Anomalous Material

The Enemy Below is the story of the cat-and-mouse game that is the Royal Navys destroyer hunting down the German U-boats in the Atlantic waters of WWII. U.S. naval leaders have ordered a nuclear-powered ballistic-submarine, Alabama–hence the films name–out to sea for a deterrent patrol. In Harms Way follows U.S. Navy ships Captain Rock Torrey through an oddly fictionalized version of the Pacific War. Many navy movies have told U.S. Navy stories since WWII, and this one is mostly about the Pacific.

The 1992 movie Under Siege may be one of the best Navy movies ever made, and perhaps one of the greatest recruitment tools for the Navy – although not the most accurate. Navy SEALs and Naval Aviators aside, other members of the Navy do not usually get the credit for being badasses beyond the WWII movies. As many viewers surmised, the Navy does not have the trophy cases and the ranking pilots, which Top Gun invented in order to make the films narrative feel more like a triumphant sports film rather than a traditional war film. Most movies about the Navy show ships from just the bridge and the gun deck, or from the flight deck if it is a film based on the carriers.

Based on Darryl Ponicsons novel, which is a lot different from the film, this final detail is amazingly accurate as to how the U.S. Navy was like back in the 70s, and I know, I was there. One of the movies that put Jack Nicholson on the map as a serious acting talent, The Last Detail is easily my favorite out of all the films about the US Navy. While there is not really any Navy scenes, as such, the vibe of this gritty film, involving two Navy men who are ordered to take a young criminal offender to jail, features razor-sharp Jack Nicholson in one of his finest performances.

U.S. Navy Plaques
No list of great navy movies would be complete without at least one John Wayne, The Duke entry. In no particular order, here are ten of my top-rated U.S. Navy movies, with some honorable mentions. Despite the fairly narrow choice, we have assembled below some of the best military films and action thrillers featuring Navy SEALs.

Navy SEAL movies depict U.S. forces and operations, either from actual accounts, or, in other cases, are full works of fiction. Nor are they about mammals found in the freezing ocean waters and how their beards helped them in hunting.

Aside from the fact Seagals character is a Navy SEAL, regular Navy sailors look quite nice, even if held captive for much of the film. Bush memorializes longtime battleship service by Navy in Pearl Harbor. When regular Navy sailors were finally released, they seemed poised to go outside, fire their guns, and recapture the USS Missouri. Skipper John Brickley (Robert Montgomery)Robert Montgomery)and his right-hand man, Rusty Ryan (John Wayne)John Wayne), struggle to convince the navys brass about the PT boats worthiness to the war effort.