# 70 Das Boot (1981)

Das Boot (German pronunciation: [das ˈboːt], German meaning "The Boat") is a 1981 German epic war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as a theatrical release and as a TV miniseries, and in several different home video versions of various running times.

Das Boot is an adaption of the 1973 German novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Set during World War II, the film tells the fictional story of U-96 and its crew. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country. The screenplay used an amalgamation of exploits from the real U-96, a Type VIIC-class U-boat.

Development for Das Boot began in 1979. Several American directors were considered three years earlier before the film was shelved. During the film's production, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the captain of the real U-96 and one of Germany's top U-boat "tonnage aces" during the war, and Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on U-219, served as consultants. One of Petersen's goals was to guide the audience through "a journey to the edge of the mind" (the film's German tagline Eine Reise ans Ende des Verstandes), showing "what war is all about".

Produced with a budget of 32 million DM (about $18.5 million), the film was released on September 17, 1981, and was later released in 1997 in a director's cut version supervised by Petersen. It grossed over $80 million ($208 million in 2013 prices) worldwide between its theatrical releases and received critical acclaim. Its high production cost ranks it among the most expensive films in the history of German cinema.

Directed by	Wolfgang Petersen
Produced by	Günter Rohrbach
Screenplay by	Wolfgang Petersen
Based on	Das Boot, novel byLothar-Günther Buchheim
Starring	Jürgen Prochnow Herbert Grönemeyer Klaus Wennemann
Narrated by	Herbert Grönemeyer(Uncut version)
Music by	Klaus Doldinger
Cinematography	Jost Vacano
Edited by	Hannes Nikel
Production company	Bavaria Film PSO International
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	17 September 1981
Running time	149 minutes 209 minutes (Director's cut) 293 minutes (Uncut)
Country	West Germany
Language	German English French
Budget	32 million DM ($12 million) (€24.3 million, 2009)
Box office	$84,970,337

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