Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

chrissso It's hard to consider this 1971 film anything more than a cautionary tale. Simply put as a movie there's just not much here.First off the script is not based on any real events. The Germans did not operate in South American waters … let alone a river delta in Venezuela … nor did they make it a practice of strafing innocent mariners after they torpedoed their boats.Secondly, legendary actor Peter O'Toole was horrid in the lead (Murphy)! There was nothing likable or sympathetic about his character … he just runs around in an obsessed state, screaming orders and wreaking havoc … leading viewers to wish for his expedited death. Nor was there any chemistry between him and co-star Sian Phillips … which was odd as they were married at the time. More so the script had several big problems I couldn't get around … • We know Murphy was an airplane mechanic but could he fly? He had a lot of trouble taking off in the plane and appears to be a novice, nevertheless we see him performing expert stunts a few moments later.• After Murphy bombs the submarine, the Germans come looking for him at the village. They firebomb the place, destroy the plane and kill a few natives and then just leave without finding the guy that just tried to kill them? • The sub … not even close to anything the Germans used in WW2. It looked disturbingly out of place.I found this film to be an unlikable, unbelievable, unrespectable (not a single award nomination) and dated with little to offer except its cautionary tale. Bleck!

wdevallette if you look closely and are somewhat familiar with the silhouette of a WW II German submarine you will notice the wrong conning tower. This conning tower is of a RN submarine to which an aft gun platform has been added. In jargon the German sailors called it "Wintergarden". To make this sub more closely resemble a U-boat, the bow net saw was added. In all it's not a bad movie, especially with Peter O'Toole as the main character. I like the way have cast the German Kapitaen Leutnant as the sub's captain. As in reality, those sub captains were all quite young, most in their early or mid twenties. As the crews were even younger, the captain was called DER ALTE.

Theo Robertson In the last days of the second world war a German U-Boat sinks a British merchant ship on the Orinoco river . As the survivors flounder in the river they are massacred by the Germans . One survivor is left , an Irishman called Murphy who becomes obsessed with revenge All the ingredients of a very good war film are here . Big name star , sadistic Nazis , exotic locations and yet for some reason MURPHY'S WAR fails to take off completely . The Nazis are portrayed as fascist brutes and the film does revolve around Murphy's obsession with revenge . This might work very well in another medium but on film it doesn't translate very well because emotions are internalised and difficult to portray on screen . and this makes for a rather uninvolving film .MURPHY'S WAR does contain long sequences where no one speaks and while some people may admire the qualities of sound editing I didn't . The whole unlikely subplot of Murphy learns to fly a plane become redundant anyway and seems to be included simply to show off the sound editing as if to ask " Please can you give us an Oscar " . The film ends on a bitterly ironic plot turn and like PLAY DIRTY from around the same time leads the film to stick out in the mind but before we get to the cynical ending we have to endure something of a hard slog .

philipjcowan I saw this film first time round and, going by the date is was made, I must have been about seven years old. Our cinema in Lochgelly was rather lax about age restrictions.Scenes still stick in my mind and its themes are still very much with me — the horror and dehumanizing impact of war and the futility of revenge.I have since seen the film again and I was glad not to be disappointed. Being older and wiser, one is inevitably more critical, but there is so much to enjoy in this film. The performances, setting and story all work together to draw you into its dark and dangerous world.Most notably of all, the U-boat commander and his men are portrayed as human beings. Efficient, determined, ruthless, but they too have feelings and hate the whole damn war just as much as Murphy. This was unusual in war films up until then, and its progressive, enlightened approach to the war enhances the story. We understand and even feel for Murphy, but we too must understand that sometimes we need to let go, accept our losses, be glad we survived and realise that our enemies are human too.