k-19 the widow maker

K-19? One UNLUCKY boat. Man, if ordered to serve on her, I would’ve just started walking to the base stockade.

Movie was ok.

before K-19 they was a TV movies starring martin sheen about the same sub but it’s was made in the mid 80’s what was the titles?.

It was nice to see the Russians being portrayed as humans instead of the evil madmen of other movies, I get sick of watching Hollywood (and Mr. Clancy for that matter) pointing the finger at the Russians and Chinese all the time and portraying them as warped, global domination minded pyscho’s….we all know who the real enemy is on this planet…THAT’S RIGHT…THE UMPA LUMPA’S…FEAR THE UMPA LUMPA’S, THEY ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!…..one by one the penguins steal my sanity 🙂

The film is definitly the best Hollywood movie about Russian fleet / army. Still it has about some relation to USSR reality as “Top Gun” movie to real USAF.

I wouldnt be so harsh.I think that “Top Gun” was more of a fairy tale than the “K-19”.As someone mentione above K-19 used realistic setting and a historical storyline.

lukeylad that sub is the RCN Onondaga which was a Royal Canadian Navy Submarine of the Ojibwa Class (Improved British Oberon Class or Super O’s) with its top sonar dome plated over. There one very near to where i live.

Hw does it compare to Crimson Tide and Hund for Red October??

I taped it and will watch it over the weekend so no giving the plot away, right!!!!!

its nowt compared to them two to be honest

One of the best films I’ve seen in recent years was Downfall. A German / US production with genuine German actors, speaking German with English subtitles.

The film is definitly the best Hollywood movie about Russian fleet / army. Still it has about some relation to USSR reality as “Top Gun” movie to real USAF.

I wonder with films like this whether instead of using big Hollywood names such as Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson speaking English with dodgy Russian accents, it would be better using real Russians. Of course, Ford and Neeson are recognised names and help to bring in the audiences (though judging by wht you say wd1, big nmaes do not a box office smash make).

One of the best films I’ve seen in recent years was Downfall. A German / US production with genuine German actors, speaking German with English subtitles.

better than both i’d say.

have fun watching!

Hw does it compare to Crimson Tide and Hund for Red October??

I taped it and will watch it over the weekend so no giving the plot away, right!!!!!

you know the bit when the russain diesel sub arrives i could have sworn that is looked like a british obereon ssn can any one confrim

The mutiny was an added subtext due to the fact that they took aspects of Zaitsev’s personality and made two captain characters instead of one.

It was enjoyable to watch, and from what I read they did a lot to iron out the worse bits of the original script after complaints were made – even if the abortive mutiny was still controversial. Hollywood screws everything up, so it’s best not to get too excited about it merely making the plot a little easier to perform.

coincidentally i just read the book! by CAPT(Rtd) Peter Huchthausen, USN.

i can say that the producers really made a genuine effort for maximum authenticity while still keeping some dramatic and entertainment license. it was a good movie and i remember emerging from the show profoundly shaken by the crew’s courage in the face of mortal danger and tragedy.

K-19 was released about the same time as U-571, which was really sucky and Hollywoodified and it only showed how much more effort was out into K-19.

K-19 bombed at the box office… which was unfortunate but expected since the average person can’t appreciate the quality of the movie.

Remember watching the critique by the surviving crew and they were not exactly impressed.
They described the movie as making them look like a crew of pirates.
After that criticism I believe one of the actors in the movie said it was a dramatisation, not a documentary… so expect Hollywood, not Attenborough (David)… or should that be expect Richard Attenborough rather than David Attenborough.

The reason K-19 was so accurate was because they got the blueprints for either K-19 or another sub from the same class. All the sets were constructed exactly to scale and exactly according to the plans, with one small addition: some of the pipes in the “ceiling” aren’t supposed to be there, but they were added to serve as a track for mounting cameras. Pretty inventive solution if you ask me. They even went so far as to replicate the reactor and the repairs that were made as accurately as possible by using historic accounts and whatnot. They put all sorts of effort into researching the film, and I think it pays off.

The main “error” they make is to condense the storyline of K-19 a bit. They took a few sorties and combined them into one; for example, the rocket launch and the reactor accident were on different sorties from what I recall.

For mroe on K-19, this book is highly recommended:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C4SJMA/sr=8-3/qid=1144046181/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-8689672-0155334?%5Fencoding=UTF8

As a former subbie myself I was really impressed with the work on this film, most of the films (notice MOST), do not come anywhere near the actual life on a sub, only two have I ever seen that do and one that shows a close tie but expanded to fit into Hollywoods eyes, these are (Do: K-19 and Das Boot, close: HFRO).

Pretty good movie. The background stuff on the DVD is great. The amount of work they went to is above and beyond what you would typically expect.

Wiki is your friend

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-19