Murphy’s War (1971) – Nostalgia Central

Set on the Orinoco River in Venezuela during the close of World War II, the film relates the story of a personal war between Murphy (Peter O’Toole) and a German U-Boat which attacked and sank the armed British merchantman on which he was a seaplane mechanic, and massacred his surviving shipmates in the water.

Lying sick and exhausted on an oil rig, Murphy is discovered by Louis Brezan (Philippe Noiret), a French oil engineer, and taken to a Quaker mission in the jungle, run by a female doctor named Hayden (O’Toole’s real-life wife, Siân Phillips).

Another survivor – seaplane pilot Lieutenant Ellis (John Hallam) – is brought to the mission, having crash-landed in the jungle.

A radio message to inform the authorities of their safety is interrupted by the U-Boat Commander, Kapitan Lauchs (Horst Janson), who heads to the mission, destroys the transmitter and kills Ellis.

Murphy’s war really gets into full swing when, helped by Brezan, he sets about the U-Boat with giant Molotov cocktails thrown from the repaired seaplane (a Grumman J2F Duck amphibious aircraft).  He eventually uses an old dredging barge to ram the sub, armed with one of its own torpedoes (which he finds beached on the shore) – despite hearing on the radio that the war has just ended.

The downbeat ending depicts the uselessness and futility of war and vengeance.

The U-Boat used in the film was actually a Venezuelan submarine – the former USS Tilefish (SS-307).

Murphy
Peter O’Toole
Dr Hayden
Siân Phillips
Louis Brezan
Philippe Noiret
Kapitan Lauchs
Horst Janson
Lt. Ellis
John Hallam
Voght
Ingo Mogendorf
U-Boat crew members
John Clifford
Harry Fielder
George Roubicek
Bob Simmons

Director
Peter Yates