History Film / U571

The film stars Creator/MatthewMcConaughey as Andrew Tyler, Creator/BillPaxton as Mike Dahlgren, Creator/HarveyKeitel as Henry Klough, [[Music/BonJovi 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 Creator/ThomasKretschmann as Günther Wassner.

* OhCrap: Emmett when the the German resupply submarine launches a torpedo at the S-33.

->''[[DamnedByFaintPraise "They did get one thing right:]] [[TriviallyObvious there were U-boats in the North Atlantic during the war."]]''

Released in 2000 and directed by Jonathan Mostow, this UsefulNotes/WorldWarII movie VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory is about a submarine crew who board a disabled German sub to [[ReadingTheEnemysMail steal an Enigma Machine]], a secret German encryption device used to send coded messages. Caused a degree of controversy as the film places the [[AmericaSavesTheDay Americans in center role as the heroes...]] except that in real life, the first to capture the submarine-based ENIGMA machine was the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships 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."

->''"They did get one thing right: there were U-boats in the North Atlantic during the war."''

Released in 2000 and directed by Jonathan Mostow, this UsefulNotes/WorldWarII movie VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory is about a submarine crew who board a disabled German sub to [[ReadingTheEnemysMail steal an Enigma Machine]], a secret German encryption device used to send coded messages. Caused a degree of controversy as the film places the [[AmericaSavesTheDay Americans in center role as the heroes...]] except that in real life, the first to capture the submarine-based ENIGMA machine was the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships 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.”

** 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''.

** Anyone with even faint understanding of conditions on a submarine will find the entire scene with shootout aboard U-571 (with ''[[MoreDakka 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 members 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. It doesn't even require any specialized knowledge to be aware of that -- all you need to do is just think for a minute. 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).

* HollywoodHistory: Very, very much so.

** Anyone with even faint understanding of conditions on a submarine will find the entire scene with shootout aboard U-571 (with ''[[MoreDakka rapid fire weaponry]]''!) downright cringeworthy. Submarines were (and still are) essentially enclosed, steel cylinders -- which means that for starters, using firearms in such environment would be ''extremely'' noisy and all members 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. It doesn't even require any specialized knowledge to be aware of that -- all you need to do is just think for a minute. There are good reasons why in real world, U-Boats carried little to none 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).

* HotSubOnSubAction: 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.

* HotSubOnSubAction: Of a preposterous nature. 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.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: 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.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: 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.

* ArtisticLicenseShips: 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).

* DeadStarWalking: A number of American submariners, including [[spoiler:Bill Paxton (who's set up to be one of the main characters)]], are killed a quarter of the way through the film during a disastrous escape from a German U-boat.

The film stars Creator/MatthewMcConaughey as Andrew Tyler, Creator/BillPaxton as Mike Dahlgren, Creator/HarveyKeitel 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.

* DeadStarWalking: A number of American submariners, including Bill Paxton (who's set up to be one of the main characters), are killed a quarter of the way through the film during a disastrous escape from a German U-boat.

* [[CaptainObvious Chief Obvious]]: "Everything's in German!"

Released in 2000, this UsefulNotes/WorldWarII movie VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory is about a submarine crew who board a disabled German sub to [[ReadingTheEnemysMail steal an Enigma Machine]], a secret German encryption device used to send coded messages. Caused a degree of controversy as the film places the [[AmericaSavesTheDay Americans in center role as the heroes...]] except that in real life, the first to capture the submarine-based ENIGMA machine was the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships 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.”

* SpecialEffectsFailure: While the exterior sets and models for the modified ''S''-class sub and the Type-VII U-boats are decent enough, the film can’t seem to decide what class of destroyer they are facing, as that model switches between ''Narvik''- and ''Z-31''-class configurations between shots. Look for the forward guns flip-flopping between two single mounts and one twin mount.

* SinkTheLifeBoats: 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. It was much more common for German submariners to provide aide to the crews they sank.