Das Boot
1981, R, 210 min.
D: Wolfgang Petersen; with Jurgen Prochnow.

Back in 1981, when he was still working in his native Germany, director Petersen — who went on to helm Clint Eastwood’s summer blockbuster, In the Line of Fire — established himself as an action/suspense director par excellence. Set in a German U-boat during World War II, this claustrophobic suspense drama hasn’t a weak bolt anywhere.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.