Customer Reviews

Murphy's War [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A merchant seaman seeks to destroy a German submarine crew in South America to avenge the slaughter of his shipmates. Peter O'Toole is Seaman-machinist Murphy, a sardonic Irishman who miraculously survives a massacre by German submariners who unmercifully gun down Royal Navy sailors in the water after torpedoing their ship. Murphy is rescued by a Quaker medical mission on the shores of a coastal river used by the Germans to hide their boat. Local Indians later rescue the merchant ship's pilot who discloses that his seaplane is recoverable. The Germans discover there is a survivor at the mission and the submarine commander executes the pilot while Murphy is retrieving the plane. Murphy resolves to wage war single-handedly against the Germans.

Murphy's War is a very unique World War II story about an unlikely warrior who takes on overwhelming odds, and controversial when Germany is close to surrendering and ending the war in the Europe. The movie features some exciting flying scenes as Murphy learns to operate the airplane, as well as some surprising changes when he and the Germans fight to the bitter end.

The DVD release is excellent-much better than the old video tape edition.

A good movie with some slow pacing to make it drag here and there, but an original tale with the charmismatic Peter O'Toole doing brillant work, with wonderful stunt flying by Frank Tallman. An adventure movie with a literary feel to it, which is what you don't get much of these days. END

I saw this on Tv back in the early 80's and the ending made my youthful mouth drop, along with some of my foolish notions about revenge and war and things like that. Now, as an adult I see the resemblance to MOBY DICK and like this movie even more. Anyone who likes Peter O'Toole should get this; its got great locations and not only O'Toole but the great PHILIPPE NOIRET as well!

Peter O'Toole plays Murphy, one of the sole survivors of merchantman destroyed by U-Boat late in WWII. In a swampy and remote chunk of South America, Murphy finds asylum among a group of missionaries. The U-Boat however, won't leave him alone. Having little more than a barge, a seaplane and his hatred for the U-Boat and its crew, O'Toole presses on a private war that looks to outlast WWII. As those around Murphy begin to realize how his war has turned into an obsession, we in the audience begin to realize that we're watching an updated version of "Moby Dick", with some diferences that don't amount to an improvement. For one thing, the U-Boat isn't content to be the hunted one - it returns to exact a revenge when one of Murphy's ideas doesn't pan out. Also, when we get a look at the guys driving the U-Boat, we're in for a nasty shock of our own - they look less like steeled seawolves in search of a target than some obnoxious brats who need a bad shave, but otherwise could care less about Murphy once it looks like the war's over. (At least in "Moby Dick" and "Wrath of Khan", there was the implication that the obsession was mutual.) O'Toole acts with the same sort of epic sweep of "Lawrence of Arabia" - which seems ironic given the movie's "private" setting and less than epic scope.

That said, it's still a watchable movie - one of those that's most memorable for its final scene. Like "Wicker Man", the parting shot is one that connotes fury, futility and most of all, finality.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, not only because of the intense portrayal by Peter O'Toole as Murphy, but also because of the interesting story line. If one has to make an example of single minded pursuit of an objective, this movie is one of the best. It is an uncluttered adventure in revenge for a British seaman, one of two survivors of a ship sent to the bottom by a German U-boat, who's crew was cold-bloodedly massacred while in the water. Good aerial photography, coupled with a good supporting cast and one period song. Near the end of the movie, the philosophical and moral questions thrown by an exasperated Louis (played by Phillipe Noiret) to an unlistening Murphy says more about why it was entitled "Murphy's War."

Being an avid film buff I can't understand why I had never seen, or heard of, this self contained veritable masterpiece of anti-war movie making. I picked this up at my local Australian Kmart (yuck) with a bunch of other forgotten films of "antiquity" and it was the best twelve bucks I ever spent.

Murphy's War is another one that you won't find in the rental store. It's a war movie whose goal isn't bigger and better explosions and general gore (It has a little of both, but, Wow!, it's relevant to the story!) Peter O'Toole is great.

A real favorite movie of mine, I'm really happy to see Murphy's War on DVD. ++++Spoilers++++ It is a shame for Murphy the way the end goes, and it will totally blow you away kinda like the jolt of watching the Bedford Incident ending had for me. But really, Murphy got a raw deal because those Nazi's deserved to die after all the atrocities they had done. Ok Ok they were following orders just kill the Captain I guess. Great moments of Murphy flying a seaplane and not knowing how to fly, the dropping the bombs dead on with wick fuses is really far fetched but for some reason I totally was into it and never questioned that till now. The only other thing I did notice right off was the modern sub used but thats totally understandable and its a pretty boat too. I know, I know, war is a bad thing, and I guess a heroic Murphy ending is very boreing so that wouldn't work. However don't forget England had Chamberlain who was the worlds darling for saving the world in 1939 or so and look what happened. Highly Recommended

A nearly forgotten World War II film!

A sailor finds himself washed up on a remote coastal area of South America, after a U-boat sinks his cargo ship.

Recovering from his ordeal at an isolated village, he realizes the German submarine that sank his ship is sheltering in the nearby river. Using what minimal resources he can muster, he improvises his own ordnance to wage one-man naval warfare on the U-boat. He commandeers a sea-plane (even though he has no flight-training), recovered torpedoes, and even a dredger-boat, in his relentless quest to personally bring justice to the Kriegsmarine!

As other reviewers have noted, this film is a forgotten gem. It's long, so be prepared to settle in for the duration. It is, as one person noted, a kind of WWII remake of "Moby Dick," but it's also a meditation on fanaticism (like Moby Dick); the irony here is that the German U-boat commander, who (spoiler alert!) machine-guns helpless seamen in the water and murders Murphy's (O'Toole's) pilot, is not a fanatic; he is just a technocrat doing his job, a cog in a big war machine; he has to kill everyone so his U-boat won't be discovered. His face shows his anguish when he shoots the pilot, and he tries to apologize; he's a "normal" man working in a lunatic war machine. Murphy, on the other hand, is a man who believes in nothing but himself, a kind of modern Everyman who becomes a fanatic through his desire for revenge. There's a lot of fuel for thought here; the Nazi is really kind of a normal man loyal to a perverse, fanatically sick political system, while Murphy, ostensibly "normal," really becomes functionally insane by the end of the film. The scene (spoiler alert!) where Phillippe Noiret walks away from him near the end of the film is telling.

The setting, somewhere on, I believe, the Orinoco or Amazon River, is interesting, and the contrasts between Murphy, the Nazi skipper, the pacifist doctor working at a Christian mission in the jungle, and the Noiret characters are engaging. I liked the fact that there was no attempt to create a love story between Murphy and the doctor. There is also a great scene where Murphy teaches himself to fly a reconnaissance float plane.

An interesting, different film.