The Movieforums Top 100 War Movies Countdown
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Das Boot didn't quite make it onto my war ballot, but it's at the bottom of the 95's on my movies list, where it reads: Das Boot perfectly recreates the pressures of war, boredom and isolation, making the beautifully-filmed war epic one of the finest movies Germany has to offer.
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Das Boot was my nomination in the 29th HoF. It didn't win but did come in at 2nd place. I wrote this about it:
Das Boot (1981)
Das Boot (1981)
I went for it and watched the 4 hour 41 minute mini series, it was worth it. The time seemed to fly by but I would recommend the 3 hour 30 minute Director's Cut to most people.
I read on IMDB's trivia page that the interior of the sub was a recreation based on the actual blue prints of a WWII German U boat. It looked real and very claustrophobic. It was cramped inside and hard to believe 50 men could live like that for long periods of time. The sub was in many ways the leading character, with the actors being secondary. That's perhaps as it should be as the men are interchangeable with other fresh faced recruits but the U boat and it's mechanical health determines if these men live or die and by 1941 many of the U boats had been sunk.
I liked that this wasn't uber action packed, expect for some very tense moments when the sub was under attack from depth charges, which looked frightening as all hell. At the start of the film it has a screen crawl that says of the 40,000 German sub mariners, 30,000 never returned alive, wow. The wastage of war...and that wastage of human lives is what this film is about...as the crew of the sub could attest too.
I read on IMDB's trivia page that the interior of the sub was a recreation based on the actual blue prints of a WWII German U boat. It looked real and very claustrophobic. It was cramped inside and hard to believe 50 men could live like that for long periods of time. The sub was in many ways the leading character, with the actors being secondary. That's perhaps as it should be as the men are interchangeable with other fresh faced recruits but the U boat and it's mechanical health determines if these men live or die and by 1941 many of the U boats had been sunk.
I liked that this wasn't uber action packed, expect for some very tense moments when the sub was under attack from depth charges, which looked frightening as all hell. At the start of the film it has a screen crawl that says of the 40,000 German sub mariners, 30,000 never returned alive, wow. The wastage of war...and that wastage of human lives is what this film is about...as the crew of the sub could attest too.
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Das Boot was #47 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1980s and #25 on the MoFo Top 100 Foreign Films.
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I did not have Das Boot on my ballot but one of my last two no-shows was Coming Home (1978), Hal Ashby's look at the lasting physical and emotional toll of the Vietnam War on the men who made it back to The States. Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, and Bruce Dern all give Oscar-worthy turns (Fonda and Voight won, Dern lost to Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter). It is a serious, enlightening, empathetic look at the cost of service and builds to one of the most moving endings of all time.
I had it at number twenty-four. I have one more that didn't make the cut plus seven of the remaining eight titles.
HOLDEN'S BALLOT
1. The Thin Red Line (#17)
4. Casablanca (#14)
7. Fires on the Plain (#59)
9. Army of Shadows (#29)
10. Waltz with Bashir (#45)
11. The Pianist (#23)
14. MASH (#39)
15. Rome, Open City (#37)
16. Letters from Iwo Jima (#60)
17. The Battle of Algiers (#24)
18. The Great Escape (#19)
19. The Ascent (#33)
21. The Killing Fields (#69)
22. Catch-22 (DNP)
23. Joyeux Noël (DNP)
24. Coming Home (DNP)
25. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (DNP)
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A couole of us who guessed the order had AQOTWF properly placed at number ten, but neither of us had Das Boot coming next. Thief had the two movies but in the wrong order.
OK, fine, I'll be the first to guess at the order of the Top Ten...
10. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
9. The Bridge on the River Kwai
8. Das Boot
10. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
9. The Bridge on the River Kwai
8. Das Boot
My Top 10 prediction...
10. Das Boot
9. All Quiet on the Western Front
10. Das Boot
9. All Quiet on the Western Front
10. All Quiet on the Western Front
9. Bridge on the River Kwai
9. Bridge on the River Kwai
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I thought Das Boot missed the boat (heh) since we’re so deep into the countdown. It took a middle spot on my list. Staggeringly good movie.
So what is the consensus for the #1 movie?
I hope it's my favorite!
I hope it's my favorite!
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I had "The Boat" at #17. I mean it's pretty intense, they use the tight space well, it feels real, and you're kind of cheering for the Germans so it's got a few things going for it.
1. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
4. The Thin Red Line (1998)
5. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
8. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
9. Shoah (1985)
10. The General (1926)
12. Ran (1985)
15. Army of Shadows (1969)
16. Schindler's List (1993)
17. Das Boot (1981)
18. Waltz with Bashir (2007)
19. Rome, Open City (1945)
20. The Great Escape (1963)
21. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
23. Three Kings (1999)
24. Underground (1995)
25. La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2003)
1. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
4. The Thin Red Line (1998)
5. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
8. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
9. Shoah (1985)
10. The General (1926)
12. Ran (1985)
15. Army of Shadows (1969)
16. Schindler's List (1993)
17. Das Boot (1981)
18. Waltz with Bashir (2007)
19. Rome, Open City (1945)
20. The Great Escape (1963)
21. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
23. Three Kings (1999)
24. Underground (1995)
25. La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2003)
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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
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I've seen Das Boot 3 or 4 times but it was the last time about a year ago that cemented it as a great film for me. The Director's Cut is my favorite.
1. Downfall (#13)
2. Ballad of a Soldier (#68)
5. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
7. Grave of the Fireflies (#12)
8. From Here to Eternity (#30)
9. The Deer Hunter (#25)
11. Das Boot (#9)
14. Red Angel (#100)
15. Platoon (#16)
16. Waltz with Bashir (#45)
17. Underground (#43)
19. Schindler's List (#11)
20. Johnny Got His Gun (#97)
22. The Best Years of Our Lives (#21)
24. Wings (#79)
25. The Cranes are Flying (#20)
1. Downfall (#13)
2. Ballad of a Soldier (#68)
5. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
7. Grave of the Fireflies (#12)
8. From Here to Eternity (#30)
9. The Deer Hunter (#25)
11. Das Boot (#9)
14. Red Angel (#100)
15. Platoon (#16)
16. Waltz with Bashir (#45)
17. Underground (#43)
19. Schindler's List (#11)
20. Johnny Got His Gun (#97)
22. The Best Years of Our Lives (#21)
24. Wings (#79)
25. The Cranes are Flying (#20)
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I've seen Das Boot but it's been too long; probably more than 20 years. I'm pretty sure it's one that I tackled during the late 90s when I started to get into film, liked it a lot, but haven't seen it since so I didn't feel comfortable putting it on my ballot. Need to revisit it.
Seen: 44/92
Ballot: 14/25
Seen: 44/92
Ballot: 14/25
My ballot:
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So...what's next? Has there been talk about the next countdown? I think I saw a bit in this thread a ways back.
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This is the biggest point gap so far (53), as they continue to get bigger and bigger. The second biggest point gap so far was 36 between The Great Escape and Ran.
Also, at 25, it is the film that has been present in most ballots so far, barely beating Schindler's List, which was in 24.
Schindler's List has the highest IMDb rating so far at 9.0, while The Human Condition III is at 8.8, and Shoah at 8.7.
Grave of the Fireflies is the latest film in the countdown to have a 100% RT Score, tied with 15 other films.
Also, at 25, it is the film that has been present in most ballots so far, barely beating Schindler's List, which was in 24.
Schindler's List has the highest IMDb rating so far at 9.0, while The Human Condition III is at 8.8, and Shoah at 8.7.
Grave of the Fireflies is the latest film in the countdown to have a 100% RT Score, tied with 15 other films.
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I've seen both All Quiet On the Western Front and Das Boot and I respect both, but neither are my kind of movie and didn't get my vote.
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I started keeping a record of the movies I watched, including any reviews/comments, about 25 years ago (give or take). The very first movie I wrote anything about was #6 on my list, Das Boot:
Petersen does a great job of putting you in the sub. It helped that he forced his actors to stay indoors while filming to maintain that authentic pallor, and insisted on not cutting up the sub set, forcing the cameramen into the same tight spaces that the actors were in, achieving a real sense of the claustrophobia that must accompany submariners perpetually.
The length of the film is cause for some restlessness, but it worked for me. One feels a real sense of how for these people the war amounted to long periods of suffocating boredom, punctuated by flashes of intense action. Petersen struck just the right balance of letting the dry moments linger just up until we start counting the bolts, so we get a sense of it, then diving back into the story.
The setting of Das Boot makes it easier to accept the Germans as simply soldiers and not Nazis (and some, of course, are not Nazis). There is an undercurrent of distance and separation among the crew from the rest of the war; they seem to see themselves almost as free actors, fighting because that's what they do, not because of some cause. And because they are so far from Central Europe, we are removed from the horrors perpetuated there, in what almost seems like a different war.
The ending brings it back, of course, and in a very stark way; I know I could feel my loyalties dividing. It's an unsettling but powerful moment.
The length of the film is cause for some restlessness, but it worked for me. One feels a real sense of how for these people the war amounted to long periods of suffocating boredom, punctuated by flashes of intense action. Petersen struck just the right balance of letting the dry moments linger just up until we start counting the bolts, so we get a sense of it, then diving back into the story.
The setting of Das Boot makes it easier to accept the Germans as simply soldiers and not Nazis (and some, of course, are not Nazis). There is an undercurrent of distance and separation among the crew from the rest of the war; they seem to see themselves almost as free actors, fighting because that's what they do, not because of some cause. And because they are so far from Central Europe, we are removed from the horrors perpetuated there, in what almost seems like a different war.
The ending brings it back, of course, and in a very stark way; I know I could feel my loyalties dividing. It's an unsettling but powerful moment.
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I think Das Boot is good, but not great. Here's what I wrote on the film in a Hall of Fame:
This is a really good film which flies by surprisingly quickly, in spite of its nearly 3.5 hour runtime. I must confess though that it leaves me somewhat cold since it falls in the 'characters feel like props amidst the action/suspense set pieces' category. With the exception of the Captain and (to a smaller extent) Johann, most of the other characters (the Chief Engineer, the 2nd Watch Officer, and Ullmann) are given only one character trait to stand out, and the movie doesn't even do much with that character trait to begin with. Also, Werner, who I think is intended to be the main character, is easily the blandest of the bunch. In spite of this, I do enjoy the movie quite a bit as, judging the film through the lens of the suspense and claustrophobia it creates, it's pretty fantastic. The sounds and visuals (the radar showing the ship's depth, the ship creaking from water pressure, the darkness of the cabin) work in harmony to make the film technically outstanding. The highlight of the film is when their ship faces a British fleet and are forced to dive well below the sub's test depth. The various large and small scale set pieces within that sequence are highly memorable and the conclusion clinches it as one of the greatest stretches of cinema I've ever seen. I also like how you never get the sense that the U-boat is at an advantage against the enemy ships. After all, the opening text says all that's needed to be said about how the crew was basically sent on a suicide mission. From what we see, their boat seems rather flimsy given how often they have to take shelter and only by carefully sneaking up to an enemy ship will they have a chance of sinking it. Overall, I have a ton of respect for this film's technical craft. I just wish it would grab me more on an emotional level. I might watch the mini series someday though as it may do a better job with that.
This is a really good film which flies by surprisingly quickly, in spite of its nearly 3.5 hour runtime. I must confess though that it leaves me somewhat cold since it falls in the 'characters feel like props amidst the action/suspense set pieces' category. With the exception of the Captain and (to a smaller extent) Johann, most of the other characters (the Chief Engineer, the 2nd Watch Officer, and Ullmann) are given only one character trait to stand out, and the movie doesn't even do much with that character trait to begin with. Also, Werner, who I think is intended to be the main character, is easily the blandest of the bunch. In spite of this, I do enjoy the movie quite a bit as, judging the film through the lens of the suspense and claustrophobia it creates, it's pretty fantastic. The sounds and visuals (the radar showing the ship's depth, the ship creaking from water pressure, the darkness of the cabin) work in harmony to make the film technically outstanding. The highlight of the film is when their ship faces a British fleet and are forced to dive well below the sub's test depth. The various large and small scale set pieces within that sequence are highly memorable and the conclusion clinches it as one of the greatest stretches of cinema I've ever seen. I also like how you never get the sense that the U-boat is at an advantage against the enemy ships. After all, the opening text says all that's needed to be said about how the crew was basically sent on a suicide mission. From what we see, their boat seems rather flimsy given how often they have to take shelter and only by carefully sneaking up to an enemy ship will they have a chance of sinking it. Overall, I have a ton of respect for this film's technical craft. I just wish it would grab me more on an emotional level. I might watch the mini series someday though as it may do a better job with that.
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So what is the consensus for the #1 movie?
I hope it's my favorite!
I hope it's my favorite!
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So what is the consensus for the #1 movie?
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