaching had nothing to do with politics, & that being a Party member would not make her a better coach. However, the man with the Party pin in his lapel knew better, & my mother had to give up a much-cherished job.’_ The scientist in ‘Captain America’ had it right: the first country the Nazis invaded was their own.
@@Freakinger81 No worries! I think I heard somewhere about the Resistance; for every big act of sabotage, there were a dozen little ones- from working slowly, to misplacing information/ machinery parts, or delaying information/ repairs - people probably protested in their own small ways- ways that wouldn’t get them killed, or bring negative attention to their families...
@@OcarinaSapphr- Funfact... the most organised resistance against Hitler... was in the Wehrmacht. Heck, the Head of the Abwehr (German intelligence), Wilhelm Canaris, was part of the Resistance and was executed in KZ Flossenbrück. Canaris overall had a rather interesting history, starting WWI as First Officer on the SMS Dresden, basically commanding the ship after its captain just shut down, playing a daring game of cat and mice against the RN and the Japanese. After the Dresden was sunk (it had been, on its own accord, interned in Chile, but the RN didn't care and didn't give a flying fuck about CHile's neutrality), he and the rest of the crew were interned in Chile... he snuck out, crossed South America on his own (crossing the Cordillera on horseback) and in the End returning to Germany. Then he was sent as spy to Spain.
There were some horrifically evil people in Germany back then (Dirlewanger, Mengele, Freisler, to name a few), but usually they were found somewhere cushy behind the front.
People say that because they've never been in that position. Historically, almost everyone obeys the mob, the guy with the gun, or the guy who decides who gets paid and who doesn't.
Jost Vacano is one of my absolute favorite german Cinematographers. His colaborations with dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven (Robocop & Total Recall) are also fantastic.
I dont know if anyone said it yet, but two edits / facts. 1. The technical adviser for this movie was Captain Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, he was not ANY U-Boot commander, he was THE one from the movie. Yes the captain didnt die! He was injured in the attacke but not killed. U96 was raised and repared. It served until the last day of the war. Lehmann Wllenbrck was one of the most decorated and succesfull naval commanders of all time. He was promoted to Naval HQ in 1942. Lt. Werner, in real life Lothar Günter Bucheim, the author of Das Boot, served under Lehmann-Willenbrock on two patrols. These two patrols later became Das Boot. So all in this movie is true. Exapt one scene. There is one scene when Lt. Werner is takng pictures and one crewmate throws the oily towel in his face.Buchheim was furious about it, when he saw the finished movie. He said "An officer even a "guest" on board is a superior. If that would have happend, the crewman would been court martialed" It took 30 years for Buchheim to wite it down. Because of his PTSD he couldnt bare to look at his jornals. He also wrote a trillogy, al based on his meetngs with Lehmann-Willenbrock- Das Boot / The boat, set in 1941. Die Festung / The fortess set in 1944 / 45 when Buchheim was sent to Norway and met Wilenbrock again, who was stationed there as comander in chief. 2. Showing the crew as soilders not Naz*s is historial accurat. The Navy was the leat politcal part of the german forces, mainly because of the deathrate. It was bad enough to lose a War-hero every other day, but a high ranking partiemember would be even more bad PR. There even is the case of captain Oscar Kusch. Kusch was commander of a submarine, poltical neutral, just a soilder doing his job. One day he got a new XO. Someone like in the movie, brainwashed, loyal partiemember. He asked Kusch why he had no picture of the Führer on board? Kusch answered "This is a warship. We dont do idolatry here!" His O reported this to the partie and Kusch was arrested and shot on the spot for "destroying the moral of his combat unit" His XO got promoted and got comand over Kuschs boat. He was sunk without survivors a few yards outside port. As for Kusch himself, he was a forgotton victim of the war, like countless millions, for decades to come....until one day when someone came across his file in an old archiv. His case was reopend and Kusch was redeemed in 1997! After that, his name and story was added to the memorial of german U-Boot sailors.
Most of the time we watched submarine movies for comic relief. This was one that we had our nubs watch to understand the concept of one crew, one screw. Everyone makes a difference, and every person onboard is responsible for everyone. We were family.
@@kahnfatman I was friends with a guy who served on the British Vanguard Class ballistic missile subs and from his description of life onboard during a patrol it sounded like the whole crew got weirder and weirder as the total lack of sunlight and fresh air, as well as no communications with the outside world for 90 days at a time gradually took its toll. Near the end of their patrol they used to turn the entire sub into a crazy golf course.
- They build part of the interior on a giant seesaw, that was one bad weld away from crashing down spectacularly. - They had a 1:1 "seaworthy" U-boat model for exterior shots, which broke apart after one day of filming. The morning after they used it for the first time, Wolfgang Peterson got a call, because "his Uboat was floating around in pieces". A few hours earlier and those actory might have gone down with it during filming, because they were dressed in really heavy "sailorclothes". - One stuntman had to ride in a smaller U-boat model to steer it through rough seas. That dude thought he would drown, because it leaked and was closed off in a way, that he couldnt get out of quickly. - During the ending scene the guy who was responsible for all the explosions really had fun. It was like that dude in tropic thunder, who only lived to blow stuff up. Semmelrogge (one of the actors) was right in the middle of it and wanted to fucking murder him after he was able to hear and think again. Brillant movie! They just dont do them like this anymore...
@@robertmaybeth3434 I think i remember that from multiple sources. I saw most of those points in a documentation once, but it was in german. The documentation was called "Das Boot - Welterfolg aus der Tiefe" made by the german tv-station "arte". Here is a text about the documentation, but its not very thorough, there was much more in the documentation itself: www.nq-online.de/blogs/film-dreharbeiten-am-limit-40-jahre-das-boot_62_111993752-16.html The documentation itself seems unfortunately to not be available anymore... if anyone finds it again, please tell. p.s. here is another one, but its not about the problems during the filming. Still interesting imho: ua-cam.com/video/MxnhXCP-uWs/v-deo.html
When I was in submarines in the RAN in the 80s we had a copy of the movie on each boat. Our submarines were very similar systems wise. We watched it regularly
Personal question, why would you wanna serve in a submarine? Its months in a closed container box, with every piece of equipment crammed including the crew, with the risk of dying in a deep grave.
@@Rohv I was young and failed pilot selection. It's another type of flying but with no windows. Also, our training was done in the UK so I got a free trip to Europe. It's pretty exciting. A lot of the time It's frightening and I'll never forget what we did. You are always one mistake away from disaster. Comraderie is next level. The saying is "once a submariner always a submariner "
Can I ask you Chris if you enjoyed your service time on subs, and if the food served to you at that time was good quality? I've been watching a number of US submarine 'chow' clips in which the meals served to submariners look pretty darn good, i.e, morale-boosting 'comfort' food. Just curious to ask, and thanks in advance.
My son is a former submariner and worked on the power plan on the *Los Angeles* class. I had been aboard the Uboot in Chicago and a few other US WWII submarines. Honestly, the US Navy's "Gato" class was less crowded than his submarine.
@@beeman2075I enjoyed it. The crew were close and professional but teased each other relentlessly. I was on oberons in the 80s. They are small diesel boats. The food was ok but I honestly can't remember much other than some unique issues. The officer's mess has a small pantry outside. That's where our coffee urn was. It was directly under the diesel tank test cocks. They leaked. All our coffees tasted of diesel. The beer was stored in the after torpedo tubes because we didn't use them. The torpedos that fitted were not the same size as the bigger torpedoes carried up forward. They had been removed from service. The tubes leaked hydraulic oil so the beer tasted of Hydraulic fluid. The galley was tiny and just forward of our mess. There were 2 cooks and they did a great job feeding 70 of us.
Drinker nails it again - this film is a masterpiece - I only saw the theatrical release - I didn't realize it was a series. The casting and acting, the sets, the cinematography, the story are all timeless. Still a classic, unique war film that I never get tired of.
This and "Cross of iron" along with the German production "stalingrad" from 1993, are the holy trinity, almost only, war films from the German viewpoint. There was talk of having Paul Verhoeven make Guy Sajer's "Forgotten soldier" based on the classic book but it came to nothing. There is a serious gap of films of this kind, for reasons that are probably obvious when you remember who runs hollywood, but there is a lot of drama inherent in films from this POV. Particularly gripping would be a well-made film (do they make those now?) based on the German night or day fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe. It was exactly like Battle of Britain, if that had lasted 4 years - where German pilots flew and fought until they were killed, and the story opportunities are seemingly obvious.
@@robertmaybeth3434 Was there ever a movie version of Die Bruecke (The Bridge), a slim book by Hans Helmut Kirst (as I recall). The book is superb, and I thought someone did a film version, which I never saw.
@@joannleichliter4308 If you search for "die Bruecke" on wikipedia you'll find the 1959 film. It also says it is based on the novel by Gregor Dorfmeister, under the pseudonym Manfred Gregor.
If we're doing Wolfgang Petersen films, then at some point you have to make a video about _Enemy Mine._ It's one that not many people seem to remember, but everyone I've shown it to so far has loved it.
I watched this for the first time while visiting family in Wyoming - the tv area was a dank, windowless, freezing basement room. Really added a little something-something to the experience. Love this film - absolute masterclass in tension.
The first time I saw this movie was in our barracks at 29 Palms Ca. just before we were waiting to ship out for the first Gulf War. We were a reservist tank unit called up and one of the last ones to deploy. The Marine Corps still had the old M60 tanks and we were one of the first units going through accelerated training on the M1A1 Abrams, the Corps didn't have them yet and weren't scheduled to get them until March of '91, so now was as good a time as any to start getting their tankers trained up ahead of schedule.. So on Christmas Day '90 we had one day off and we watched this. Why, we don't know. Not the movie you want to watch going into combat, considering the claustrophobic experiences shared by sub crews and tankers.
I recall watching it when I was a kid below 10, to this day I still remember those dreaded metallic noises when they went below the depth allowed and how they limped to the docks just to be sunk there.. it's a movie that stays with you for longer
What a great series, with impact on the viewers. One of the best ever made. Also a litttle bit of a "Production Hell" title, the water stream in a storm was strong enough for one of the cast to break his arm, and they werent allowed to shave or go outside, because submariners dont have a tan.
This film and Lawrence of Arabia go up there as the two best ever war films; neither glorifies it, but rather tells the story of what it was really like, through the eyes of people we can relate to.
@@SacClass650 a few; it's pretty gritty and shows the mental toll war takes on people, even gifted leaders - it's no jingoistic film, and rather takes a huge peg out of the British Empire's self-proclaimed 'good guys' image.
I watched Lawrence of Arabia in full for the first time last year. Amazing movie, a true masterpiece. Older films are sometimes hit or miss for me because of how dated technical effects can look, but that movie does such an amazing job with the plot and characters that everything else falls away.
This movie still influences german people to this day, even people who never saw it. For example, someone in command of a task is sometimes referred to with the word "Kaleu". That's what the captain of the U-boat is called from the crew, a short form of his rank, Kapitänleutnant.
They made a movie, a directors cut, a mini series, and i think an extra long movie, after the first movie was successful but the author was not happy with it.
Absolutely amazing piece of entertainment. I was lucky to find it during my German language studies and after watching it all in one sitting, I felt like I was a crew member of that U-boat myself. I also like how it doesn't do the typical "Nazis are bad" spiel, which was overused even then. There was one guy on board who was a Nazi and atypically he didn't show himself a coward or traitor to his fellow soldiers, he did his job during the critical situation near the end and saved a life of a crewmember. I like when movies do show a human part of German army of that time, since first of all - not everyone in the army was a Nazi and also Nazis, and I know it might be hard pill to swallow, they were also humans. I find it very compelling when movies touch on that aspect, how do people live with such an ideology, how did they got there, etc.
You should give "Die Brücke" from 1959 or "Stalingrad" from 1993 a go, both are also some of the best War Movies and also from the german perspective. War just sucks.
@@henriklarssen1331 Oh ye "Stalingrad", a movie that will make you feel the chill of Russian winter even during the hottest of summers. Never heard of "Die Brücke" though, thanks for recommendation, I'll check it out.
Many people became members of the NSDAP out of opportunitism, not because they believed in the ideology. Same as those who became member of the Bolshevik Party in the USSR or who currently are members of the Chinese Communist Party. And it's not an unknown phenomenon in today's Western democracies as well, being a member of the ruling party will help your career.
For many people its easier to believe those nazi's were unhuman monsters than accept the fact that every normal human can do horrible things if the circumstances pushes them in that direction.
i am pretty much a recluse and shut in, but after watching the mini series in the dark and on a hot and humid day with bad air inside, that series actually makes me go out and take a walk around the park.
One of the greatest seafaring series of all time. The angst and the tension run ramrod right through the entire narrative. At times it’s downright terrifying in intensity. One of the few pieces of filmic art that has stood the test of time. Bravo!
I loved this movie. Other than Sam Peckinpah’s ‘Cross of Iron’, it was the only war movie I’d seen that portrayed the regular German soldier in a sympathetic light. It’s a great book, too.
Watched das Eiserne Kreuz late 70's, film audience loved it, possibly made easier by having known stars in it. Zeveral of Sven Hassels books were filmed, only seen them on video, still wlth watching.
...which gets to me everytime. That slo mo of our heroes going over, the fadeover to a beautiful french landscape today that remembers nothing of their plight, the most tender rendition of Blackadders theme imaginable... damn I'm getting dust im my eyes writing this right now.
@@rall172 Well, it kinda is, but I used it as a joke. It's used as a term for people who argue that german military during ww2 was the best and they only lost because of reasonxy but should totally have won. Personally, I just find that term funny.
The feature length version that hit theatres is one of the iconic "must watch" submarine films of all time. I have seen it several times, in slightly different versions (in German, dubbed, theatrical cut...) and it never fails to affect me. I honestly didn't know it was a series...
Das Boot is a classic in every sense of the word. In this genre, it never has (and I believe never will be) equaled in it's scope, depth and sincerity of presentation. This is also the film that introduced me to the excellent Jurgen Prochnow, who in my opinion was a great Leto Atreides in the 1984 film Dune.
I first watched it on Norwegian TV in German with Norwegian subtitles. Nether language I speak. And I lost nothing. I had no trouble fallowing the story. To this day it’s one of my top favourite films.
As a german subscriber of your channels, I love that you thematize this masterpiece! German movies, especially modern ones, are usually forgettable to unbearable, but Wolfgang Petersen, who always had a knack for spectacles and impressive images, remember "Troy", created, together with the cast around Jürgen Prochnow, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Herbert Grönemeyer (who is actually mainly known as a very talented musician), Klaus Wennemann and Martin Semmelrogge a timeless classic of German cinema, which is rightly known internationally, after all, the film lost nothing of its impact till this day! The directing was much more sophisticated and of higher quality compared to other German productions, the sets are more authentic, the action is livelier and the acting is more convincing! The pictures are still impressive today! Definitely a true classic!
Theoretically: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Full Metal Jacket, The Deer Hunter, Empire of the Sun, All Quiet On The Western Front (Series: Generation Kill, Band Of Brothers, The Pacific, MASH... can't think of a 5th so lets just say Foyle's War). Just for the sake of fighting though: Das Boot is a masterpiece and the score really brings home the emotion. I find it's particularly popular among sailors, because of how accurately it portrays subtle things like cramped conditions, sleeping in another man's sweat, scarcity of fresh food, but what really sets it apart, for me, is the disconnect with the larger conflict or political ideologies, and sailors just doing 'the job'. Hollywood has churned out it's fair share of submarine films: Run Silent, Run Deep, Ice Station Zebra, Enemy Below, The Hunt For Red October; but the only one that can come close to Das Boot, IMHO, is the late Tony Scott's Crimson Tide.
SW The last jedi Captain marvel A wrinckle in time Ghostbusters 2016 Birds of prey Honorable mentions: Falcon and winter soldier (aka the REAL cap) GoT s08E03 Doctor who (from season 11) Batwoman Star trek discovery i love my life
The Human Condition - Masaki Kobayashi's 9 hour 3 film epic following the miserable life of Kaji, a Japanese pacifist, is a good contender for the best ant-war film; or best film in any genre, full stop.
@@CaptainTripppz I'd say purely from the "making you think about your preconceptions of war" perspective Das Boot beats The Bridge on the River Kwai, especially because it features characters that are considered Nazis. (I say "considered" because most don't care about the ideology). Full Metal Jacket is an excellent pick. Not better IMO, but a quite worthy contender. The rest I don't have in memory. But I'll take both lists as recommendations. Thanks for those. Another part of the unique look and feel is that there is no cutting away from the submarine, ever, not to the enemy, not to admirals, nothing further than the outside of the submarine. Keeping the viewer forced inside the claustrophobic environment is such a simple yet so effective choice. "Less is more" is such a forgotten piece of wisdom.
Knowing the Drinker, I was not surprised he likes "Das Boot". It is THE German modern masterpiece. So well made that I was able to forget I'm seeing at the time popular TV actors and a recording pop artist cast as the war correspondent.
This movies greatest asset is the straightforward production. It relies on its ability to grasp the audience with harsh reality instead of over the top pathos. I visited the film studio in Munich where the props are displayed. Went through the same aisles as the actors had done ten years before. It is really scary in there.
I still remember that time about 30 years ago, when we went to visit the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich, where the series was shot, on a school trip. Among seeing sets from, for example, Neverending Story or Enemy Mine, we also saw the set of the U-boat, that was used, as well as the model of the U-96 and that small pond that they used to get the U-boat shots.
Saw it when it was first broadcast on TV as (I think) a 5 part serial. Riveting, mind blowing telly, and thank God they did the sub-title version not the dubbed one. My mum, who lived through the War and regarded the film with considerable scepticism, said at the end "You almost feel sorry for them" which I think is the best accolade the makers could have hoped for. Our generation will never "get it", and my mum's will probably not understand how we can see both sides of a conflict that took so many of their generation, but Das Boot is a fine testament to the human side of war and the toll it takes on everyone. The scene where the captain says of his crew, "These lads, these wonderful lads..." is one of the most heart-rending in cinema history. I hope anyone who saw your video who hasn't seen Das Boot will rush out to watch it. They won't be disappointed.
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Barnes and Noble keeps sending me book 3-6 when I order 1-3. can I get you to sign the extras?????
"During WWII, Germany's objective" - while a World War ONE, Austro-Hungarian submarine enters harbor on a wonderfull, colored reel.... If you run out of movies, you might make an "After Hours" from Georg von Trapp's book, "To the last salute" - if you like Das Bot, you will love it. Bottoms up!
You need to watch cross of iron another German perspective, very good
Drinker, shut up.
If you get the chance and you haven't already done it, you should do a review of Gladiator. It was a damn fine film and I think it has a LOT of messages we desperately need today.
Just to show how powerful the story was, when it was released in France, the audience cheered when the opening titles stated that 30,000 of the 40,000 German submariners never made it home. By the end of the film, they rose to their feet and applauded it for the masterpiece this is. I rewatched it the other day, and 3 and a half hours flew by, not a shred of boredom. Just a phenomenal film
That's the frenchiest thing I've read...
@@KubusSc7 yup. First time I ever heard of a nation surrendering to a mini series
@@TheSchaef47 thr critical drinker also says "series" instead of film. Didnt saw the series, but only see bits from the movie though.....
@@TheSchaef47 Didn’t America just surrender to a racist fascist regime that locked everyone down, stole an election and is illegally continuing with an eviction moratorium against the Supreme Court?
@@zonzillamagnus5902 half of them did
Das Boot is a masterpiece. Glad the Drinker took an extra shot with this one.
Greatest Submarine Film OF ALL TIME.
Agreed, a Meister Spiel / Kraft (i suppose).
@@Koozomec you might be thinking of the word "Meisterwerk" --> literaly: masters work, or "a piece of a master craftsman"
@@AuchInAgil Thank you
@@AuchInAgil A masterpiece, am master piece is the piece a craftsman would produce to pass the examination to become a mster himself and be allowed to teach his craft to others.
This movie is without any question THE best submarine movie ever made. And the Drinker is right, if you´re gonna watch it, you owe it to yourself to watch the whole damn thing.
As a submariner I agree. The worst is Crimson Tide.
@@MrGregroberts55 Have you seen the 2018 Hunter Killer with Gerard Butler ?
@@MrGregroberts55
Tip my cap to you Sir.
Never mind being a Submariner IRL, I was traumatised by simply experiencing the U-Boat simulation at a living history museum over here in England called Eden Camp.
As soon as you wander in it's already a disorienting assault on the senses, but when the sonar starts to ping faster and faster and the "sub" is hit by a depth charge that's when all Hell breaks loose, including a wailing siren, flickering lights, screams of terror, men (very realistic dummies) drowning in compartments filled with water which are suddenly illuminated in red light, and the sound of the hull contorting and breaking apart as you sink to the ocean floor... I needed a strong cup of tea after that ten minutes, I'll tell you!!
the cpt was agent coopers dad in dune
@@MrGregroberts55 U-571 would like to have words with you!
My old man was a war baby, born in '44 in London. When my English grandad came back from Germany and my old man was old enough to ask him how many Germans he'd killed in the war my grandad said "none I hope"
My dad was a bit confused after hearing his mates in school bragging about how many Germans their dads had killed. So he asked "What do you mean?" to which my grandad replied "I hope I never killed anyone, they didn't want to be there any more than I did. I hope I never killed anybody."
It's always good when a production shows war from the fighter's perspective, the real people who fought it regardless of pride, politics or pomp.
One of the best comments I ever read. Most respect to your grandfather -they were all just figures in a gruesome game. Personal note: One of my granddads was a civil seafarer(radio-operator) in these times, ( the other one a coal-deliverer, a job considered too hard for women, therefore not drafted) never returned from a cruise in 1944.
War's shitty on both sides! Again, thanks for your comment.
My grandpa didn't tell me that exactly, but he did say he wasn't sure if he killed anyone.
German guy here:
we talked to veterans in a school project back in 2004.
The grandfather from a friend of mine served in north Africa under Rommel. He was captured by the British and held captive in an life stock train cart (I don't know if this is the right word, but I'll guess you guys know what I'm talking about).
The Germans had cut off the supply of the British so the British guards and the German prisoners of war had nothing to eat.
The Britisch soldiers gave some plane papers to the Germans and they used cole to shrivel some symbols on to it. The British hid nearby and the Germans loured some Africa food sellers near them, pretending that they had money, showing there pieces of paper. The Germans grabbed the poor African guys through the bars and held them captive so the British soldiers could take the food. Later they sheared it.
The old man told me that there was no difference between the soldiers from both fronts. If it wasn't for the war they could have been friends.
@@moritzlaszlo3115 I've heard stories about Germans and the Allies during both wars coming together at Christmas to celebrate as humans in the middle of battles nobody wanted to be part of. They broke the rules for a day, became brothers, and then went back to fighting each other the following morning.
@@moritzlaszlo3115 - A moment of silence for those poor africans who got nothing to do this war but got their food stolen by the very colonists that made their life hell in the 1st place..
The whole set is the inner part of the real u-boot. It was put on a huge see-saw. In the attacks, they really swung that shit around like mad. Many actors got hurt, some had broken ribs. And the actors really look so sweaty and broken, because inside the closed set they had to put in hanging movie lamps so the cameras could shoot. Back then those got really hot, no LED lamps, so it was a sweat box and the actors soon were physically exhausted all the time from the heat. It all adds to the realism and the cast bringing their a-game. You can still visit the set in the German movie studio in Munich. I did so some 25 years ago. Really interesting stuff.
The whole set is just a movie set, extraordinarily designed and built to the last detail, but a movie set. It's at the Bavaria Atelier studios in Múnich, and a big attraction open to the public. Some parts (the Zentralle or control room, and the forward Torpedo room) were built twice in order to have those two specific sections of the boat mounted in the hydraulic platform you talked about.
@@Der_lachende_Sachefish Thanks for elaborating. I really need to go there again, to refresh my memories.
@@W4ldgeist Well, the fact is that I´m a big fan of submarines and specially U-Boats (just look at my nickname and icon), Das Boot is my favorite war movie and I´ve watched it about 45 or 50 times in all the 3 versions: the theatrical one, the director´s cut, and the 5 hours mini-series. So obviously I know some details either from the movies and the making off that not everybody knows. But you was definitely right in some of the details of the filming you included in your comment: it was very very hard for the actors, that spent almost a whole week learning how to walk and run and move inside the set without breaking some body part (no worries about breaking something in the set, all of it was solid metal 😄)
The external set was also used in Raiders of the Lost Ark
There's an actual type VII U-Boot at the U-Boot crew memorial very near Kiel (Laboe), so they didn't need to imagine the layout or exterior. I've been on U 995 and can attest the sets are 100% accurate. For equipment taken out of U 995 for visitor safety reasons, there are plenty of photos of wartime U-Boot interiors and all the design drawings are freely available too. Hell, you could probably build one if you wanted.
Fun fact: The full scale submarine was lent to Steven Spielberg who was shooting "Raiders of the Lost Ark" at the same time. The submarine Indy climbs on and the submarine base where he steals the Nazi uniform are the same as in "Das Boot".
That is actually a cool fact. Thanks for sharing
I heard they didn’t tell this production they were doing it. They arrived at work to find the boat missing.
Nice one
I'm 51 and this is brilliant ..
I´m not sure if it´s still there, but you can actually enter the boat at Bavaria Filmstudios in Munich, which is a interesting experience to get a sense of the scale (especially when you imagine, to sit in this for months without any way out)
This movie deserved more than 6 something minutes "extra shot". Still, glad to get something.
@John Syzlack Yeah, the zest and humour from such reviews like Falling Down, Jaws and the Bond film are somehow missing in his more recent episodes
@John Syzlack Love The Drinker. Have seen every vid uploaded. I am still hoping we will get Happy Hour of Das Boot. Das Boot is one of the most realistic war movies and definitely most realistic submarine movie.
Not much that has been made in last 10 years can get close to this movie when it comes to story, acting, directing and cinematography.
I hope History Buffs will dedicate an episode to it one day.
@John Syzlack nah bro…. lookout would spot the wave left by the torpedo’s propulsion and sound the alarm for evasive action; Drinker’s line passes.
I've noticed that the drinkers attitude changes doing reviews on whether he's talking about a pop culture movie or a movie that has nothing to do with pop culture purely on the merits of the movie and not its impact on Pop culture. Anyone who feels that he got anything wrong should spend some time actually reading about submarine warfare during the second world war. And yes there were multiple instances where torpedoes were evaded because they were seen coming. This is a very somber and sobering movie and his presentation for something like this I believe was just perfect.
finally, Drinker recommends something I haven't seen yet. Looks like I can ditch Netflix for a few hours to watch the whole miniseries.
But like he said: don't bother with the directors cut. It does itselve a disservice. It flopped at the movies and right so.
Try to really see the 6x45min somewhere.
Here in Germany it's on Amazon.
Brilliant series, best seen that way rather than as a film.
@@5Stringslinger yep series is best.
or even better simply shitcanning netflix all together
What website are the episodes located?
Juergen Prochnow is a legend. I still love his role in Beerfest where he pokes fun at his time on “Das Boot”
“Sorry, I’m uncomfortable in these U Boats, Had a bad experience once”
Such an understatement. I was laughing hard while the normies looked at me with confused expressions.
AHAAAA!!!
Damn.. I had totally forgotten about beerfest
To me, he didn’t have a “bad” experience, but a legendary one. He was the rock, and simultaneously the glue that held that boat together when things went bad.
His character’s forgiveness of Johann showed his compassion, but you could see it pained him to go get the P38 as well.
Only a solid actor could portray both a need to do one’s duty, with the pain of doing so flawlessly.
"I had! A bad! Experience!"
I remember, when the series was first shown in german Television. It was an event. Weeks before broadcasting it was in every newspaper. The ratings were as high as they can go. Everybody saw it. We considered it to be the best piece of german entertainment ever. And in my opinion, it still is.
If we narrow the field to WW2 dramas, I'd say its only competition is Der Untergang, because the casting of Hitler there was...scarily good. Too good. You could've told me they'd used a time machine and brought the actual Hitler to act in the film, and I wouldn't of questioned it.
Fun fact: The way they got the cast to look so tired and haggered, like they hadn't seen the sun for months was because of exactly that - they were under strict conditions to not shave nor be out during the day time for the months the film was shot
wow, those germans really do things seriously, maybe thats why they are so hard to defeat
@@mikecarlson6416 hahahaha, hahahahaha, 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😭😭😂😂😂😂😂
Yes it was almost entirely shot in chronologic order. So as the beards of the actors grew, so did the beards of the characters they played.
Another fun fact is during the film when the boat is in rough water, you can see a hatch on deck flapping open, this was a mini submarine built for the film, unfortunately it was loaned to Hollywood to make the film U571 and they broke it. as told by Wolfgang Peterson himself.
@@spinaway U571 was made in 2000. Das Boot was made in 1981. The film that borrowed the submarine was "Raiders of the Lost Ark". :)
Edit: Apologies. You were talking about the series - not the movie - which was made in 2018. Looks like both productions had their boat borrowed!
Truly one of the most tense films I’ve seen. Fucking terrifying amount of pressure, communicating perfectly the danger presented between the enemy at the surface and the deadly environment around, which is yet the only hope for survival
Yeah this film creates such tension and suspense, that you really sympathize with the German sailors - just people, doing a tough job in awful conditions. I remember seeing this in 1981, at the end you feel like you've been on the journey with them, and you feel the Captain's anguish as he dies of shrapnel wounds as he watches the U boat sinking. Great film all around.
One of the best war movies ever made… but I never knew it was a series! Now I have to watch it…
Good book as well.
Was the "pressure" pun intended?
@@RRTNZ You ain't kidding. It's got more tension and suspense than most horror films these days.
After growing up on a steady diet of 'Kellys' Heroes', 'The Dirty Dozen' and 'Where Eagles Dare', this was the first gritty, "war is hell" war movie a 12 year old me ever saw. Trust the germans to take all the fun out of war... films. This is a timeless classic.
i was 10 i remember watching this with mum and dad and being amazed
Be sure to check out Stalingrad from 1993, it's basically Das Boot... but in Stalingrad. With lot's of no fun - guaranteed!
@@NPC_-mf4dw Agree, they're still not happy about losing the war. Also check out Der Untergang (Downfall) a German-Polish movie about the last days of Adolf Hitler. This is the movie that spawned the Hitler losing his mind meme. Beyond the meme, this movie is well done and pulls no punches.
@@michaelfodor6280 We are actually quite glad "we" lost it, trust me on that. ;)
@@NPC_-mf4dw agreed, would hate to not be able to watch the drinker because Adolf is censoring the Internet
Yesss.....as a submariner myself, this was required watching for all submarine sailors.
We all feel the pain shown onscreen, especially during sub on sub battles..we dont see sub sailors from other countries as enemies, but as brothers. Whenever a sub is lost in the real world, our entire community mourns as if we served along side them.
The subs of WW2 had no meaningful way of fighting each other. Many models had a deck cannon but that was only useful for attacking surface vessels. There were no anti submarine torpedoes, and no anti submarine submarines. So they just shared the same shitty reality. Most submariners never came home.
@@comingviking you're right. Today's subs are submersible boats that can surface if needed, WW11 subs were surface ships that could submerge if needed....whole different type.of warfare.
Australia still uses the WWII-esque type sub..in size and shape. OMg I don't know how they did it. That was one ofnthe smallest subs I'd ever been on, and I went down on a Skipjack class in Groton, and that was tiny compared to the floating city of Tridents I spent my years on.
that sounds, as morbide it may sound, really great. Really like the humanity that speaks out of your comment.
@@collincutler4992 are you possibly referring to the HMAS Onslow? She's an Oberon class submarine currently docked at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney and was an early post war submarine, now a museum exhibit.
Today we use the Collins-class diesel electric, based on the Swedish Gotland. With a snorkel, they too remain submerged until they need to surface, running a snorkel to charge batteries at periscope depth for a few minutes a day.
The Gotland based classes are highly successful - the Swedish beat a US carrier group and the Aussies beat a US ASW TF during war games!
@@briantien7146 yes....the name of the boat escaped me. I got to sign the log book as a submariner. It was great
'Das Boot' put Wolfgang Petersen on the world map. He went on to make memorable movies that were not about war, but of every genre available to a film maker, including fantasy "Never Ending Story", science-fiction, "Enemy Mine", political thriller "In the Line of Fire" and epic mythology, "Troy." Just about every film this remarkable director has made thorughout his long career is worth seeing.
I watched this as a child 30 years ago. There are scenes i still remember very clearly - like the end at the shipyard, the time when they were stranded at the bottom of the sea and when the machinist had a mental breakdown. I was completely absorbed by the claustrophobic and intense world they lived in - It is an amazing masterpiece!
Yeah, but...You ever buy snakes from the egyptian? Huh? Your licenses in order, pal?
@@dinkmartini3236 Hey Louie, the man is dry. Give him one on the house, OK?
My favourite line of the movie is when they're stuck on the bottom & everything's all busted & the crew's trying to make all the repairs & everything before the oxygen runs out, and the captain is asked: "Can we ever make it back to the surface?" And the captain just looks at him and says, "Good question."
@@MrPGC137 That was awesome. And wasn't it Johann who saved the crew and got the boat to rise from the bottom after his mental breakdown? That's a character arc right there!
@@Danilochan Ok but make mine a tequila with extra worms. And serve it in a big fuck off wine goblet so I get completely munted after only one.
When the series was shown on the BBC back in the eighties, obviously you couldn't binge-watch it like nowadays. You lived with it in your head over an extended period of time, which really added to the impact. Week by week you got to know the crew and wonder if they would survive all while waiting to see the next episode. Needless to say, the ending was an emotional experience...
I felt exactly the same, mate! And at the same time.
The most memorable scene for me was the cock examination scene, when the doctor told him that he was surprised that the army of crabs hadn't eaten his little cock off!
@@johnhigson8952 short arm inspections he he he
Yeah I remember those days ( showing my age here as well). It was so well done you got attached to the crew and just wanted to them to survive (even though they were the "bad guys"). Ending was really sad, just give those guys a break.
The scene when the chief engineer loses it and makes inhuman squeaks as he tries to climb the ladder to the coning tower. Wonderful acting and has stuck with me since I first watched it.
The most memorable scene for me is transiting the Straits of Gibraltar. When the captain screams "ALARM" still gives me chills every time I think about it.
It was the head machinist. But yeah, the moment where the commander puts the gun away afterwards and you realize, he was about to shoot him... that was so intense.
Not the chief engineer though, but the chief machinist who was a NCO.
A great scene. That engineer was somewhat crazy from the beginning, he would spend all his time in the engine room listening to the cylinders, or the pistons, or whatever. Once he appeared on the tower, and they told him 'It's nice to have some fresh air, eh?' and he's like, 'No, it isn't', and went back immediately.
And as you watch the depth charges scene, you feel the absolute terror of the situation, which made this kinda guy leave his beloved diesel engines and run for his life, at 200 meters beneath the surface.
@@razaalak That scene isn’t even in the movie version. I had to search for it . Need to get the entire 8 hours series…
I remember leaving the movie theater after this movie and walking outside. Seeing the sun and sky after that movie felt like a balm on my psyche. The sense of claustrophobia during depth charge attacks is unforgettable. Hands down, the best submarine movie ever made.
As an old retired cold-war submariner, I can tell you that this series is at the top of the list for most of us as the most realistic, gritty, and honest of the submarine moves out there (before and since). Your comment, "submarine duty is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of panic" is spot-on. Thank you for reviewing this one. Green Board.
This was one of the movies of my childhood. My Dad was a submariner, needless to say this was often on our box. Great movie and helped form all the nautical knowledge I have to this day 😆
Same here it's one of those movies my Dad and I can put on and enjoy at anytime. In many ways it makes me regret that I didn't go into the Navy and see if I could become a submariner like my father before me. So I settle for Navy history.
Same here as well, and my father was also a submariner.
I remember when this was out in theaters, and I remember it received great critical praise. But, until today I did not realize it was actually originally a miniseries.
Because it wasn't. Original film premiered in -81, and the mini-series in -85. A remastered directors cut came in -97 with a surround sound mix.
@@Malkki79 being a miniseries was the plan B if it had failed in the movie theaters.
As a German speaker, I can't imagine seeing this movie in any other language. When I lived in Switzerland, my parents took me to the studio where they made the film in Bavaria. I was in the actual model where they made the film and as a kid, even I felt almost claustrophobic. Then they showed us the pool and the two models they used for the underwater shots.
So every time I watch this movie (yeah, movie. Can't get the whole series in Australia), I have to think back that I was on this set. Can highly recommend this movie. Just alone for the music.
Music is spot-on, masterpiece by Doldinger, funnily he had only the main theme composed before seeing the cut and composed the pieces around the scenes... but yeah been there in the Bavaria Studios back in the late 80s or early 90s as a child and the Boat as well as riding on Fuchur was like the highlights... Cheers from Ireland to Down Under
Fun fact. German U-Boat Veterans broke out in tears while watching the movie in the cinema, because the tension and and immersion in the movie felt for them like the real thing back in the 40s.
I've heard that about every war movie with living vets. I think there are other factors in play than the movie itself
@@lego856 You probably right. But it was kinda a special thing that it happend in a german war movie.
Fun fact is a kinda poor choice of words here ? 😭
@@michaeluden7689 Fun fact. Fun fact is still a poor choice of words here I (the autor) admit.
And the 'Not yet' scene is EPICLY acted!
The soundtrack is really iconic aswell
I heard it first time when I was about 5 or so... And this track with the sonar ping haunted my nightmares for a good month :-D
German band Eisbrecher used the theme for their song "In Einem Boot".
Plays perfectly over games like Silent Hunter or Cold Waters.
As a german "Das Boot" is one of my all time favorites! I know this 5 hour plus series perfectly by heart!
The U-Boat menace in the Atlantic was one of the last fronts to finally turn in favor for the Allies. It's literally the one thing that reportedly kept Churchill awake at night. By the end, those who served on U-Boats suffered one of the highest loss rates in the war with roughly 70% lost IIRC. I wager the only unit that suffered a higher loss rate was the Japanese Kamikaze pilots.
Goes to show just how brave those men were on those u-boats. They knew getting into one meant certain death.
@@damienmayne7205 Yeah, once coverage by air power of the Atlantic was achieved by Spring 1943, serving on a U-Boat was increasingly a dangerous task. Radar on planes and escort ships plus the widespread deployment of a naval mortar called the "Hedgehog" was a death sentence for the U-Boat crews but they fought on till the very end.
@@1977Yakko Yet, few of them were Nazis. Like the fallschirmjager, too. They were just brave Germans who were doing their part like any soldier/sailor/airman would in war. The only difference is they did it with such deadly professionalism it was terrifying.
To clarify, when Daniel says 70%, he means 70% of them DIED.
Not wounded, not captured - DIED.
You have to understand the chances of survival for Uboats varied during course of the war. At the end they could count themselfs lucky if they even got out on the atlantic.
This is an absolutely amazing series. The German's ( incredibly serious ) answer to all those gung ho American WW2 flicks ( Hey - I love those too ).
My Dad sat me down to watch this when I was a kid. I'm still impressed that he reckoned I was mature enough to deal with such an impacting experience.
ow old were you at the time?
And the same team went on to make 'Stalingrad'... another brilliant film from the ordinary German.
I was in college when the "movie cut" of this came out and was showing in our theater. (Had an on campus public/student movie theater!! Those were the days!)
Any way, I worked in the restaurant section of the Student Union. There was a father/son( Prof Emeritus/Professor) I knew who ate breakfast regularly.
They went to see Das Boot.
This is how his son found out his dad was an enlisted Submariner in the US NAVY in the Pacific during WWII.
The Son was telling me about how much the movie just affected his Dad. Just like Das Boot, he was bombed, depth charged, surface battle, had two boats shot right out from under him. Lost a bunch friends and family. But he fought on. His Dad almost broke his arm when the first charges went off on the screen, kept saying we're fine, get out, hang on, and so on.
They left the theater he said, and his Dad was soaked in sweat, just like several other older men that were there. The Son was a Marine in Vietnam for two tours and said he had never seen that "stare" like his Dad had, even with being in Vietnam.
We both agreed that his Dad was right there in that Boat with those men, even with it being a movie.
The family knew "Dad" was in the Navy during the War. That was it. He said his Dad asked his wife, (the son's Mom) to never tell them what service. She showed him his service ribbons, and he had several rows. Suddenly "Dad" wasn't just some retired Early American history professor!
Submariners have a bond across the board, but Submariners from WWII, whether friend or foe, share a bond that only"they" will ever know.
My favorite part of Das Boot is when they are stuck on the bottom, almost out of hope, and then they are able to repair it enough so that it rises back to the surface and the engines restart. You almost forget it's a war movie but rather a Poseidon Adventure type survival story.
A shovel full of sand.
ALARRRMMMMMM
And the soundtrack is simply wonderful! Never have Diesels sounded better!!!
Und die Filmmusik ist einfach unübertroffen! Niemals klangen Diesel sooo gut!!!
All you need is good people
One of the cooler elements to the filming is they shot it in sequence like it was a road movie, and kept the cast inside the warehouse where they filmed the whole time. Thus as time passes in the film they legitimately become pale dirty and unhealthy.
Something you don't hear much about is how bad the men smelled after after a patrol. I doubt the officers on the supply ship would have been able to be so nonchalant about it.
@@MrGregroberts55 it looks like they let them have a shower..
If you're gonna watch the movie instead of the series, I highly recommend the Director's Cut, with lots of added scenes that really show the psychological boredom and intellectual starvation of months at sea stuck in a cramped submarine.
And while I would be terrified of being crushed like a can from depth charges, my greatest fear is the two toilets for 50 men.
You mean the two toilets where one was filled with supplies at the beginning of the trip, leaving only one toilet available for 50 men in the beginning? :-)
The Director's Cut is the one I'd recommend. The mini-series is a bit much for the average viewer, and is quite slow-paced. If you love the film version, you can always watch the mini-series later and appreciate the extra material.
oh so right indeed
I FIRST viewed this video in Holland , IN A VIDEO store that allowed me to sit on a bench watching the entire VIDEO without charge ... I have seen it about a dozen times SINCE , AND HAVE A DVD I. German ... A FANTASTIC MOVIE , PERHAPS ONE OF THE VERY GREATEST EVER X. O S V CAPT. P. van ESS
I watched it last month for the first time. And I was not a disappointed. As a German I can say the acting in this one is unbelievable good. This movie deserves all the praise and the high IMDB rating it got.
The sub actually was a 1:1 build and you could visit it back in the day in the film studios. I was lucky enough to walk through the sub. Btw, I also read the book twice, its a good read.
@Zanimations I sure did!
The same u-boat type (but a real one and the last of one) can be visited in the german town Laboe. You can walk through the entire thing. The only obvious difference is that in comparison to the movie boat the original boats were painted white on th inside to make better use of the lights inside.
The boat (as in the inside of it where most scenes were shot) is still on display at the Bavaria Studios in Munich today and you can still walk through it on a guided tour.
me too.. cool beans that old girl is still there. :D
@@stable_confusion That old girl is the best thing that ever happened to them. And they keep paying their respects while making a buck or two on her past glory.
In Munich you can visit the set of "Das Boot", walk inside the U-96 and look at all the details you can see in the movie. Also you get an impression of the confinement of a submarine. Really a great experience. Great movie, great soundtrack.
I was there as a child. I was always small for my age and still it was very claustrophobic. As an adult it must be much worse. By the way, if in munich, one might visit the "Deutsches Museum". There one can compare "das Boot" with a real german U-Boot from WWI. Those were even narrower. The one in the museum is cut open on the side, so you cannot go "inside", though.
I mentioned it here elsewhere, but it´s a really interesting experience to visit the boat (at Bavaria Filmstudios). You can get a real sense of space, especially imaging to live in this thing for weeks and months
@@christianganghofer4260 No way! Even smaller?!?
If you visit Laboe near Kiel you can walk inside an actual Type VII boat. U-995 is there dry docked as a museum piece in its entirety.
As one of your German subscribers, I give you a military salute for this one.
Achtung!😬
@@stevekramerf242 Jawohl haha Deutsche Drinker Fans
And I give you middle finger one. For this period of time alone, your so-called - nation cobbled together barely century earlier, should have been wiped form face of the planet, as you have been enthusiastically trying to do to others.
@@piotrd.4850 And other nations like the british empire, Japan, various middle east countries, the roman empire and others didn't want to destroy other lands or don't have skeletons in the closet? No, it's always Germany. Give me a break.
Being german I grew up with this movie (or mini series) I visited the set at bavaria movie studios and I remember when "Das Boot" was on TV the streets were empty. Absolutely love the whole vibe of this thing, the terror, the authenticity and the whole cast.
This is not only the best U-Boat movie, but also the best german Movie, at least after the war. I am german, and I think this was a very bold project in the first place, the topic as such is not exactly something that is easy to get money for. I also love "The Hunt for Red October" but for other reasons, if you only judge a U-boat movie by how authentic the life on board a U-boat was actually represented, I think "Das Boot" absolutely nails it. (OK, I only was on a U-Boat once, so I'm no expert)
I guess the cast knew from the start that they are part of something big and they put everything they had into this movie, which shows in my opinion. I mean Grönemeyer is a musician, still he performs like he never done anything else than acting, and Prochnow ties it all together with a performance that is simply legendary.
Anyone who likes great war movies will really enjoy this one. Great film.
Genau!
Pure Klasse.
Yelling,
“ALARM!”
Can become a habit.
Zerstörer!!!!
Unterzeeboot spezial cocktail, mein freund
Das muß das Boot abkönnen!
Many times Germans of this Era are shown as ruthless, evil, almost comic book like Villains, when in reality most of them were just Soldiers. Today it's easy to say "I would have stood up to the Government" but is it really the case? Beeing seen as a Traitor in that time was very serious. See Hans and Sophie Scholl for example.
We will never really be able to completely comprehend what ordinary Germans lived through- the immense pressure, just in their day-to-day lives- especially those in government-appointed positions: _They_ went after teachers & even sports coaches - Elsbeth Emmerich (no idea if she’s related to Roland...) who was a school girl during the war, described something of the pressure people in such positions were put under, to join. I’ll quote from the book I got it from, **Reader’s Digest- Journeys into the Past- Life on the Home Front, Chapter; The Axis Powers: Behind Enemy Lines**
_Her mother, a keen sportswoman, took up coaching young athletes during the early war years. Not long after, there was a knock at the door. ‘Enter a stranger. A strange man with a notebook & pencil, & a N*** pin in his lapel. He’d heard about my mother & her achievements. He’d assumed that she was a member of the Party, & only found out she was not when he checked his records.’ (Of course, anyone who referred to the Party meant the N- - - Party, there _*_was_*_ only one). ‘No doubt that was just an oversight, he went on, & would she join? He had his pencil at the ready but my mother froze over & said firmly “NO”. She did not want to become a member of the Party. He wanted to know her reasons, & she had reasons of her own. He didn’t understand. “You realise you cannot keep your position as coach to our young girls, unless you are a member of the Party?” My mum said surely coaching had nothing to do with politics, & that being a Party member would not make her a better coach. However, the man with the Party pin in his lapel knew better, & my mother had to give up a much-cherished job.’_
The scientist in ‘Captain America’ had it right: the first country the Nazis invaded was their own.
@@Freakinger81
No worries!
I think I heard somewhere about the Resistance; for every big act of sabotage, there were a dozen little ones- from working slowly, to misplacing information/ machinery parts, or delaying information/ repairs - people probably protested in their own small ways- ways that wouldn’t get them killed, or bring negative attention to their families...
@@OcarinaSapphr- Funfact... the most organised resistance against Hitler... was in the Wehrmacht. Heck, the Head of the Abwehr (German intelligence), Wilhelm Canaris, was part of the Resistance and was executed in KZ Flossenbrück.
Canaris overall had a rather interesting history, starting WWI as First Officer on the SMS Dresden, basically commanding the ship after its captain just shut down, playing a daring game of cat and mice against the RN and the Japanese. After the Dresden was sunk (it had been, on its own accord, interned in Chile, but the RN didn't care and didn't give a flying fuck about CHile's neutrality), he and the rest of the crew were interned in Chile... he snuck out, crossed South America on his own (crossing the Cordillera on horseback) and in the End returning to Germany. Then he was sent as spy to Spain.
There were some horrifically evil people in Germany back then (Dirlewanger, Mengele, Freisler, to name a few), but usually they were found somewhere cushy behind the front.
People say that because they've never been in that position. Historically, almost everyone obeys the mob, the guy with the gun, or the guy who decides who gets paid and who doesn't.
The camerawork was also brilliant when it followed crew members quickly through the narrow hatches
There are 'making of' documentaries showing how they did it (using a rail system).
Jost Vacano is one of my absolute favorite german Cinematographers. His colaborations with dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven (Robocop & Total Recall) are also fantastic.
I dont know if anyone said it yet, but two edits / facts.
1. The technical adviser for this movie was Captain Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, he was not ANY U-Boot commander, he was THE one from the movie. Yes the captain didnt die! He was injured in the attacke but not killed. U96 was raised and repared. It served until the last day of the war. Lehmann Wllenbrck was one of the most decorated and succesfull naval commanders of all time. He was promoted to Naval HQ in 1942. Lt. Werner, in real life Lothar Günter Bucheim, the author of Das Boot, served under Lehmann-Willenbrock on two patrols. These two patrols later became Das Boot. So all in this movie is true. Exapt one scene. There is one scene when Lt. Werner is takng pictures and one crewmate throws the oily towel in his face.Buchheim was furious about it, when he saw the finished movie. He said "An officer even a "guest" on board is a superior. If that would have happend, the crewman would been court martialed"
It took 30 years for Buchheim to wite it down. Because of his PTSD he couldnt bare to look at his jornals. He also wrote a trillogy, al based on his meetngs with Lehmann-Willenbrock- Das Boot / The boat, set in 1941. Die Festung / The fortess set in 1944 / 45 when Buchheim was sent to Norway and met Wilenbrock again, who was stationed there as comander in chief.
2. Showing the crew as soilders not Naz*s is historial accurat. The Navy was the leat politcal part of the german forces, mainly because of the deathrate. It was bad enough to lose a War-hero every other day, but a high ranking partiemember would be even more bad PR. There even is the case of captain Oscar Kusch. Kusch was commander of a submarine, poltical neutral, just a soilder doing his job. One day he got a new XO. Someone like in the movie, brainwashed, loyal partiemember. He asked Kusch why he had no picture of the Führer on board? Kusch answered "This is a warship. We dont do idolatry here!" His O reported this to the partie and Kusch was arrested and shot on the spot for "destroying the moral of his combat unit" His XO got promoted and got comand over Kuschs boat. He was sunk without survivors a few yards outside port.
As for Kusch himself, he was a forgotton victim of the war, like countless millions, for decades to come....until one day when someone came across his file in an old archiv. His case was reopend and Kusch was redeemed in 1997! After that, his name and story was added to the memorial of german U-Boot sailors.
I was a US Navy submariner for 8 years. We watched this a LOT onboard lol.
Sounds like you guys don't wanna separate reality from movies at all. Your sense of escapism is an endless loop... ^_^
Most of the time we watched submarine movies for comic relief. This was one that we had our nubs watch to understand the concept of one crew, one screw. Everyone makes a difference, and every person onboard is responsible for everyone. We were family.
@@kahnfatman I was friends with a guy who served on the British Vanguard Class ballistic missile subs and from his description of life onboard during a patrol it sounded like the whole crew got weirder and weirder as the total lack of sunlight and fresh air, as well as no communications with the outside world for 90 days at a time gradually took its toll. Near the end of their patrol they used to turn the entire sub into a crazy golf course.
- They build part of the interior on a giant seesaw, that was one bad weld away from crashing down spectacularly.
- They had a 1:1 "seaworthy" U-boat model for exterior shots, which broke apart after one day of filming. The morning after they used it for the first time, Wolfgang Peterson got a call, because "his Uboat was floating around in pieces". A few hours earlier and those actory might have gone down with it during filming, because they were dressed in really heavy "sailorclothes".
- One stuntman had to ride in a smaller U-boat model to steer it through rough seas. That dude thought he would drown, because it leaked and was closed off in a way, that he couldnt get out of quickly.
- During the ending scene the guy who was responsible for all the explosions really had fun. It was like that dude in tropic thunder, who only lived to blow stuff up. Semmelrogge (one of the actors) was right in the middle of it and wanted to fucking murder him after he was able to hear and think again.
Brillant movie! They just dont do them like this anymore...
Its true, better movies existed when the actors could be roughed up a little.
Your comment's great, got any more info from this production? I'd really like to read it.
@@robertmaybeth3434 I think i remember that from multiple sources. I saw most of those points in a documentation once, but it was in german. The documentation was called "Das Boot - Welterfolg aus der Tiefe" made by the german tv-station "arte".
Here is a text about the documentation, but its not very thorough, there was much more in the documentation itself:
www.nq-online.de/blogs/film-dreharbeiten-am-limit-40-jahre-das-boot_62_111993752-16.html
The documentation itself seems unfortunately to not be available anymore... if anyone finds it again, please tell.
p.s. here is another one, but its not about the problems during the filming. Still interesting imho:
ua-cam.com/video/MxnhXCP-uWs/v-deo.html
When I was in submarines in the RAN in the 80s we had a copy of the movie on each boat. Our submarines were very similar systems wise. We watched it regularly
Personal question, why would you wanna serve in a submarine? Its months in a closed container box, with every piece of equipment crammed including the crew, with the risk of dying in a deep grave.
@@Rohv I was young and failed pilot selection. It's another type of flying but with no windows.
Also, our training was done in the UK so I got a free trip to Europe.
It's pretty exciting. A lot of the time It's frightening and I'll never forget what we did. You are always one mistake away from disaster. Comraderie is next level. The saying is "once a submariner always a submariner "
Can I ask you Chris if you enjoyed your service time on subs, and if the food served to you at that time was good quality? I've been watching a number of US submarine 'chow' clips in which the meals served to submariners look pretty darn good, i.e, morale-boosting 'comfort' food. Just curious to ask, and thanks in advance.
My son is a former submariner and worked on the power plan on the *Los Angeles* class. I had been aboard the Uboot in Chicago and a few other US WWII submarines. Honestly, the US Navy's "Gato" class was less crowded than his submarine.
@@beeman2075I enjoyed it. The crew were close and professional but teased each other relentlessly. I was on oberons in the 80s. They are small diesel boats. The food was ok but I honestly can't remember much other than some unique issues.
The officer's mess has a small pantry outside. That's where our coffee urn was. It was directly under the diesel tank test cocks. They leaked. All our coffees tasted of diesel.
The beer was stored in the after torpedo tubes because we didn't use them. The torpedos that fitted were not the same size as the bigger torpedoes carried up forward. They had been removed from service.
The tubes leaked hydraulic oil so the beer tasted of Hydraulic fluid.
The galley was tiny and just forward of our mess. There were 2 cooks and they did a great job feeding 70 of us.
A classic. This and Red Oktober the best sub films
Facts.
These both and Latitude Zero.
Crimson Tide was pretty good too.
I can't believe you jokers haven't included down periscope in your list
@@brongondwana Ha best of them all by far!!
Das Boot is one of the best films I will never be able to watch again. It is too real and painful.
Drinker nails it again - this film is a masterpiece - I only saw the theatrical release - I didn't realize it was a series. The casting and acting, the sets, the cinematography, the story are all timeless. Still a classic, unique war film that I never get tired of.
Try to ghet the 6h miniseries, and watch them in one go. It reall nails down the excruciatingly slow descent into madness.
Even the cut down movie version is still one of the best war movies ever made.
This and "Cross of iron" along with the German production "stalingrad" from 1993, are the holy trinity, almost only, war films from the German viewpoint. There was talk of having Paul Verhoeven make Guy Sajer's "Forgotten soldier" based on the classic book but it came to nothing. There is a serious gap of films of this kind, for reasons that are probably obvious when you remember who runs hollywood, but there is a lot of drama inherent in films from this POV. Particularly gripping would be a well-made film (do they make those now?) based on the German night or day fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe. It was exactly like Battle of Britain, if that had lasted 4 years - where German pilots flew and fought until they were killed, and the story opportunities are seemingly obvious.
@@robertmaybeth3434 Was there ever a movie version of Die Bruecke (The Bridge), a slim book by Hans Helmut Kirst (as I recall). The book is superb, and I thought someone did a film version, which I never saw.
@@joannleichliter4308 If you search for "die Bruecke" on wikipedia you'll find the 1959 film. It also says it is based on the novel by Gregor Dorfmeister, under the pseudonym Manfred Gregor.
@@Bonez0r Many, many thanks! Unfortunately, I have lost my copy of the novel. Guess I'll have to go to Amazon, alas.
@@joannleichliter4308 i never heard of this but i would read it.
If we're doing Wolfgang Petersen films, then at some point you have to make a video about _Enemy Mine._ It's one that not many people seem to remember, but everyone I've shown it to so far has loved it.
Great film.
Good call, Daaaaavitch! (click, wheeeze, gargle)
Grim and heartfelt film. The sand pit fiend terrified me in my childhood.
Woah, he did that one too?!
Enemy Mine is such great movie. It really stuck with me for a long time.
"Me too..four...five..?"
Fantastic film, watched it years ago and was lucky enough to get a copy of it recently.
I watched this for the first time while visiting family in Wyoming - the tv area was a dank, windowless, freezing basement room. Really added a little something-something to the experience. Love this film - absolute masterclass in tension.
The first time I saw this movie was in our barracks at 29 Palms Ca. just before we were waiting to ship out for the first Gulf War. We were a reservist tank unit called up and one of the last ones to deploy. The Marine Corps still had the old M60 tanks and we were one of the first units going through accelerated training on the M1A1 Abrams, the Corps didn't have them yet and weren't scheduled to get them until March of '91, so now was as good a time as any to start getting their tankers trained up ahead of schedule.. So on Christmas Day '90 we had one day off and we watched this. Why, we don't know. Not the movie you want to watch going into combat, considering the claustrophobic experiences shared by sub crews and tankers.
I am such a big fan of Wolfgang .. What a Masterpiece
I recall watching it when I was a kid below 10, to this day I still remember those dreaded metallic noises when they went below the depth allowed and how they limped to the docks just to be sunk there.. it's a movie that stays with you for longer
That's the most depressing "go away now" I've heard.
His one at the end of the Star Wars critique was so sad
Which surprised me -- he usually sounds much happier when talking about his classic picks.
He seems to be reacting to the submarine's destruction right at the end.
Based on a novel I read in the 70’s which was a terrific read.
Agreed.
And the novel was based on true events and experiences of the late author.
He was that war correspondent and he went on such missions for real.
Das Boot was written by L. G. Buchheim, a former war correspondent on U-boats. It's an excellent novel with autobiographical touches.
Get yourself a copy of "Iron Coffins".
I also recommend to read Ernst Jüngers Storm of Steel in the 1929 translation.
One of the best war books I've ever read, 100% autobiographical too.
I recently watched this movie again since I was a wee lad...What a Great Film, I particularly enjoyed the Soundtrack.
This is my favorite movie of the 80s and one of my favorite of all time
What a great series, with impact on the viewers. One of the best ever made. Also a litttle bit of a "Production Hell" title, the water stream in a storm was strong enough for one of the cast to break his arm, and they werent allowed to shave or go outside, because submariners dont have a tan.
This film and Lawrence of Arabia go up there as the two best ever war films; neither glorifies it, but rather tells the story of what it was really like, through the eyes of people we can relate to.
Agree, Lawrence of Arabia is the closest any movie ever gets close to a perfect 10/10, whatever the genre. Das Boot isn't too far behind.
I mean, the latter has its indulgent, romantic moments.
@@SacClass650 a few; it's pretty gritty and shows the mental toll war takes on people, even gifted leaders - it's no jingoistic film, and rather takes a huge peg out of the British Empire's self-proclaimed 'good guys' image.
@@danieloconnell4225 It's a masterpiece of cinema, I've just never thought of it as being 'gritty.' I'll have to revisit it.
I watched Lawrence of Arabia in full for the first time last year. Amazing movie, a true masterpiece. Older films are sometimes hit or miss for me because of how dated technical effects can look, but that movie does such an amazing job with the plot and characters that everything else falls away.
This movie still influences german people to this day, even people who never saw it. For example, someone in command of a task is sometimes referred to with the word "Kaleu". That's what the captain of the U-boat is called from the crew, a short form of his rank, Kapitänleutnant.
Whenever I drive my car over crappy roads and get shaken up, "Das muß das Boot abkönnen" slips over my lips.
Seen this when I was pretty young. Always stuck in my mind as one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Scared the shit out of me.
Never knew it was a series! I saw the movie and it was great.
They made a movie, a directors cut, a mini series, and i think an extra long movie, after the first movie was successful but the author was not happy with it.
In my opinion this is the best war film ever made.
Watching this with a music video from the 90's U96 Das Boot in my head.
1 2 3 Tehno!
Absolutely amazing piece of entertainment. I was lucky to find it during my German language studies and after watching it all in one sitting, I felt like I was a crew member of that U-boat myself.
I also like how it doesn't do the typical "Nazis are bad" spiel, which was overused even then. There was one guy on board who was a Nazi and atypically he didn't show himself a coward or traitor to his fellow soldiers, he did his job during the critical situation near the end and saved a life of a crewmember. I like when movies do show a human part of German army of that time, since first of all - not everyone in the army was a Nazi and also Nazis, and I know it might be hard pill to swallow, they were also humans. I find it very compelling when movies touch on that aspect, how do people live with such an ideology, how did they got there, etc.
You should give "Die Brücke" from 1959 or "Stalingrad" from 1993 a go, both are also some of the best War Movies and also from the german perspective.
War just sucks.
@@henriklarssen1331 Oh ye "Stalingrad", a movie that will make you feel the chill of Russian winter even during the hottest of summers. Never heard of "Die Brücke" though, thanks for recommendation, I'll check it out.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" (WW1 drama, 1979) which I recommend too.
Many people became members of the NSDAP out of opportunitism, not because they believed in the ideology. Same as those who became member of the Bolshevik Party in the USSR or who currently are members of the Chinese Communist Party. And it's not an unknown phenomenon in today's Western democracies as well, being a member of the ruling party will help your career.
For many people its easier to believe those nazi's were unhuman monsters than accept the fact that every normal human can do horrible things if the circumstances pushes them in that direction.
Just finished 3 and a half hours Director's cut, just amazing, 10/10.
i am pretty much a recluse and shut in, but after watching the mini series in the dark and on a hot and humid day with bad air inside, that series actually makes me go out and take a walk around the park.
One of the greatest seafaring series of all time. The angst and the tension run ramrod right through the entire narrative. At times it’s downright terrifying in intensity. One of the few pieces of filmic art that has stood the test of time. Bravo!
I loved this movie. Other than Sam Peckinpah’s ‘Cross of Iron’, it was the only war movie I’d seen that portrayed the regular German soldier in a sympathetic light.
It’s a great book, too.
I can recommend "Stalingrad". Not nearly as good as "das boot", but better than "Cross of Iron"
Check out Stalingrad by Joseph Vilsmaier.
Watched das Eiserne Kreuz late 70's, film audience loved it, possibly made easier by having known stars in it. Zeveral of Sven Hassels books were filmed, only seen them on video, still wlth watching.
It's so gritty and grimy that you can almost smell the crew! It always did, and still does, stand apart from other submarine movies/shows.
Probably the best german movie ever made. Try to change my mind.
No need, you are right.
My father took me to see the movie in the 80's... watched again a few years ago. The movie didn't age at all.
my first introduction to the great actor jurgen prochnow who always seemed to get cast as the euro-bad guy in numerous 80's action films.
Das Boot and Stalingrad are my two all time favorite anti-war movies ever. And both have awesome music scores!
Add "Der Untergang" and your set is complete. Drinker, if you haven't watched it, please do so.
The final scene always gets me, I seem to get a bit of dust in my eye, certainly on a par with the final scene of Blackadder goes forth.
...which gets to me everytime. That slo mo of our heroes going over, the fadeover to a beautiful french landscape today that remembers nothing of their plight, the most tender rendition of Blackadders theme imaginable... damn I'm getting dust im my eyes writing this right now.
blackadder goes forth is such a good final season
hands down the best uboot film
It's a German classic. We don't have that many good films in Germany, but Das Boot is great.
Das Boot is an awesome movie❗ It's definitely the most accurate U-boat movies ever made..😊👍👍👍
Just watched this 2 days ago. It is a master class in building tension...I mean how often can you say you feel the tension looking at a needle move
Drinker: Recommending watching this show in german with subtitles
My inner Wehraboo: Der Qualität dieser Produktion wurde Gerechtigkeit getan.
"Wehraboo"?? Is that actually a thing or did you just make that up?
@@rall172 Well, it kinda is, but I used it as a joke. It's used as a term for people who argue that german military during ww2 was the best and they only lost because of reasonxy but should totally have won.
Personally, I just find that term funny.
@@MoreImbaThanYou Hmm... ok. But...
Sach ma... has du eigentlich Haare in de Nase?😂
The best movie ever made.
The original "Das Boot" is a work of GENIUS!!
The feature length version that hit theatres is one of the iconic "must watch" submarine films of all time. I have seen it several times, in slightly different versions (in German, dubbed, theatrical cut...) and it never fails to affect me. I honestly didn't know it was a series...
Yeah, was released to American theaters in 1982, that was when i saw this. movie
It was shot in parallel as both a series and a movie.
Das Boot is a classic in every sense of the word. In this genre, it never has (and I believe never will be) equaled in it's scope, depth and sincerity of presentation.
This is also the film that introduced me to the excellent Jurgen Prochnow, who in my opinion was a great Leto Atreides in the 1984 film Dune.
Has to be watched in German with subtitles.
YESSS! I mean Jajajaja!
I first watched it on Norwegian TV in German with Norwegian subtitles. Nether language I speak. And I lost nothing. I had no trouble fallowing the story. To this day it’s one of my top favourite films.
It was a powerful movie. Saw it in the theater, in German and without subtitles, and I don’t speak German, and it was gripping.
I remember wanting to be a submariner when I was young. At 12, I saw that mini-series and the idea of becoming a submariner just vanished.
As a german subscriber of your channels, I love that you thematize this masterpiece! German movies, especially modern ones, are usually forgettable to unbearable, but Wolfgang Petersen, who always had a knack for spectacles and impressive images, remember "Troy", created, together with the cast around Jürgen Prochnow, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Herbert Grönemeyer (who is actually mainly known as a very talented musician), Klaus Wennemann and Martin Semmelrogge a timeless classic of German cinema, which is rightly known internationally, after all, the film lost nothing of its impact till this day! The directing was much more sophisticated and of higher quality compared to other German productions, the sets are more authentic, the action is livelier and the acting is more convincing! The pictures are still impressive today! Definitely a true classic!
Hey Benedikt, hallo aus deutschland
Ein Hallo auch von meiner Seite. Grüße aus Katar. ;)
@@benediktgraf8659 grüße aus Erfurt, kein so interessanter Ort wie Katar🤣
hey Grüße aus Bayern
Schon fast von Anfang an dabei, Grüße aus Münster
"Das Boot" is the best anti-war movie/series. Period. Fight me.
Seriously, if it's not in your top 5 I really wonder what those other 5 are.
Theoretically: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Full Metal Jacket, The Deer Hunter, Empire of the Sun, All Quiet On The Western Front (Series: Generation Kill, Band Of Brothers, The Pacific, MASH... can't think of a 5th so lets just say Foyle's War). Just for the sake of fighting though: Das Boot is a masterpiece and the score really brings home the emotion. I find it's particularly popular among sailors, because of how accurately it portrays subtle things like cramped conditions, sleeping in another man's sweat, scarcity of fresh food, but what really sets it apart, for me, is the disconnect with the larger conflict or political ideologies, and sailors just doing 'the job'. Hollywood has churned out it's fair share of submarine films: Run Silent, Run Deep, Ice Station Zebra, Enemy Below, The Hunt For Red October; but the only one that can come close to Das Boot, IMHO, is the late Tony Scott's Crimson Tide.
SW The last jedi
Captain marvel
A wrinckle in time
Ghostbusters 2016
Birds of prey
Honorable mentions:
Falcon and winter soldier (aka the REAL cap)
GoT s08E03
Doctor who (from season 11)
Batwoman
Star trek discovery
i love my life
The Human Condition - Masaki Kobayashi's 9 hour 3 film epic following the miserable life of Kaji, a Japanese pacifist, is a good contender for the best ant-war film; or best film in any genre, full stop.
@@CaptainTripppz I'd say purely from the "making you think about your preconceptions of war" perspective Das Boot beats The Bridge on the River Kwai, especially because it features characters that are considered Nazis. (I say "considered" because most don't care about the ideology).
Full Metal Jacket is an excellent pick. Not better IMO, but a quite worthy contender.
The rest I don't have in memory. But I'll take both lists as recommendations. Thanks for those.
Another part of the unique look and feel is that there is no cutting away from the submarine, ever, not to the enemy, not to admirals, nothing further than the outside of the submarine. Keeping the viewer forced inside the claustrophobic environment is such a simple yet so effective choice. "Less is more" is such a forgotten piece of wisdom.
@@flaksoft8003 Did your life consent to that?
Best Film Ever Made!!!
Knowing the Drinker, I was not surprised he likes "Das Boot". It is THE German modern masterpiece. So well made that I was able to forget I'm seeing at the time popular TV actors and a recording pop artist cast as the war correspondent.
This movies greatest asset is the straightforward production. It relies on its ability to grasp the audience with harsh reality instead of over the top pathos.
I visited the film studio in Munich where the props are displayed. Went through the same aisles as the actors had done ten years before. It is really scary in there.
I still remember that time about 30 years ago, when we went to visit the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich, where the series was shot, on a school trip. Among seeing sets from, for example, Neverending Story or Enemy Mine, we also saw the set of the U-boat, that was used, as well as the model of the U-96 and that small pond that they used to get the U-boat shots.
Saw it when it was first broadcast on TV as (I think) a 5 part serial. Riveting, mind blowing telly, and thank God they did the sub-title version not the dubbed one. My mum, who lived through the War and regarded the film with considerable scepticism, said at the end "You almost feel sorry for them" which I think is the best accolade the makers could have hoped for. Our generation will never "get it", and my mum's will probably not understand how we can see both sides of a conflict that took so many of their generation, but Das Boot is a fine testament to the human side of war and the toll it takes on everyone. The scene where the captain says of his crew, "These lads, these wonderful lads..." is one of the most heart-rending in cinema history. I hope anyone who saw your video who hasn't seen Das Boot will rush out to watch it. They won't be disappointed.
Watches drinker gush over Das Boot. Starts humming the theme tune. Damn, that's gonna be stuck in my head for days now.