The 10 Best Submarine Movies

The 10 Best Submarine Movies

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There’s something compelling about the submarine genre of movies: the close quarters, the life-and-death nature of it, the mystery of what’s out there in the dark and vast ocean depths. By our unofficial count, there have been roughly 100 submarine-oriented flicks made since World War II. (The exact number depends on which movies you decide to include). Spot Cool Stuff has seen the vast majority of them. Here’s ranking of our personal favorite ten best submarine movies:

Note that our list seems to vary from the consensus opinion. To share your list, dive down to our comments section.

#10 The Enemy Below

At the height of World War II an American warship squares off against a German submarine. Watch as dueling captains, Robert Mitchum versus Curt Jürgens, struggle for supremacy. Not surprisingly, the 50+ year old The Enemy Below has an antiquated feel, especially the pacing and special effects, but the superlative plot carries it through. 1957

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# 9 Below

Below is less of a submarine movie and more of a Sixth Sense-like horror-suspence movie that happens to take place underwater. Submarine movie purists may want to navigate clear of this haunted tale. For lovers of ghost stories this flick staring Gary Broadway is a worthy watch. 2002

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#7 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

In Disney’s first (and some would still consider best) large budget movie, Kirk Douglas ends up on a fantastical submarine captained by an eccentric and reclusive James Mason. The duo experience several harrowing adventures, including battles with enormous creatures of the deep. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, both the film and the original Jules Verne’s book, have withstood the test of time reasonably well. A few remakes have been attempted over the years, the best of which might be a Nickelodeon cartoon version. Spot Cool Stuff would love to see a modern well-directed, well-special effected version. Are you listening Steven Spielberg? 1954

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#6 The Hunley

The first submarine to ever sink an enemy warship: The H. L. Hunley in 1864. The Hunley, a made-for-TV movie, stars Armand Assante and Donald Sutherland and depicts the incredible true story of this Confederate submersible and the soldiers who sacrificed to build and operate it—and to keep it secrete from the Union. Sadly, the movie is only available on VHS though several compelling documentaries about the Hunley are available on DVD and Blu-ray, the History Channel’s History’s Mysteries Raise The Hunley foremost among them. 1999

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#5 Das Boot—The Director’s Cut

Many a movie critic has declared Das Boot the best sub movie ever. Spot Cool Stuff can not see why (and not for lack of trying, mind you). We understand that real submarine warfare involves a lot of monotony and long bouts of tedium. But that doesn’t mean we want to see a movie with that same tedium, which is what Das Boot delivers. For the first 90 minutes of this movie we follow along as almost nothing happens aboard a German u-boat. Literally, even the movie characters spend this time lamenting the lack of action. The pace finally picks up 1 1/2 hours into this 2-DVD disc flick, enough to keep Das Boot from sinking out of our the top five in our ranking — barely. 1981

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# 4 The Abyss

Can you make a thrilling submarine movie without the specter of war as part of the plot? The Abyss proves you can. A crew including Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are underwater petroleum engineers called upon to help recover a lost nuclear submarine. What they find is a mysterious race of creatures who live in the uncharted depths of the ocean and who seem to be plotting to wipe out humanity! 1989

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#3 U-571

A submarine movie with Matthew McConaughey and Jon Bon Jovi? That might seem like a recipe for disaster, yet somehow U-571 delivers a gripping tale of a WWII spy mission to secretly capture a German enigma decoding machine. Our band of heros begin their daring undertaking aboard a fake German submarine but soon find themselves in command of a real (and crippled) German u-boat after their plan goes awry. The plot was inspired by real mission conducted by the British. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair thought it an “affort to British sailors” that U-571 depicted all the heros as American. Nevertheless, this suspenseful yarn is anything but an affront to lovers of submarine movies. 2000

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# 2 Crimson Tide

Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington serve as the Captain and Executive Officer of an American nuclear submarine. The submarine is ordered to fire their missiles to prevent a nuclear launch upon the United States. Or is it? Hackman and Washington disagree, to say the least, on the proper course of action. What follows is a riveting chess game of mutinies and counter-mutanies between the two men. Crimson Tide is superbly acted and contains nearly the perfect mix of dialogue and action. 1995

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# 1 The Hunt For Red October

The Soviet Union built a new type of submarine that could alter the entire balance of the Cold War and its captain, Sean Connery, decides to defect to America with it. The Soviet navy tries to sink the sub before it falls into enemy hands while CIA operatives Alec Baldwin and James Earl Jones try to figure out what heck is going on. That’s the gist behind this superbly acted thriller based on a Tom Clancy novel of the same name; in addition to getting our vote for the best sub movie ever made The Hunt For Red October is also among the best book-to-movie adaptations we’ve seen. 1990

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Related posts on Spot Cool Stuff:

Buy Your Own Personal Submarine
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Travel To LOST Hawaii Filming Locations

No post on SCS has produced as many profanity-laden comments as this one. We’d love to hear other people’s lists. Feel free to disagree with ours in the process . . . but given all the real stuff to argue about in the world, please practice some civility around such a benign topic as this:

47 comments

Lil Petey 8 December 2018 at 3:20 am

I cannot “fathom” why Yellow Submarine is not included on this list.

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James 17 April 2018 at 2:51 am

Are you FUCKING kidding me with Crimson Tide? I do agree that it might be on a list of (unintentionally) funniest submarine movies. The producer’s lack of knowledge about subs is very apparent throughout the movie. You should replace it with Down Periscope. An intentionally funny submarine movie and actually very accurate.

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export business 23 November 2017 at 1:48 am

I’m wanting to recall a submarine Film I viewed inside the nineteen nineties. It’s a comedy of a aged submarine likely to be facial area out and be replaced by new systems submarine. There were some argument and a contest was set amongst the aged and new submarine. … It was actually humorous flicks… dying to watch it once again. . Pls.. If everyone recall the title … pls react.

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Nozomi – Clash of Zombies 6 November 2017 at 11:31 pm

Actually, it’s tough because “Das Boot” is also great. I would also move “Crimson Tide” to #1 just ahead of “Hunt for Red October”. In my opinion, “Crimson Tide” is the best movie (of any kind) since “The Last Emperor”.
whenever, thanks a lot for sharing. hope you keep sharing more.

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giáo viên b?n ng? 4 July 2017 at 4:00 am

Run Silent – Run Deep is the movie I watched and was great. Content meaningful, attracting the audience.

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wes 17 April 2017 at 9:52 pm

Das Boot, # 1. I won’t go on slagging the original author but by now you get the picture. Thanks for your list.
Also, if you like movies with submarines and don’t care too much about authenticity, I suggest Murphy’s War with Peter O’Toole. It is mostly about one man’s vengeance against an updated sub, but a wonderful movie, one of my favorites

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Brian “submariner682” 6 April 2017 at 11:50 pm

As a submariner hands down I agree with all the posters that Das Boot (The Boat) should have been number one. Most submariners laugh at movies like Crimson Tide as it could have never happened. Down Periscope was funny and more realistic. Both Das Boot and Down Periscope captured what a true submariner feels and acts like.

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Wade 15 September 2016 at 9:28 am

K-19 Widowmaker not being on this list is a little disappointing. That movie is at least as good as The Hunt for Red October.

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sgt Doug L 15 July 2014 at 3:26 am

As I responded to someone looking for the comedy sub movie above in the 1990s it was called “Down Periscope” as a submariner I enjoyed the heck out of it not to mention the set was pretty authentic on all vessels. Along with the offices of the Admiral. It was funny. Ironically the Fart scene from the cook put it over the top. There is actually truth to a modern nuclear sub hearing a fart thru the hull of an old S boat. Brilliant clean comedy for whole family.

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sgt Doug L 15 July 2014 at 3:16 am

I served in the “silent service” aboard an LA class atk sub. Das Boot is as real as it gets in authenticity. We trained in a Uboat incase we capture a sub with controls in German we would know how to operate one. My favorite movie as a submariner is Red October. As I’ve toured a typhoon the boat is obviously not like the movie set. Example of cheapness would be Sean Connery getting into the safe in his cabin to get the orders. The safe was cheap painted plywood and simple magnets holding it shut. Stuff like that vexed me as a mariner but Das Boot is certainly worth the watch pretty accurate authenticity even the acting. This according to old uboat hands who trained us. The enemy below is another favorite. The set is cheesy but not in the 1950s. The cat and mouse destroyer versus uboat is classic down right great plot. Crimson is more a doomsday movie but it’s tolerable but again from a suber the set drives me nuts to the point of loosing the plot. What’s bad is you figure out that Gene and Denzel won’t get along in the first 5 minutes. It’s all about trying to fix a radio for 1 hour which on LAs the eas radio is redundant and swap out and takes only 36 seconds to do it so again watching that actual killed me with boardom. Hope I was honest as possible.

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Kirk 26 March 2014 at 8:20 am

What about “Last Resort”? It is not a movie but a series, it is kinda new (2012 I think) and It is very cool. Even if not a movie I suggest you guys to watch it, you won’t be disappointed.

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helen 5 March 2014 at 10:52 pm

I am trying to recall a submarine movie I watched in the 1990s. It’s a comedy of a old submarine going to be face out and be replaced by new technologies submarine. There were some argument and a competition was set between the old and new submarine. … It was really funny movies… dying to watch it again. . Pls.. If anyone recall the title … pls respond.

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sgt Doug L Reply:
July 15th, 2014 at 3:21 am
It was called “Down Periscope” with Mr Kramer very good comedy for a submariner like myself. The set was actually pretty authentic surprisingly. See my comment below.

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Brian Tucker 9 February 2014 at 11:32 pm

As a submarine veteran of 3 boats, I can assure you the favorite submarine comedy of all time is “Crimson Tide”.

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michaelw_newyork 14 August 2012 at 9:23 pm

How could you have forgotten Ice Station Zebra ? Ok, so it wasnt exactly a submarine movie, but it did involve a submarine, and it combined wildly implausible submarines of different types which we were supposed to be so stupid as to believe were actually the same submarine. Has some good footage in it that looks real to me.

MW

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Larry Blackburn 8 August 2012 at 8:09 pm

I’d sink (sorry, it’s out there) both Below and The Abyss in favor of Gray Lady Down.

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Louie 8 August 2012 at 1:00 pm

The Abyss is not a submarine movie!!!!!!

There is no human condition so miserable that it can not be made worse by the presence of an officer of the law.

Mark Twain

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Fred 8 August 2012 at 8:39 am

Ice Station Zebra……..

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toni 10 January 2012 at 7:01 am

huh,K 19 better than DAs boot???LOLOLOLOL
You make me laugh
You maked worst review ever…
BIG LOL..
It seems you are not very smart to put K19 on 1st place…
even IMDB gives 8.5 score for DAs boot!!!
That u 571 is shit compared to Das boot
Only USA movie i like is Crimson tide,excellent performance by Denzel Washington.
DAS BOOT IS BEST SUBMARINE MOVIE EVER!!!!!

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toni Reply:
January 10th, 2012 at 7:04 am
corrections to post above

1.HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER instead K19
2.ONly submarine USA movie i like is Crimson tide…

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Ken 7 September 2011 at 9:52 am

Anybody that has read about submarines, especially WWII would realize that “Operation Pacific” is based on facts: faulty torpedoes, subs being sunk by there own torpedoes, etc. This flick is certainly more interesting and factual than “Crimson Tide”. A nuclear submarine with only one working radio; give me a break.

“Das Boot” is certainly one of the best and more accurate of the sub pictures. They even used real U-boats.

For historical accuracy that documents the American Silent service in WWII “Operation Pacific” is excellent and should be in the top half dozrn and certainly the top ten.

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sgt Doug L Reply:
July 15th, 2014 at 3:44 am
No real uboat was used in Das Boot. The set is still used as a training for foreign mariners to learn German incase of capturing one. A hollowed out 3/4 replica was used for filming at sea on bridge scene, a 1/16 replica with a diver in it (about 19ft long) was used with the camera over clocking to provide a (heavy feel to it) and underwater outside depth charge scenes were brilliantly filmed with M60s and a 1/32 model and super clocked cameras. The uboat pen was actually reflooded for the first time in 1981 since ww2 ended. The uboat pen scenes showing multible uboats were the same hollowed replica but were dubbed together that’s why a welder is throwing sparks between each pen but only one pen was set for filming. With no special effects from CGI avail back in 1981, this movie was wonderfully shot and staged the use of all Incandescent lighting right down to the old 500 watt Appleton fixtures in the uboat pens was crazy accurate. However on the Directors Cut widescreen on the pen scene were the captian asked if all is clear before leaving the pen you can actually catch a little bit of the 2500 watt stage spots up near the ceiling of the pen on the right shining down at the uboat. I pick any of the sub movies apart but Das Boot is the most accurate. Ironically “down periscope” the comedy sub movie used real subs.

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Karl 10 August 2011 at 1:24 pm

Das Boot is by far the best. I was actually more gripped that there were long drawn-out scenes as it gave a real sense of a crewman’s time in a submarine.

I was hooked from beginning to end of this tremendous film. A true classic.

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Stefanoa 19 July 2011 at 10:50 am

#1 for me is “Das Boot”, no doubt.
K-19 looks also realistic and well done.

Hunt for R.O. and Crimson Tide are nice and fun to watch, but more action and hollywood-styled.

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sam crowell 14 June 2011 at 1:33 am

I need help!! I am looking for a movie about a sub sunk in the pacific during WWII which seems to have comes back to get the only member of its last crew to survive the last patrol. It is decided to re-sail the last voyage and the sub takes over command!!! If anyone remembers this movie please respond.

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Cherie Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 7:38 am
Do you mean “Ghostboat”?
It stared David Jason. It’s not a bad movie. Quoting Amazon….
” The re-appearance of a British submarine that was lost and sunk in World War 2, the only survivor is recruited by the admiralty to attempt to discover what happened to the rest of the crew and how the submarine resurfaced. After boarding the sub the investigation team begin to take on characteristics of the original crew and their ultra secret mission, to destroy a top secret target in Russia and set sail to complete this task that was set in motion 65 years previously”

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paulie 25 May 2011 at 1:29 am

Actually, it’s tough because “Das Boot” is also great. I would also move “Crimson Tide” to #1 just ahead of “Hunt for Red October”. In my opinion, “Crimson Tide” is the best movie (of any kind) since “The Last Emperor”.

Moderator: maybe you can add this comment to the end of my previous one..?

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paulie 25 May 2011 at 1:24 am

Hey Jjb, you must have been watching on cable on one of those new 120 Hz LCD TVs that make everything look like cheap video. U-571 is a GREAT movie, with more than competent effects. As for the list, I can’t really add anything to it, but I’d move “The Enemy Below” to #5 and “20,000 Leagues” to about #4.

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Flavio Rino 27 April 2011 at 10:06 pm

btw, if you’re looking for “entertaining” then you should definately have put in the list “down periscope”

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Flavio Rino 27 April 2011 at 10:01 pm

Well, it seems pretty straight forward to me, that if you make a “10 best submarine movies” you’re not going to put there some idiot comedy about subs just because it’s entertaining, you’ll put the most accurate, well interpreted, directed, etc. Noone googles “best submarine movies list” to look for ‘entertaining’.

Das Boot is easily worth the 1st place, you actually get the feeling, the intensity of life on a U-Boat. K-19 is not that bad, I mean, you put horror movies about subs and you disregard K-19 and others alike? Get real…

I must say the list on the first comment was way better. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask someone who really enjoys submarines to help you with that next time?

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Marilyn Reply:
July 17th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
I’ve just finished watching K19-The Widowmaker and followed up with a blog where the blogger went to great length to find out what happened to the sub after it was abandoned.

I don’t think the movie was all that bad.

Das Boot was so fantastic that I’ve watched it every time I get a chance. My late husband rode the nuclear subs as a civilian engineer out of New London CT and work and boredom seem to be the only two things that take place on a sub.

I’m fascinated by submarine movies and watch every one that I can, often more than once.

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Adam Plessinger Reply:
November 10th, 2013 at 10:19 am
Actually I just Google’s best submarine movies for exactly that reason… for entertainment. If I wanted an education about submarines, I would have searched for best sub documentaries. I haven’t seen das boots but plan to now. Without seeing it though, I would have to agree that being bored for ¾ of a movie for an amazing last ¼, would make it tough to put it as #1.
The phantom is a fairly new sub movie that I would strongly recommend! Its based on a true story and has a greaat cast and plot. I loved crimson tide and the hunt for red October, and would put the phantom right up there with them.

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Jjb 20 March 2011 at 11:25 pm

My faves are The Abyss, Das Boot, The Hunt for Red October, Deep Star Six, Leviathan… Found a new one on netflix called depth charge, not that great, but not too bad. Also, Sphere with Dustin Hoffman qualifies as an underwater adventure.

As the Author of this webpage says, Below is a ghost movie, with a few cheesy SFX, stay away if you want a real sub action adventure. If you like ghost stories of the deep, it is ok.

U571 was absolutely the worst movie ever made and the folks who made tha piece of crap deserve to be thrown out the airlock without their wetsuits. The cap on the crown of feces that this movie is made of is the big CGI explosion at the end. If you are going to waste money on CGI, at least make it look slightly realistic. Better yet, use some firecrackers and blow up a model instead. The only big budget movie with worse SFX is Air Force One – with the CGI airplane hitting fake CGI trees…

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laurence cooper 14 March 2011 at 2:04 pm

A friend and I both remember watching something on tv in the 1990’s about an americn and soviet sumbarine that collided. it was probably a made for tv film and was supposedly based on a real incident in the 1960’s. The part that made an impression on both of us was that one of the Russian engineers volunteered for a suicide mission to go into the nuculear reactor control room and shut it down manually. It doesn’t seem to be any of the main submarine films and we think it may have been called Close Encounter but we cannot find any reference to it – any ideas? Laurence

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Burritolikethesun 12 October 2010 at 11:26 am

Hmmm, author of this article–it seems most of the people think you are an idiot. Perhaps your rationalization for Das Boot being 5th is poor? der der der

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Spot Cool Stuff Reply:
October 17th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Burritolikethesun,

Well, determining what movie is “best” is a matter of taste not smarts. We get that Das Boot gives the most accurate portrayal of live on a sub. That accuracy seems to be important to a lot of people who’ve left comments here. Fair enough. But to us we think of “best” to mean “most entertaining.” If the characters in Das Boot are complaining about the lack of anything happening then we think it is reasonable complain about that ourselves. And it isn’t as if Das Boot was completely left off—the 5th best movie of a popular genre is still really good.

In any case, more opinions welcome . . .

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ken 17 August 2010 at 11:32 pm

I concur with some of the comments. U0571 and Below were certainly execrable!
There was a movie made in the 1990s called Troubled Waters about a collision between a Soviet and US submarine. That was really good. I think Rutger Hauer was in it.
I do think that K-19 was a better film than is given credit generally.
Also, Tom Clancey movies are hard to watch because of all the jingoistic US rah-rah. The Main character’s motivation seems a little absurd. The USSR cannot be trusted with such a potent weapon, but the US can?! Also, the real mutiny was aboard a frigate that never made it out of the Baltic. A movie of the real event would be great!

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Adi 15 August 2010 at 7:50 pm

Hunt for Red October is a good movie but hearing Connery’s pitiful attempt at speaking Russian is a big and unnecessary spoil.

U-571 is horrible in every possible way except perhaps the action. It all revolves around a mission to obtain the “Enigma”. The joke about it all is that the enigma was specifically designed with the assumption that it will fall into enemy hands. So capturing it is a total non-event. I won’t even go into all the other distortions it makes of historical facts. Hollywood certainly doesn’t expect much from their US audience.

Das Boot is definitely the best movie here. You can’t compare it with the typical action movie. It is more like a documentary of life on a German submarine in WW2 with everything it entailed. Amazingly accurate right down to the smallest detail.

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GURU 19 June 2010 at 5:22 pm

Person Who Put DAS BOOT on 5th Place Is Nothing More But …..! Who Now Nothing About War Gener THIS IS A FACT!! And You People Can Cry Whatever You Like!

DAS BOOT is No.1 Then Is Long Time Nothing And Then Come Hollywood Pop Bombastic SHIT!

When You See PULP FICTION on no.5 in IMDB list
And DANCES WITH WOLVES Not Even In Top 250 Then You Know What Im Talking About!
People Like This Know Little Or Nothing About Movies!
ANOTHER FACT!!

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JDintheOC 19 March 2010 at 7:43 pm

Red October was a pretty good film but I have issues with Connery’s character knowing just when to turn the Sub in the trench. Seems a little too iffy to me.

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alper ileri 13 February 2010 at 2:55 pm

DAS BOOT is ABSOLUTELY number #1. any other stuff is second class. It’s so funny to put it on #5. This means the person who made the list has a little idea on movies.

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Spot Cool Stuff Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
. . . or, Alper, it might possibly mean that the person who put together this list knows a lot about movies but has a different option from you. But DAS BOOT clearly is more highly thought of by the people coming to this list than it is by us.

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CZ 2 February 2010 at 6:50 am

Placing Red October first and Das Boot on, not even 2nd, but 5th, is just bad taste 🙁

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Roger 14 November 2009 at 6:29 am

That is a great list of movies. My list is a bit different.

10. Operation Pacific
9. Gray Lady Down
8. Run Silent, Run Deep
7. Up Periscope
6. The Enemy Below
5. K-19: The Widowmaker
4. Crimson Tide
3. U-571
2. The Hunt For Red October
1. Das Boat

Pretty cool site you have here.

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Spot Cool Stuff Reply:
November 18th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Roger,

Thanks for your two cents. There’s no right or wrong answer to this, of course, but would you might if I strongly disagreed with you on K-19? That actually gets my vote for the *worst* sub movie of all time (as well as an award to Harrison Ford for cinema’s worst fake Russian accent).

SCS

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Nick C. Reply:
July 12th, 2016 at 11:39 pm
DAS( freaking) BOOT ALL THE WAY.

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Nick C. Reply:
July 12th, 2016 at 11:46 pm
Its a true story..its well acted.DIRECTION IS UNBELIEVABLE.and nothing can touch its action or drama scenes.And it happened to be during the greatest war in American history.DAS BOOT..HANDS DOWN.

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