Your favorite nautical-themed movies?

Discussions on naval-war movies, films and games.
SparkVark
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Your favorite nautical-themed movies?

Post by SparkVark »

How about compiling a list?

Here are some I'll volunteer for a start:

1. Master and Commander: Far Side of the World
2. Das Boot
3. The Bedford Incident (errors aside, it is interesting)
4. Sink the Bismarck (again, errors aside, I think it is enjoyable)
5. Hunt for Red October (the book is better but the movie was good)
6. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
7. Tora Tora Tora (but not the follow-on Midway)
8. Battleship Potemkin
9. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Ok, besides the obvious stretch, I think this is the best "Ship to Ship" encounter movie, with many nautical elements that were intentionally introduced: the great music (nautical-sounding motifs), the script elements: "steady as she goes", engine rooms, hatches and ladders, the Moby Dick references, the "at sea" burial at the end... brilliant.
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Karl Heidenreich
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Post by Karl Heidenreich »

If a Star Trek movie goes then you have to consider "Nemesis". It´s a cool naval encounter.
You forgot Midway with Charlton Heston and the Enemy Below.
I´ll vote for Tora, Tora, Tora!
Which Japanese Battleship is the one that it´s seen in the openning of the movie and serves as Yamamoto´s flagship?
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Post by SparkVark »

I think the ship at the beginning of Tora Tora Tora might be Nagato?

Yes, you make a good point about Nemesis. As for ST II and "Enemy Below", I found these interesting facts on imdb.com:

"The battle of wits between Kirk and Khan in the Mutara Nebula sequence was inspired by the battle between the destroyer captain (Robert Mitchum) and the U-boat commander (Curd Jürgens) in The Enemy Below (1957)"

"Director Nicholas Meyer envisioned the film as the ultimate extension of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's idea of "Horatio Hornblower in space". Therefore, prior to filming he had the cast watch Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)for inspiration."
SparkVark
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Post by SparkVark »

Oh yes, I almost forgot:

The Sand Pebbles
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060934/
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_Derfflinger_
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Post by _Derfflinger_ »

Agree - my top five would have to be (not in any particular order):

- Hunt for Red October
- The Enemy Below
- Sink the Bismarck
- Tora Tora Tora
- Master and Commander, The Far Side of the World

Derf
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Matthias
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Post by Matthias »

Absolutely:

_Master &Commander
_Das Boot
_Hunt for Red October
"Wir kämpfen bis zur letzten Granate."

Günther Lütjens
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marcelo_malara
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Post by marcelo_malara »

I am very happy that nobody named Pearl Harbour. Is the war movie with more mistakes I have ever seen.
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Post by Bgile »

Pearl Harbor was simply terrible.

I agree pretty much with the original poster, except I too would add "Enemy Below".

From the black and white era (dates me, doesn't it :wink: ) I thought "Run Silent, Run Deep" was very good and B&W wasn't so bad in a submarine movie.
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Post by SparkVark »

You are so right! Pearl Harbor was the worst! I left the theater after I saw some Spruance class destroyers get attacked. What a waste of money that was. That terrible film cost $150 million to make, and grossed $200 million at the box office. As long as the bad movies make money, there will be more of them unfortunately.

Master and Commander, cost $150 million to make and cost another $30 million in marketing promotion, and it grossed only $93 million. I wish we could see a sequel to it but I wouldn't "count" on it. I had to check the net twice to believe these numbers...

Lastly, The Hunt for Red October: Budget $30 (in 1990 dollars), and grossed: $200,512,643 worldwide. I guess that's why there were a few more Tom Clancy novel sequels. Too bad they never made Red Storm Rising... though that would be tough to make on any budget.
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Post by Bgile »

I almost forgot to mention that I was in the US Navy at Pearl when Tora! Tora! Tora! was filmed. It was really cool seening all those vintage aircraft going overhead every day, some of them dropping bombs and torpedoes! They also towed a mockup of part of USS Nevada past Ford Island a number of times while they were doing that part of the movie, with lots of shooting and smoke, etc.

A lot of fun! They hired a lot of sailors as extras, but I wasn't one of them.
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Post by Bgile »

SparkVark wrote:You are so right! Pearl Harbor was the worst! I left the theater after I saw some Spruance class destroyers get attacked. What a waste of money that was. That terrible film cost $150 million to make, and grossed $200 million at the box office. As long as the bad movies make money, there will be more of them unfortunately.

Master and Commander, cost $150 million to make and cost another $30 million in marketing promotion, and it grossed only $93 million. I wish we could see a sequel to it but I wouldn't "count" on it. I had to check the net twice to believe these numbers...

Lastly, The Hunt for Red October: Budget $30 (in 1990 dollars), and grossed: $200,512,643 worldwide. I guess that's why there were a few more Tom Clancy novel sequels. Too bad they never made Red Storm Rising... though that would be tough to make on any budget.
I liked Master and Commander, but I was disappointed that the final battle was so short. The special effects were great, but ... why so short?
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Karl Heidenreich
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Post by Karl Heidenreich »

Pearl Harbor is not a movie is a joke. The best comment on her I read was in "MAD MAGAZINE" when they asked why the movie runs for forty minutes after the Pearl raid had finished? As a matter of fact the movie finishes with the Dollitle Raid. Why? Because in a contemporary political correct american movie you cannot have an ending in which the US seems to be loosing because young people must believe the Japanese won WWII!
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marcelo_malara
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Post by marcelo_malara »

I liked Master and Commander, but I was disappointed that the final battle was so short. The special effects were great, but ... why so short?
Master and Commander is a great movie. I saw it first in the cinema, being myself a sailboat man, and I realized that there were many aspects of tall ships that I didn´t know. So I put myself in a race to get some books about the technical aspects of shipbuilding and shiphandling of the period. Then I saw it again on DVD and with that backgroud I understood much more things than the first time, and I realized that the production of the movie is IMPECCABLE.
You must understand too that it is not only a war or action film, it is above all I think an adventure and navigation movie. and bearing that in mind the final battle is long enough. Besides, it is made I believe in the old-Hollywood way, not much shooting may be, but with a better story.
On the other hand I had met with many people that said it was a little boring, but you have to be interested in the subject to fully apreciate the movie.
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Post by Bgile »

I agree it was a great movie Marcelo! I enjoyed the whole movie - the depiction of life on a British warship was wonderful.

But I still wanted a longer gun battle similar to the ones described in the Patric O'Brien books the movie was taken from! To be fair, the gun battles are a small part of his books also but he has much more time to work with than a movie producer.

I too bought the DVD. :D
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marcelo_malara
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Post by marcelo_malara »

Bgile:
As you have read the books of Patrick O´Brien, could you confirm that this book among all was chosen because it was a one-against-one ship story (it would be easier to make than Trafalgar or battle of the Nile)?
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