U-571 (2000)

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A German U-Boat, designated U-571, torpedoes and sinks a freighter. Seconds later, however, the sonar man reports to have detected high screws. The captain turns the periscope to sight a British destroyer moving in, forcing U-571 to dive. The destroyer drops depth charges; unfortunately for the submarine, the depth charging caused a fuel leak that the engine crew is now working on to ignite, setting them all ablaze. Due to the amount of damage sustained, the captain orders U-571 to resurface. The captain learns from his chief that they have lost a great amount of power, their starboard diesel engine is gone, and that all of their mechanics are dead. After passing a word to conserve electricity, he has his radioman send an S.O.S. to Berlin for aid. Lt. Tyler of the S-33 American submarine and all the men go to the submarine docks to find the S-33, their ship, being converted into a U-Boat. Tyler rounds up Radioman Wentz who can speak German as well as English, a Marine named Coonan, and another Navy sailor named Hirsch who's fluent in German too. The ship goes off to sea and Hirsch explains to everyone what the mission is. The Allied radio direction finders detected radio signals from the disabled U-571 and they are going to be the resupply ship it called for. Coonan says that the Enigma is on board and that he will lead a boarding party to capture the U-Boat and liberate the Enigma. Then they'll scuttle the ship so the real resupply sub will think that it was too late and the U-571 sank. Tyler is skeptical about this but goes along. Back on U-571, the repairs are not going smoothly and the captain is alerted that there are other men out in the water. He sees several survivors, from the merchant ship he sank, on a lifeboat asking for asylum. He orders his men to shoot them as their Führer Hitler gave instructions not to spare any survivors. His men reluctantly do so.

During a rainstorm, the S-33 comes across U-571 and sends its boarding party over. They take the ship by force, losing some sailors in the process. Larson is injured during the fighting later. They capture the Enigma and begin rounding up the prisoners including the captain. Afterwards, the S-33 is torpedoed and sunk by the real resupply sub and the captain is killed. Coonan, Larson, and many others are lost as well so Tyler takes command and orders his men to dive the ship and look for the enemy. They fire a salvo of torpedoes that destroys the enemy U-Boat leaving only one torpedo in a busted tube. Tyler and his men search for survivors and find two: the black cook from the S-33, Eddy, and the captain of U-571, who claims to be an electrician. Tyler decides to take the disabled submarine to England. They spot an aircraft, which appears to be coming in for an attack, but is only scouting for a German destroyer. The captured German captain breaks free and shoots two of the crew, killing one, before being subdued. The German ship sends a landing crew to the submarine. Right before the German soldiers arrive, the crew of the U-571 fires a shot into the ship's radio tower and dives underneath it. The destroyer begins to drop depth charges to try to sink the U-571. Tyler plans to trick the destroyer into stopping by ejecting debris and the body of the killed sailor out of an empty torpedo tube, then to surface and hit the ship with a rear-fired torpedo. While underwater, the German captain taps out Morse code on the bulkhead of the ship "I am U-571 destroy me" to let the Germans know that the submarine is still functional. The U-571 surfaces, but the rear torpedo tube is still broken. The destroyer begins firing upon the submarine, which eventually fires its last torpedo. The German ship is destroyed; however, the submarine will not stay afloat for long and the crew abandons ship. Floating aboard an inflatable lifeboat, they are spotted by a US Navy plane.

Starring ...

Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel,
Thomas Kretschmann, Jon Bon Jovi

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Producers:
Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis, Hal Lieberman

Year Released - April 2000

Length - 116 minutes

Music Composer: Ron Goodwin

Movie Distributed by Studio Canal & Universal