I have seen several forums on which engineers listed their favorite engineering movies. Of course they place "Apollo 13," "The Flight of the Phoenix," and others at the top of the lists. If you missed the two-part Public Broadcasting Service show, "Azorian: The Raising of the K-129," you're in for awe-inspiring engineering experience. In my opinion, this film would receive the number-one position on a list of engineering films.
On 8 March 1968, the Russian submarine K-129 sank in the north-central Pacific, likely as a result of an accident, although the cause remains unknown. The Russians could not locate the sunken sub, but US acoustic sensors detected its implosion, and triangulation placed the sunken sub within a 5-mile-square area. Given the known location of a possible treasure trove of raw information, US intelligence experts mounted Project Azorian, which would attempt to raise a portion of the sunken submarine. The CIA hoped to obtain codebooks, and secure communication equipment, undamaged ballistic missiles (the sub carried three), and torpedoes.
The PBS film "Azorian" documents the construction of the equipment needed to raise a sunken Russian submarine.
The PBS film documents the construction of the equipment needed for the effort, and explains how the various components would work. Interviews with historians and people involved with the project provide insight into operations that published stories lack.
The Russian sub was about 3 miles underwater, so the government turned to companies with experience in deep-water drilling. Even for them, the project was a gigantic and risky operation. I was astounded by the types and size of the equipment used, and how engineers came up with so many ingenious devices for the salvage work.
Eventually, the salvage ship Glomar Explorer, ostensibly built for reclusive and eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes and his business empire, sailed to the salvage site in 1974. I won't spoil the conclusion for you, but it almost seemed anticlimactic. The engineering work stole the show.
The scale of this project is difficult to comprehend, and although details have leaked over the years -- and various theories abound about the sub, it's demise, and the salvage -- the PBS film provides the only comprehensive examination of the project. It includes photographs and film taken contemporaneously to document the project, and includes animations that illustrate the salvage operations and how the giant equipment worked.
It's such a fascinating engineering story. I recommend the film highly.
Watch the film's trailer here. Also be sure to click on the comment link below and tell us what your favorite engineering movie is.
As long as we're discussing Jimmy Stewart engineering movies, it's worth it to recall, "No Highway in the Sky." The character and plotline might be a bit over the top, but as a portrayal of corporate hierarchy and its effect on engineers, it's worth seeing.
Thanks for the Flight of the Phoenix reference, Alex. I'd forgotten about that as an engineering movie, but I agree, the character is a good example of the engineer mentality. I've seen both versions, and the argument at the end is archetypal. I don't know how Hollywood managed to do such a relatively decent job on an engineering-reated subject, when so often their depictions of scientists and engineers are cartoonish.
Apollo 13 is a good one I agree but I have to throw in Armageddon. I know it's a little far fetched and not really plausible but who really wants to put the fate of the world in a man who got a C- in Astrophysics.
jmiller: Armageddon is another of my guilty pleasures. I think it's hilarious that the NASA scientists could land a spaceship on a speeding asteroid but couldn't figure out how to put a drill together.
I usually don't classify movies about flying or aerospace in the engineering bucket, cause they're a genre unto themselves. (Plus, once you hit space, you start to get heavily into sci-fi.) That said, if we're talking aerospace, far and away my favority is "The Right Stuff." That's not because of the story -- the whole Chuck Yaeger breaking the sound barrier is well known -- or the acting (good though it is, particularly Ed Harris and Sam Shepard. Rather, it's the cinematography. The way it's shot is beautiful. All that blue sky; it has a very wide open feel and you get that whole flying/space vibe the whole movie because of that. Cinematographer was Caleb Deschanel.
I agree, The Right Stuff was virtually poetic in it's cinematography. But for engineering appeal, I like it more down to earth and personal, the little guy doing more with less. "World's Fastest Indian" was great in that respect and a great story to boot.
Alex -- a little-known point about the shooting of The Right Stuff: In the scene where Yeager bails out at the end of the movie, the parachute stunt man was reportedly killed.
Sorry about being late to the party. My favorite Engineering Movie would be "From the Earth to the Moon" which was an HBO mini-series about the Apollo program. Several of the episodes demonstrate the trade-offs involved in engineering especially the ones on the Lunar Lander and the choice of the near earth rendezvous approach. It has some more "dramatic" episodes but, as a whole I found it very entertaining and educational.
Some good ones brought up. worthy mention- though over-simplisitc goes to "The Arrow"; "The Dambusters" had some good background onn the early parts of the story. Goodyear released a great fifty minute film on airships, nowadays re titled "The Zeppelin" with a new and much poorer commentary. "Ocotber Sky" and "The world's fastest Indian" are probably the ones to beat, but relating to the latter's subject, "Bluebirds" should get an honourable mention. I hope to see a film from "Raising the Kursk", since that's the best book I've seen covering an engineering project of manageable proportions.
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