Greatest Navy Movie Ever Made

[Gone Asiatic]

The flagrant error was the tank farm bombing. Seems the IJN advisors to the film producers was like......yah, we did that too...honest!

[Edi M]

Bedford Incident - Cold War with Richard Widmark as the Captain of USS Bedford against Russian Sub

ed

[Werner]

Bedford Incident - Cold War with Richard Widmark as the Captain of USS Bedford against Russian Sub

ed

As I recall, the Bedford was designed to look like a Farragut, but with two 5-inch guns forward, which made her even more beautiful and aggressive looking than the already gorgeous Farragut.

[Deckard]

Bedford was a Coontz.

[Werner]

USS Coontz, (DL-9 / DLG-9 / DDG-40) is a later member of the Farragut (DL-6 / DLG-6 / DDG-37) class.

The helicopter shots were of a British-style frigate (F-159 is marked on the stern).

[Serhan Oflas]

Hello,

Did not see ' Otokotachi no Yamato ' yet but Das Boot is my best. My second The Sand Pebbles

[bengtsson]

No ships in it, but "The Last Detail" with Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid was a favorite of mine. Having been in the Navy at the time the movie was made , I can swear it captured the men and the times to perfection. I knew so many men just like "Bad Ass" Buddusky, "Mule" and "Mulhall". In fact I never went to the Brig myself, but knew guys who had. The drinking and street life are the same as I remember. A true to life story and a trip down memory lane. I still rate it a top movie of the times. :thumbs_up_1:Bob B.

[ex-RCN]

My top 3 navy movies would be

1) Corvette K-225

2) Master and Commander

3) Run Silent, Run Deep.

[Deckard]

No ships in it, but "The Last Detail" with Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid was a favorite of mine. Having been in the Navy at the time the movie was made , I can swear it captured the men and the times to perfection. I knew so many men just like "Bad Ass" Buddusky, "Mule" and "Mulhall". In fact I never went to the Brig myself, but knew guys who had. The drinking and street life are the same as I remember. A true to life story and a trip down memory lane. I still rate it a top movie of the times. :thumbs_up_1:Bob B.

And is it true Bob that when a swabby goes to take a leak he must undo a whole lot of buttons, but a Marine only has to take off his hat?

[HMAS]

lorrieli Witch of the Pacific.
Japanese movie. A sub with a witch on board runs the gaunlet of the entire Pacific fleet, to stop further A-bombs being dropped on Japan.
Nice movie but Godzilla movies still top the list

[bengtsson]

No ships in it, but "The Last Detail" with Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid was a favorite of mine. Having been in the Navy at the time the movie was made , I can swear it captured the men and the times to perfection. I knew so many men just like "Bad Ass" Buddusky, "Mule" and "Mulhall". In fact I never went to the Brig myself, but knew guys who had. The drinking and street life are the same as I remember. A true to life story and a trip down memory lane. I still rate it a top movie of the times. :thumbs_up_1:Bob B.

And is it true Bob that when a swabby goes to take a leak he must undo a whole lot of buttons, but a Marine only has to take off his hat?

That is a great line isn't it . I know I had heard it at the time. God if I could tell you what conversation on board ship was like . I still fall down laughing sometimes when I remember some of the "sh*t talk" that used to go on. One place to catch a feel for the Marine Corps in the mid to late 60s is "Full Metal Jacket". The Recruit Training scenes and DI language were so true to life. The DI in the movie had been a real DI in his day. Most of his routine would be familiar to alot of Navy Recurits as well, though we had it very, very soft compared to MCRD next door to the Naval Training Center boot camp.
I joined in 1969 and I think things had changed alot since the mid 60s. I remember being on very good terms with the Marines. I had alot of Marine friends, and most were really good guys. We rented a place in San Diego for awhile right next door to four Jarheads just back from Vietnam, we had lots of drunken parties together and never had a bad word to say to each other. They were really straight up guys and funny as hell when they got drunk.

Bob B.

[newshipmodeler]

I'm enjoying the youtube vids better than any movie. The multipart Battle of Leyte Gulf, and some of the IJN documentries are done well even if I don't understand Japanese or who the old man is in the video. It's also kool to be in a boat looking at the Haruna half sunk in Kure.

[Lesforan]

"South Pacific" had the best songs.

[Admiral John Byng]

Captain and Commander???

Opps..Too much Bally hoo on the Holiday....But on a ship is not the Captain the Commander?? I know "A" Captain in rank is not always a commander but "The Captain" which can be a Seaman, a Petty Officer on up to an Admiral is always the Commander.. It's a Navy thing for sure, Now on my boat the wife is "Commander" and I am Crew...
Thanks for the correction... hic!

Master and Commander was a rank in the Royal Navy which was later shortened to Commander.
On his ship he was the Captain.
Like so many British things it is confusing

[Mark Petersen]

Master and Commander was a rank in the Royal Navy which was later shortened to Commander.
On his ship he was the Captain.
Like so many British things it is confusing

Like wiring/elecrtical systems by the Prince of Darkness, Lucas Electric

[Deckard]

...and Whitworth.

[Admiral John Byng]

I didn't like Master and Commander - not a patch on the book.

While not a naval film as such, one of my faves is Ice Station Zebra.
Great submarine suspense and a good cold war film (literally!).

[GaryJ in NC]

It is very hard to pick one Greatest Navy Movie Ever Made.

Number 1: "Task Force" with Gary Cooper. Focused on Naval aviation, but it's simply the best carrier film ever. The film switchs from B&W to color about 60% into the movie.

The rest of the best short list includes:
"Tora-Tora-Tora" - still the most accurate portrayal of the Pearl Harbor attack.
"In Harms Way" - good, reasonably credible story, good use of models,good direction (Otto Preminger)
"Sink the BISMARCK" - good use of models, too much stereotypical Nazis (particularly ADM Lutjens since he wasn't one)
"Das Boot" - best submarine movie
"Master and Commander" - best Napoleanic war naval film (wish they'd do a sequel)

And the absolutely positively worst war movies ever:

"Midway" where Moses sank Kido Butai and the IJN tried to sink Midway Island with torpedo planes (footage stolen from "Tora-Tora-Tora."

"Pearl Harbor" (Ben Affleck)- so bad that I am gagging as I type this.....

Now, it ain't a naval movie, but the greatest war movie of all time is Sergei Bondarchuk's 12-hour "War and Peace." It is simply amazing.

[NAVMACS_V2]

I love "Midway's" absolute random use of stock footage. They will show an angle deck Essex with a flight deck full of Skyraiders and Crusaders and huge radar dishes sprouting from the island and the caption "CARRIER AKAGI" will be superimposed underneath it.

[Mark Petersen]

...and Whitworth.

Yah. I was checking some hydraulic fittings at work for a guy and the threads weren't metric, they weren't in any of the standard SAE range so that left BSPP 1/4-19 with Withworth pattern threads to boot