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U-571
- 179 statements
- 34 feature instances
- 22 referencing feature instances
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Released in 2000, directed by Jonathan Mostow and written by David Ayer, this World War II movie Very Loosely Based on a True Story is about a submarine crew who board a disabled German sub to steal an Enigma Machine, a secret German encryption device used to send coded messages. Caused a degree of controversy as the film places the Americans in center role as the heroes... except that in real life, the first to capture the submarine-based ENIGMA machine was the British. Although the film is also partly based on the American action that led to the capture of the U-Boat now on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, though by "partly," we mean "altered so much as to be unrecognizable."The film stars Matthew McConaughey as Andrew Tyler, Bill Paxton as Mike Dahlgren, Harvey Keitel as Henry Klough, Jon Bon Jovi as Pete Emmett, Jake Weber as Michael Hirsch, Erik Palladino as Anthony Mazzola, Matthew Settle as Keith Larson, David Keith as Matthew Coonan and Thomas Kretschmann as Günther Wassner. | |
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Anyone Can Die | |
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Anyone Can Die: And almost everybody does. Seven men survive to the end, that's it. | |
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Dressing as the Enemy | |
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Dressing as the Enemy: How the crew gets aboard the U-571. | |
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U-571 / int_19d06ef7 | type |
A Father to His Men | |
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A Father to His Men: Tyler who's good buddies with his fellow officers, an older brother figure to the enlisted, has a good respected advisor in the Chief's and in an era when the military was still heavily segregated even the black mess workers are comfortable enough around to have a smoke with. He says he'd give his life for anyone on the sub and is notably crushed when they take their first casualty. This is actually why he's turned down from command at first as that kind of mentality is great for an XO who's the bridge between the Captain and the rest of the crew but not necessarily for a Captain who has to remain detached enough to order the crew into potential situations where they might lose their lives. | |
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U-571 / int_213dc284 | type |
Closest Thing We Got | |
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Closest Thing We Got: After a depth charge kills the U-boat's engineering department, the captain is seen badgering the only man he could find with any mechanical experience to fix the engines, with no success, as the poor guy protests that he only has a summer's worth of experience fixing motorscooters. | |
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U-571 / int_24f4c82a | type |
Semper Fi | |
U-571 / int_24f4c82a | comment |
Semper Fi: Coonan, a Marine officer, is an expert in demolitions and commando raids and is brought onboard to give the submariners a crash course in boarding actions they would otherwise be unprepared for. | |
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U-571 / int_2612a967 | type |
It Has Been an Honor | |
U-571 / int_2612a967 | comment |
It Has Been an Honor: Inverted; Chief Klough does say, "Well, Mister Tyler, if you ever need a chief, I'll go to sea with you anytime," but after the danger is over. | |
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U-571 / int_2b706ca | type |
More Dakka | |
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Anyone with even faint understanding of conditions on a submarine will find the entire scene with shootout aboard U-571 (with rapid fire weaponry!) downright cringeworthy. Submarines were (and still are) essentially enclosed, steel cylinders — which means that for starters, using firearms in such an environment would be extremely noisy and all participants of such shootout would get their eardrums blown very quickly. Secondly, being completely surrounded by steel walls means your bullets will ricochet frequently, giving you plenty of opportunities to hurt not only your intended target, but many other people, including your own teammates and even yourself. There are good reasons why in the real world, U-Boats carried little to no personal firearms aboard, and while the British actually did send an armed boarding party to capture U-110, no shots were fired (since U-110 was abandoned by its crew earlier). | |
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U-571 / int_2dddd99d | type |
False Flag Operation | |
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False Flag Operation: In addition to boarding the ship, they have to pretend to be Germans in order to avoid being attacked by German forces in the area. At one point this involves cheerfully waving at a Messerschmitt fighter that spots them and makes a low pass. | |
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U-571 / int_3052f23e | type |
Sink the Lifeboats | |
U-571 / int_3052f23e | comment |
Sink The Life Boats: To prove how evil the German U-boat crew is. In reality, out of the tens of thousands of hours logged by the U-boat Force, there is only one recorded incident of a crew attacking survivors, and this was never an official policy of any sort whatsoever (because, like with a number of war crimes, there was the fear that it would provoke the enemy to respond in kind). It was much more common for German submariners to provide aid to the crews they sank. That said, in the film, the German captain seems to hold distaste for this policy, and his men are just as unhappy as he is when they are ordered to murder the helpless survivors of a British ship they just sank. | |
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U-571 / int_3eee0728 | type |
Captain Obvious | |
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Captain Obvious: "Everything's in German!" | |
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Everyone Knows Morse | |
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Everyone Knows Morse: Justified. On a WWII warship, everyone did. | |
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U-571 / int_56515a39 | type |
Artistic License – History | |
U-571 / int_56515a39 | comment |
Artistic License – History: The real U-571 and S-33 didn't even operate in the same ocean as each other. In addition, the Germans never sent their destroyers that far west. Most of the German surface fleet was destroyed early on, this was why the Germans sunk most of their naval resources into their U-Boats. | |
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U-571 / int_5d3483cc | type |
Reading The Enemy's Mail | |
U-571 / int_5d3483cc | comment |
Reading The Enemy's Mail: The main objective is to capture a German Enigma coding machine and the associated codebooks, allowing the Allies to decode and read German transmissions. | |
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U-571 / int_619985d7 | type |
Sacrificial Lion | |
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Sacrificial Lion: Dahlgren. | |
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U-571 / int_6366f900 | type |
Old Soldier | |
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Old Soldier: Chief Gunner Klough, who served on submarines during World War I. | |
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Artistic License – Military | |
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Artistic License – Military: There's more examples of this than you can shake a stick at, but one stands out to those familiar with military history. The cook on board the sub is a black man. This would not have occurred during World War II, as the armed forces were not desegregated until 1947. However, the filmmakers may have been aware of this and simply chose to ignore it. Extra credit has to be given to them for portraying him as a intelligent and capable individual, who takes over the sub's helm when the regular helmsman is killed, and never gives in to panic or fear. Also, he's treated as an equal by everyone on board, with absolutely no hint of racism from anyone. Messmen (later stewards) were the only black sailors allowed to serve on U.S. submarines during the war. Seventy-four black messmen/stewards went on "eternal patrol." Executive Order 9981, desegregating the U.S. military, was issued in 1948. | |
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U-571 / int_889f217f | type |
Hot Sub-on-Sub Action | |
U-571 / int_889f217f | comment |
Hot Sub-on-Sub Action: The German boat that sinks the American sub is stated as being a resupply boat. The Type XIV "Milchkuh" (or "milk cow") did not even have torpedo tubes. In addition, during the entire war, there is exactly one recorded instance of a submarine being sunk by another with torpedoes, and this was done by the British HMS Venturer. | |
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U-571 / int_a796d2a6 | type |
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy | |
U-571 / int_a796d2a6 | comment |
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Generally, a submarine could not be within short range of a destroyer without getting ripped to shreds. | |
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U-571 / int_a7c904c3 | type |
America Won World War II | |
U-571 / int_a7c904c3 | comment |
America Won World War II: invoked Infamously so. In Real Life, the Enigma Machine was stolen from a German submarine... by the British. Enigma machines were actually captured multiple times from U-Boats during the war, and one such action was accomplished by the US Navy, but the real event was nothing at all like the movie. As can be expected, this did cause one hell of an uproar in the UK, to the point it was called "An Affront to British Sailors" during Prime Ministers Question Time upon release! For what it's worth, American veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic who saw the movie generally agreed with the British. An Enigma was cracked as early as 1928 by the Polish. Germany exported civilian versions of the Enigma machine in 1930s. British government had a few of these even before the war began. | |
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U-571 / int_a858bec5 | type |
Banging for Help | |
U-571 / int_a858bec5 | comment |
Banging for Help: A captured prisoner uses a wrench to knock out a message in Morse Code for other German ships to hear on Sonar: I am U-571... destroy me! | |
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Dead Star Walking | |
U-571 / int_a8c1433e | comment |
Dead Star Walking: A number of American submariners, including Bill Paxton (who's set up to be one of the main characters) and Jon Bon Jovi, are killed a quarter of the way through the film during a disastrous escape from a German U-boat. | |
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Oh, Crap! | |
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Oh, Crap!: Emmett has a moment of slack-jawed horror when the German resupply submarine launches a torpedo at the S-33. | |
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U-571 / int_b4a6ae4c | type |
Everyone Has Standards | |
U-571 / int_b4a6ae4c | comment |
That said, in the film, the German captain seems to hold distaste for this policy, and his men are just as unhappy as he is when they are ordered to murder the helpless survivors of a British ship they just sank. | |
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Cunning Linguist | |
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Cunning Linguist: Two of them in this film, including a professional linguist and a sailor who is half German. | |
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U-571 / int_caf8c66c | type |
The Chains of Commanding | |
U-571 / int_caf8c66c | comment |
The Chains of Commanding / "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tyler gets no less than two speeches about being unfit for command: | |
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Just Plane Wrong | |
U-571 / int_ce1c73e2 | comment |
Just Plane Wrong: The German fighter appears to be a Messerschmidt Bf 109, which had nowhere near the range to patrol the middle of the Atlantic, and the Germans never constructed any aircraft carriers. | |
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U-571 / int_d45c0b86 | type |
Refuge in Audacity | |
U-571 / int_d45c0b86 | comment |
Refuge in Audacity: When the captured U-571 is spotted by a German patrol plane, the Americans wave at it, just as German sailors would to friendly flyers. Since the Germans don't know the sub has been captured yet, it works. | |
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U-571 / int_dc119567 | type |
InfiniteAmmo | |
U-571 / int_dc119567 | comment |
Infinite Ammo: The German destroyer drops at least eighty depth charges. The average destroyer of World War II had no more than thirty. | |
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U-571 / int_e52a0409 | type |
Calling the Old Man Out | |
U-571 / int_e52a0409 | comment |
Calling the Old Man Out: Rather early in the film, Lieutenant Tyler gets this from Chief Gunner Klough, for admitting to his crew that he didn't know what to do next, thus undermining his own crew's confidence in his leadership. Also, the beginning of the film: Tyler is itching for a command of his own, and knows that the only thing that could stop him from being promoted and getting it is if his current CO doesn't recommend him. When he is passed over he seeks his CO out and demands to know why. | |
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U-571 / int_e652089c | type |
Artistic License – Ships | |
U-571 / int_e652089c | comment |
Artistic License – Ships: The German destroyer hunts for U-571 with sonar pings, even though the Kriegsmarine never developed active sonar (the one with pings) and relied on passive sonar (very sensitive listening devices). Anyone with even faint understanding of conditions on a submarine will find the entire scene with shootout aboard U-571 (with rapid fire weaponry!) downright cringeworthy. Submarines were (and still are) essentially enclosed, steel cylinders — which means that for starters, using firearms in such an environment would be extremely noisy and all participants of such shootout would get their eardrums blown very quickly. Secondly, being completely surrounded by steel walls means your bullets will ricochet frequently, giving you plenty of opportunities to hurt not only your intended target, but many other people, including your own teammates and even yourself. There are good reasons why in the real world, U-Boats carried little to no personal firearms aboard, and while the British actually did send an armed boarding party to capture U-110, no shots were fired (since U-110 was abandoned by its crew earlier). The American submarine is supposedly sunk by German resupply sub... even though Type XIV "Milchkuh" ("milk cow") supply U-boats did not even have torpedo tubes. | |
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U-571 / int_ed2bbf8a | type |
You Are in Command Now | |
U-571 / int_ed2bbf8a | comment |
You Are in Command Now: Lieutenant Tyler, when his submarine is torpedoed and sunk, while he is leading a boarding party on the U-571. | |
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U-571 / int_f8ec3418 | type |
Someone Has to Die | |
U-571 / int_f8ec3418 | comment |
Someone Has to Die: The climax of the film and the moment Tyler's development comes to a head. The Sub can't fire it's torpedo unless a critical repair is made in an area that's underwater and filled with debris, so attempt to repair it will almost certainly mean the crewman's death. Worse the "someone" is already selected by necessity. Tank, the guy who's job it should be to fix it can't fit through all the debris and of the rest of the crew only Rabbit and Trigger are small enough to fit and Rabbit is their torpedo guy and needed at his post which means Trigger is the only option and Tyler needs to order him to certain death despite Trigger's terror and reluctance. Trigger pulls it off but drowns in the hold as everyone expected. | |
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Dark Secret | |
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Dark Secret: Mild example. One of the American sailors doesn't want his crewmates to know he's half German. | |
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