Das Boot (1981) First Time Watching! Movie Reaction!!

Super interesting to watch a WW2 movie from a different perspective! Also one of the most stressful movies we have seen! Thank you all for your suggestions and support!

40 Years and it's still the best Submarine Movie.

One of the greatest war movies ever made.Dark, ruthless and realistic.

To give you guys a little bit more perspective from the German side: When this movie premiered there were actual submarine veterans in the cinema. Some of them had to walk out because their PTSD flared up, the movie was THAT realistic. But in the end they all thanked the director for finally telling their story. The crew at the end is NOW in makeup. They were actually that pale because they were not allowed to go out in the sun during the production of the movie/show, so they actually were transforming into these ghostly pale men over the course of production. That's what they really looked like. They are also not acting that shaking. They were in a boat/set that could be moved, so they were actually being thrown around and some of them got injured. Language wise it's also interesting. If you're German or have lived long enough in Germany, you can tell the different regional dialects of the actors. It's like Americans being able to tell "oh this guy is from New York, or this guy is from Austin Texas. Most U-boat crew members were recruited both from the German north where the seafaring stuff was going on as well as (mostly actually) from the German Ruhr region, which was heavily industry region in Germany. The reason was that those young guys had experience working with metal and machines and would have the necessary knowledge to keep the boat running and fixing things. Also there were a lot of coal miners there, which were used to working in cramped dark spaces with heavy equipment and not freak out. And the dialects you hear are actually from those regions, since the actors were from there. As for "how can anybody keep working under such stress": That's just military discipline for you. Civilians always wonder why recruits get yelled at all the time in basic training and such. That's not because the drill sergeants are bad people, it's so you get used to loud noises and high stress. You need to be able to function in high stress and with very loud noises going on all around you. You can't have people freaking out when stuff gets loud. Try taking the average guy or girl from the stream and scream at them out of nowhere. They'll be completely paralyzed for a moment and/or freak out. That can't happen to you in such a situation or you die. That's why in the military we slowly build up the stress resistance and the discipline. Without that training, none of this is possible. But that training helps you remain functional in those situations. Your actions kind of go into autopilot, and only when everything is over, the emotions come rushing in. In regards to the "suicide mission" of going through Gibraltar from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean: The Germans actually did that. Several Uboats were opperating in the mediterranean, so this was possible. But it was still highly dangerous. What the movie also hinted at was the Allied superiority in Radar. Early in the war the Uboats stayed under water during the day and came out at night when airplanes couldn't spot them, so they had a major advantage. Early war the night attacks were the standard and super devastating. but later in the war the Allied Radar made that impossible. The allied planes were spotting them via radar, while they were not able to see the attacking airplane until it was too late. That's what happened here, they got spotted by an airplane with radar and got attacked out of nowhere. That's why later in the war the Germans completely changed their tactics and stayed above water during the day, and dived at night. THey could still get spotted in daylight but at least they had a chance to see the airplane in time to avoid it. Also, the fact that they hit sand on the bottom wasn't just a coincidence or luck. When they got spotted (you probably didn't notice that in all the chaos), the captain actually told them to stay surfaced at first, go full speed and changed course to the african coast. He knew they were screwed but if they made it to the african coast, they'd be in Spanish territory and could get interned by Spain and stay in prison in a neutral country for the rest of the war. So he was trying to save his crew, not break through. And the fact that he moved them closer to the african coast meant that he moved them to a more shallow area of the straight. That's why they hit that sand, they were closer to the coast where the sea wasn't as deep. And finally... in case you are wondering why the crew is running like crazy through the boat during alarm: They are not running to their stations. Back then the literally use the crew as ballast. If they wanted to dive, they ordered every man that wasn't needed at their station to the front of the boat, to shift the center of mass and dive quicker. That's why, when they had their depth rudders stuff, the captain ordered all men to the rear of the ship, to try and stop the boat from going down.

I've read over 100 comments here and I agree to all of the credits. But I miss comments on Jost Vacano because I think this cameraman has given us one of the most impressive examples of film art in history! Joost, thank You for this masterpiece!

It is a story from the German perspective, but mainly from the human perspective.

6:52: "Na na na" is basically a very mild reprimand. The verbal equivalent of waving a finger at a child. He's telling him to mind his manners/not speak out of line.

Like someone said, life on a German submarine in WWII was 95% absolute, utterly unbreakable, hellish boredom, followed by 5% mind-numbing, terrifying, hellish action. If you survived your duties, you were scarred by it. Some sailors were not certain what was worse. That 'man overboard' scene was not planned but happened due to the massive waves being sent into them from of the tower prop. It was a 10 meter slanted tower (30 feet tall) with a huge water tank on top. Down a large slide water was sent rushing down from that tower to generate realistic spray and waves into the tower prop. One of those waves washed one of the actors over board, who injured himself during filming this scene (not as bad as depicted, but still, a real injury). The other actors on the conning tower were so deeply into their roles that one actually screamed 'man overboard'. Wolfgang Petersen, the director, kept that unscripted moment, and adjusted the future script a bit around that incident. /edit The British ASIICS ultra-sound was a very new invention and addition to British destroyers. It meant that subs lost 90% of their stealth capability when pinged actively by it. And those destroyers DID active pings because they knew that they were the hunters, and the subs were the prey. It caused terror among most sub crews because they knew they had only a tiny chance to survive a destroyer hunting them with ASIICS. That scene after the chief returned with the report of what had all been fixed when they had struck ground. Right after that, the captain / Kapitän-Lieutnant did some deep breathing. That was also not a scripted scene but a breathing technique of Jürgen Prochnow, the actor, to get himself into character. Due to some strange circumstance the camera had kept rolling. Again, Petersen decided to keep those additional few seconds of deep breathing because he thought it fit that situation perfectly. For me, that is one of the most impressive scenes of this movie.

I watch this movie at least once a year to remind me that you don't need CGI and 150 million dollars to make a masterpiece. This is the best and most accurate ww2 movie ever made, I've read a lot about the battle in the Atlantic and Uboats in particular and all the little details in this movie such as the night surface attack, the food hanging, the operating of pumps and valves, the water gushing into the control room hatch. This movie is just perfect.

Masterpiece. A few years ago I had the great honor to eat dinner with Jürgen Prochnow (captain) in LA. He was kind enough and very patient to answer every single stupid question I had about this movie and the intense work on it. Best steak of my life.

Fun facts: The captain at the beginning really was drunk while filming. All the food in the u-boat was real. Over the course of filming it slowly decayed. The water inside really was rotting and smelling. Then they bought all the cologne they could get their hands on to mask the smell. The crew (actors) really had to scoop al the water for hours, making them really (real) tired. The actors could not go out into the sun while filming. All the beards are real. The big boot at the beginning and ending was made from wood. Parts of the movie had to be re-dubbed in German, because the hand-held camera they used for action scenes made a loud whirring sound. The outside scenes where made with a 60% scale model with a diver inside. Then they overshot with 60% more speed. Slowed down to 100% it then looked like the big thing. The scene where they encounter the other sub where barbie dolls waving through a mechanism. When the movie was first shown they invited real German u-boat captains and sailors. The officers where outraged about the slang and jokes, and that did not happen on their boats. Then the real sailors confirmed that is was pretty realistic. Edit 2023: For the bolts snapping they shot a carbine with blanks. The test pressure of this sub type was 160 m. They did a modern day calculation of the burst pressure, so when the hull would implode, and it was 280 m, just like the max. in the movie. I always thought it was made up, but more realistic than i thought. Go watch the 6 part series. It is worth it.

I knew a man who was a survivor of that submarine war. He said that the food was rotten within days down there, but you would eat it - or starve. Nevertheless, he lived to the age of 95.

My Brother was a LT. on a US nuclear sub in the 80's and he says this is the best submarine film ever made.

Now you can understand why the sailors were all drunk at the beginning of the movie. They all knew that the life of a uboat sailor was just mainly constant fear and terror, and every night might be their last one. And so they partied away like it might be their last night on earth. For many of them it was.

I am a retired U.S. Chief Petty Officer, Submariner. 17 years in the submarine force. This movie shakes me to the core every time I see it. For me, this is a horror movie, a history movie, and a movie that shows how human beings are quite capable of pushing through fear for their brothers in arms or as we say, shipmates. Love your channel and how you both approach reacting to these classic movies. I like that you don't critique for good or bad but just for how the movie hits you. Continued success to you both and may I suggest you reacting to TO HELL AND BACK, with Audie Murphy playing himself in the true story movie of his wartime experiences which made him one of America's most-decorated soldiers.

Interesting fact: The entire interior of the U-Boat used in the film was built precisely to exact specs, even the bolts used were accurate to those used back then. The attention to detail was so insane that the actors were made to stay away from the sun for a year to create the pale and tired look.

They go deep with underwater bombs, because the deeper you dive, the water pressure weakens the explosions.

The scene with the guys jumping off the burning freighter is developed to way more depth in the 5 hour version. For everyone to whom that is available, it's a 6 part TV movie of 50 minutes each. And believe me, it is worth every single minute. You get so much more insight in the characters. If you get the opportunity to watch it, do it.

You can recreate Das Boot by changing the bulb in your bathroom to a red one, then try and stop the water coming out of your shower head with your hands.

My grandpa, dad, and uncles used to put this on to keep up boys busy during family holiday parties.. ah, memories.