Greyhound, a movie that was written by and stars Tom Hanks, tells the story of a destroyer captain fighting a German U-boat wolf-pack that is attacking a convoy of Allied ships in the North Atlantic. The movie was inspired by C.S. Forester’s novel, The Good Shepherd.
This is not my review. I had planned on writing a review but so far I have been unable to see the movie, which is streaming only on Apple TV. Not for a lack of trying, I attempted to sign up for Apple TV so that I could stream it on a PC, but I gave up after about 20 minutes, which included getting several “page not found” messages when I attempted to access Apple’s online support. So rather than post my own review, I am posting two videos.
The first is an hour-long discussion with four maritime historians, about the accuracy, or lack thereof, of Greyhound. Sponsored by the North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) the video features Sal Mercogliano as host, with Dr. Chuck Steele of the US Air Force Academy, Dr. David Kohnen of the Naval War College, and Dr. Joseph Moretz an independent scholar on the Royal Navy, providing commentary. The discussion is quite good and worth watching whether or not you have seen Hank’s movie. (If you do not have the time, spoiler alert, the consensus among the historians was that the movie didn’t get very much right.)
Unrelated to historical accuracy, Sal Mercogliano facetiously compared his own problems with Apple TV to the “Battle of the Atlantic.”
Non-historian critics have been more kind. Greyhound has a 79% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The second video is one of the “History vs Hollywood” series and while it is not as detailed as the critique provided by the historians, it has the advantage of being only five minutes long.
Greyhound starring Tom Hanks, based on C S Forester’s The Good Shepherd, the NASOH Movie Review
There have been complaints about this movie.
Read the reviews:
Same as fishing: never let facts get in the way of an exciting story. 🙂
Oh the joys of an “artists license”.
I enjoyed the movie but enjoyed Forester’s book The Good Shepherd more. I think the reviewers in the referenced video wanted more of a documentary and kept focusing on what was happening in 1942. If one looks at the movie more as a composite of 1940-1945 convoy duty, it is easier to overlook some of the nitpicks. The movie kept my interest to the end, the reviewers did not. I bailed half way through.
I saw an interview with Tom Hanks and he was talking about how the producers wanted more explanatory dialogue for nautical and naval terms that were in the script. I’m glad that didn’t happen.
A film’s purpose is to make money by entertaining a large number viewers. If historians made films, I doubt they would make money. That’s why we read books if we want to learn history.
Finally, remember the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story?
I’d give the movie a solid B.
Thanks for the review. I hope to see the film one day if Apple lets me.