U-571

U-571 (2000)

Timing: 1:56 (116 min)

6.481/10
1176

7.387/10
72477

6.6/10
92000

All about film

Video 3

Photo 36

Actors and characters

Release date

2000-04-20

Country

France, Italy, United States

Production

Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Summit Entertainment, Dino De Laurentiis Company, Cinecittà

Genre

War, Drama, Action, Thriller, Adventure

Budget

$62 000 000

Revenue

$127 666 415

Website

Director

Jonathan Mostow

Actors

Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, David Keith, Thomas Kretschmann, Jake Weber, Jack Noseworthy, Tom Guiry, Will Estes
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis

Operator

Oliver Wood

Composer

Richard Marvin

Artist

Audition

Gail Stevens, Carol Lewis, Kate Dowd

Editing

Wayne Wahrman
All team (102)

• During World War II, it was practically impossible to sink another submarine from a submerged submarine using torpedoes. The only confirmed such sinking occurred in February 1945, when the English submarine "Venturer" (HMS Venturer) sank the German U-864.
• The actual S-33 was in the Pacific Ocean from 1942 until the end of the war. It was scrapped in 1946. S-26 did not sink during trials, but collided with patrol boat PC-460 in January 1942.
• The actual U-571, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Gustav Lüssow, was lost on January 28, 1944, west of Ireland. It was sunk by depth charges dropped from a Short Sunderland Mk III, EK577, call sign “D”, which was part of 461 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The aircraft commander, Flight Lieutenant Richard Lucas, reported that almost all 52 crew members abandoned ship, but all died of exposure. EK577, whose crew was partially comprised of Royal Air Force (RAF) airmen, was based at Pembroke Dock, in Wales.
• A German destroyer could not have been in the North Atlantic. The surface forces of the Kriegsmarine never ventured so far west, especially not in 1942. Exceptions were their large ships (raiders) such as Admiral Graf Spee, Scharnhorst, Prinz Eugen and Bismarck.
• An entirely impossible scene is the flight of the Bf-109. These fighters had too small a radius. They barely made it to the shores of Britain. And Germany did not have aircraft carriers, nor did they have aerial tankers. During the attack, the destroyer dropped over 80 depth charges (in the film), in reality German destroyers carried no more than 30 depth charges.
• German transport boats of type XIV did not have torpedo tubes, so it could not have attacked the S-33.
• The biggest falsehood in the film was the depiction of Germans shooting at escaping sailors. In reality, there was a prohibition in the submarine fleet against shooting at lifeboats from sinking ships. Throughout the entire war, the crew of only one submarine, U-852, shot at the crew of the Greek ship Peleus.
• Filming took place from January 25th to May 30th, 1999.
• It was practically impossible to sink another submarine from a submerged submarine using torpedoes during World War II. The only confirmed instance of such a sinking occurred in February 1945, when the British submarine HMS Venturer sank the German U-864.
• The real U-571, under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Gustav Lüssow, was sunk on January 28, 1944, west of Ireland. It was sunk by depth charges dropped from a Short Sunderland Mk III aircraft, EK577, call sign 'D', belonging to 461 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The aircraft commander, Flight Lieutenant Richard Lucas, reported that almost all 52 crew members had abandoned ship, but all died of hypothermia. EK577, whose crew included pilots from the Royal Air Force (RAF), was based at Pembroke Dock in Wales.