U-571 (2000)

Director:

Jonathan Mostow

Writers (WGA):

Jonathan Mostow (story)
Jonathan Mostow (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 April 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

You won't come up for air until it's over!

Plot:

A German submarine is boarded by disguised American submariners trying to capture their Enigma cipher machine.

Plot Keywords:

U Boat | Sos | Code | Submarine | Mission

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Matthew McConaughey	...	Lt. Andrew Tyler, Executive Officer
Bill Paxton	...	Lt. Cmdr. Mike Dahlgren
Harvey Keitel	...	CPO Henry Klough
Jon Bon Jovi	...	Lt. Pete Emmett, Chief Engineer
David Keith	...	Maj. Matthew Coonan, USMC, Office of Naval Intelligence
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Capt.-Lt. Gunther Wassner
Jake Weber	...	Lt. Hirsch, USNR
Jack Noseworthy	...	Seaman Bill Wentz, Radioman
Tom Guiry	...	Seaman Ted 'Trigger' Fitzgerald, Radioman
Will Estes	...	Seaman Ronald 'Rabbit' Parker, Torpedoman
Terrence 'T.C.' Carson	...	Steward Eddie Carson
Erik Palladino	...	Seaman Anthony Mazzola, Planesman
Dave Power	...	Seaman Charles 'Tank' Clemens, Machinist Mate
Derk Cheetwood	...	Seaman Herb Griggs, Helmsman
Matthew Settle	...	Ens. Keith Larson, Chief Torpedoman

Also Known As:

U-571 (France)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for war violence.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia) (re-rating on appeal) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | South Korea:12 | Singapore:PG | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Canal Plus Image International

Trivia:

In the original script, when Tyler is thoughtfully looking at the pictures in the German submarine's mess, he recognizes the prisoner wearing a captain's uniform.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When U571 is under depth charge attack from the German destroyer, on the soundtrack you can hear sonar pings that would be attributable to ASDIC. The Germans did not have ASDIC.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: Who's the boarding party?
Marine Maj. Coonan: Well, since you're the XO, you sir. Mr. Emmett, Mr. Larson, Mr. Hirsh and nine of your ships company. Captain, of course, will remain onboard the S-33.
Lieutenant Andrew Tyler: Mister, our boys are submarine sailors, not combat marines.
Marine Maj. Coonan: Boys onboard that U-boat are sailors, too. Your men will be ready, Lieutenant. I'll train them myself.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#25.9)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Lover, Come Back to Me

An insult, an embarrassment, an offense

Defenders of this film, stop whining that "it's just a movie." Fellow Americans, stop being so friggin' defensive when people complain about the pathetic, insipid, insulting posturing we do.

By now anyone who's read anything about this movie knows it was the English and not the Americans who captured the Enigma machine (and also that at the time the story allegedly takes place, the US wasn't even in the war).

But here is the most evil thing about "U-571" -- director Jonathan Mostow in many interviews has complained that the great submarine movie "Das Boot" was a lie because it portrayed the German crew as sailors, soldiers, human beings and not Nazis. This is why he opens his film with the U-boat crew gunning down a lifeboat of helpless, unarmed Allied survivors. Jonathan Mostow perpetuates every lie, every war-time propaganda fabrication, every stereotype ever perpetrated about the enemy. During wartime such propaganda is necessary... but this is sixty years later. No one is in any way excusing the monstrousness of the Nazis. But it is stupid and blind to portray every single German as cut from that same blood-stained cloth. Even English viewers -- who have far, far more reason to hate the Nazis than any American -- have been quick to point out the foulness of Mostow's vision.