Tom Hanksenters dangerous seas in his World War II drama "Greyhound."
Hanks' Navy Officer Cmdr. Ernest Krause leads the destroyer USSKeeling (code-named Greyhound), escortingvital troopsand supplies to England through an infamously dangerous section of theNorth Atlanticwhile battling wolf packs of Nazi U-boats.
"Greyhound" (now streaming on Apple TV+) says onscreen that it's "inspired byactual events," with Hanksadaptingthe screenplay from C.S. Forester's 1955 novel"The Good Shepherd." DirectorAaron Schneider says it was crucialto continue Hanks' streak of realistic World War II dramasfollowing his starring role in "Saving Private Ryan" (Hanks also wrote and produced"Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific" miniseries.)
"Tom has history of telling great war stories that also maintaina respectful level of accuracy, which is a way of honoring the service," Schneider says. "I wasn't going to be the one that screwed that up."
Here's what "Greyhound" gets right (and wrong).
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The fictional source material describes real historical events in the 'Battle of the Atlantic'
Everything from first-time Cmdr. Krausetothe Keeling destroyer are fictional. However, Forester, best known for his "Horatio Hornblower" book series, was fastidious in his quest to detail the 1942 crossing of the perilous five-day "Black Pit"stretch of the Atlantic, where the Navyconvoy was too far from land for valuable air support.
"C.S. Forresterwas rarely wrong about anythingin hisbooks and wrote 'The Good Shepherd' with the help of two senior Naval officers working as his advisers," says marinehistorian Gordon Laco, who served as one of two "Greyhound" military technical advisers. This ethos was transferred to the movie.
The complicated tactics Krause employs to battle the U-boats and rapid-firetechnical interactions on theship's bridge convey the accuracy, thoughthere were dialogue tweaks to enableviewer comprehension.
"You don't want to beso technically perfect that the audience has no idea what they're seeing, then you've lost them,"Laco says.
The destroyer was legit, as was the big gun
"Greyhound" relies heavily on CGI scenes depicting the expansive sea battles. But the sea dramawas shot on the USSKidd, a decommissioned WWII-era Fletcher-class destroyer,and a highly accurateinterior sound stage set on gimbals to re-create water movement. For example, even the gain control knob– which controls static on the radar – was period correct when Hanks turned it.
"I'm going to put the effort in to make sure that when we switched this knob, it's the right damn knob," Schneider says.
Special effects were needed to make the Kidd's long-dead onboard analog computerseem like it was still working.But theship's dominant,inoperable, Oerlikon 20 mm cannons were restored to pristine condition with added pneumatics so that the gun barrels recoiled back and forth, at over 100 times a minute, to precisely simulate firing.
"We even took pains to show we had the same rate of fire," Laco says. "They were loud as hell."
The intense drama has historical precedence
During one close encounter (seen in the trailer), Greyhound comes within feet of anaggressively attackingU-boat. While played for drama, there were similar instances at sea, such as a point-blank 1942 encounter between a German U-boat and the Canadian destroyer, HMCS Assiniboine. That ended with the U-boat sinking after a furious close-up gun battle.
"They were literally blasting each other with pistols, rifles, revolvers." Laco says. "The cook even came out of the galley and threw an empty case of Coca Cola bottles down the submarine hatch."
As for the torpedo that precariously runs along the side of the furiously turning Keeling, harmlessly bouncing off,that's a real scenario.The Germans reliedoncontact fuses in the North Atlantic, Laco says, with a stud on the torpedo front setting off the 600 pounds of TNT upon contact.
"Atorpedo hitting at an oblique angle so the front tip didn't hitis something that could happen and did," Laco says. "But theship would have to be extraordinarily lucky to survive it."
The onboard burial at sea was necessary
In the middle of the "Black Pit" fraught waters, the Greyhound crew assemble on deck in their dress uniforms to bury at sea three fallen seaman.
"That was rehearsed and choreographed,"Schenider says. "We needed to make it completely accurate, and we did it by the manual."
The fallen comrades had to be removed from the ship, making the ceremony necessary. "You couldn't keep the bodies; they would become objectionable," Laco says. "Despite being in combat, they would stop engines and let the ship glide. Those who were not manning guns would take part in their best uniforms."
The taunting German broadcasts didn't happen
"Greyhound" features haunting moments whenthe unseen German U-boat hackthe convoy's inter-ship intercom. The German speakerbroadcastsblood-curdling messages proclaimingcertain doom over the ship's loudspeakers. While effective storytelling, these mind games arenot based in history.
"It's certain that the Germans sometimes stumbled onto the transmittingfrequency and could listen to the escorts talking to each other," Laco says. "It would be very difficult to transmit on that frequency. But the scene doesshow it's not just machines they are fighting. They were fightingother men."
