Das Boot Quotations

Das Boot is a 1981 film about the claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth, and sheer terror.

Directed and written by Wolfgang Petersen, based on the novel by Lothar G. Buchheim.

When the hunters become the hunted

Captain

Our patrol planes! Where are they? Answer that one, Herr Göring!
[during the storm] The sea cannot claim us, Henrich. No ship is as seaworthy as ours.
[escaping from the British] They haven't spotted us! They're all snoring in their bunks! Or you know what? They're drinking in the bar! Celebrating our sinking! Not yet, my friends. Not yet!
[Captain, looking at logbook]Our recent triumphs: Dived to evade enemy aircraft. Lost contact. Dived to evade destroyer. Depth charged. The British have stopped making mistakes.
Hey look its Thomsen! THOOOMSSSEEN!! Good Hunting! You old rascal! My god Phillip! So they pushed you out to sea again!

Werner

[slowly suffocating in 290m depth] 'To be fearless and proud and alone. To need no one, just sacrifice. All for the Fatherland.' Oh God, all just empty words.
- In the German version, Werner's words at this place were: I wanted to stand before something relentless. Where no woman crosses our path, and no mother looks after us. Where only the reality reigns, cruel and large. I was drunk of this prospect. (sobs) Now this is the reality.

Others

Ullmann: Dearest Françoise, this is my fourteenth letter to you, but you have yet to see one.

Navigator Kriechbaum: Man overboard!!! Pilgrim!!!

Dialogue

[Officers, being bored to death]

The Captain: Not bad in here, is it? No mail, no telephone. Solid wood paneling. Well-ventilated boat. Free food, too. We're in clover here!

LI: Like fresh horse-droppings. They're rolling in clover as well. They have no need to make a living. They're even allowed to smoke!

The Captain: [throwing his sou'wester down] God DAMNIT how can this happen?! 12 boats we have on the Atlantic! From Greenland to the Azores, a mere dozen! But still we, we almost collide with one of our own! Somethings wrong here...(turning to navigator) Checked on our position?

Navigator Kriechbaum: ...more or less Capt-

The Captain: More or less?! More or less?! Thats not GOOD ENOUGH!

Navigator Kriechbaum: Not one sunspot in two weeks. Difficult to calculate.

The Captain: Yeah yeah..We make a few errors in our own position - the others do the same, and we end up playing collision games! Leaving the route wide open! [to Werner] I hope you're taking notes. Maybe clue HQ into what's happening.

Werner: Surely you have better connections than me.

The Captain: You think so, huh?

[Crew, being bored to death]

Pilgrim: Tell me: Do you have hairs in your nose?

Frenssen: Why?

Pilgrim: Because I have some up my ass. We can tie them together.

[Frenssen continues to flex-train his muscles, and while doing so, taps his own head with his index finger)

[Crew is celebrating after escaping a destroyer attack. Bosun leaves the radio shack and enters the crew quarters, his face red with rage.]

Bosun: QUIET IN THIS WHOREHOUSE!!! Bad news, men.

Crew: What is wrong?

Bosun: Schalke has lost the game. Five zero. No more chance of making the semi-finals.

Ario: [falling into despair] I can't believe this shit!!

(English Version)

Pilgrim: I once met a girl who used me as a bicycle. It felt delicious!

Hinrich: You're greasy enough for sure!

(German Version)

Pilgrim:One time, a whore pissed on my back. That felt incredible...!

Hinrich:You're a pervert!

Quoternity