User reviews

This movie auto-played after I finished the movie "Fat Man and Little Boy" which was about the development of the A-Bomb. I had never heard of Hyman Rickover.

"Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power" is about one man's dogged push to make nuclear power a reality in the United States. The movie is, I believe, a docudrama. At times we hear and see the real Hyman Rickover and at times he is played by Tim Blake Nelson. There are quite a few actual interviews of those who worked with him or for him such as Jimmy Carter.

What we learn is that Rickover was a pushy SOB. He rubbed everybody raw, but he could get things done. When thwarted by the Navy he went to congress. He would continue doing end-arounds as long as that's what it took to get what he wanted and he would not remain quiet about it. And what he wanted was safe, reliable, efficient nuclear subs in the water without compromises. It was actually quite refreshing to see a man such as Rickover be concerned more with the safety of the men that were going to be on the sub rather than the cost of the sub.

After getting a nuclear submarine in the water Rickover turned his attention to nuclear energy as a means of cheap electricity. Again, he was able to get it done. Eventually the public sentiment towards nuclear power would turn sour which took the wind out of the sails of Rickover's career mission.

This was an interesting and informative docudrama. From what I saw from Rickover he was someone I'd definitely want on my side though I'd never want to work for him.

Tim Nelson is awesome in this. When I first started watching I thought he was overacting and the character was unrealistic but after seeing a lot of real footage recorded of Rickover I realized that this actor really nailed the character. Rickover himself was over- the-top. Tim Nelson is fantastic. Also, the actor who played Ronald Reagan was uncanny. I really enjoyed this production.

I was not expecting a 'Docu-Drama'... (I was hoping for a straight documentary).

But this is pretty close.. there is plenty of real footage of Admiral Rickover, whom I have never met... He resigned a year or 2 before I interviewed with Admiral McKee in Washington DC, to qualify for the Navy Nuclear Power Program.

Luckily, I was Accepted.

I hated the Navy, but I Am Proud to have Served Our Country by keeping Navy Nuclear Power Safe... USS Enterprise (CVN-65)

Admiral Rickover's experience with the US Navy and Beauracracy only vindicates my view that it truly takes a Maverick or iconoclast to buck the system and make things happen in this world, to make things Right.

Had to watch this while doing research on nuclear energy, and didn't expect to love the film and admire Rickover by the end as much as I did. Tim Blake Nelson is excellent in it, total commitment. One of the better docu-dramas I've seen, and it's so refreshing to watch a modern documentary that's not done the way every other cookie-cutter netflix documentary has decided to uniformly look now.

This movie should be seen by American sixth graders. Rickover did more to make us a military superpower than any other single person, and he demonstrated that good, smart people can make a difference in the world. The script was pretty good here, with a few minor terminology mistakes. For example, the narrator referred to the Nautilus as the first true submersible. Actually, it was the diesel electrics which were merely "submersibles." The Nautilus was the first true submarine (OK, the German Type XXI came close.)

I'm old enough to remember the Nautilus as news. For 25 cents and a cereal boxtop, you could get by mail order a baking powder "powered" toy Nautilus. A little later, a smaller version was actually included in the cereal box. Not long after that, I put together a (Revell, I think) a Nautilus SSN-571 model kit.

From my reading about Rickover, I think this docu-drama came close to portraying the contribution this man made to safe nuclear power, not to mention a weapons superiority that kept the Russians in a panic for forty years and then bankruptcy. It's a shame he didn't live to see the fall of the Soviet Union. Our Ohio class SSBNs are still in war-capable condition, while the Russian Typhoons are sitting, abandoned and rusting away.

I think the small point (small in the movie anyway) about the state of American education is even more valid today than when he said it. Elementary and secondary education is all about sports and dance and not science. College is Political "Science" and LGBT Studies. The local school district where I live cannot afford to update their computer labs, while just spending $70+ million on a football stadium, built right next to...their football stadium. The local elementary school has a sign on the front proudly proclaiming that it has been rated an "Exemplary school" by the state--for 1990 (30 years ago!).

If you have kids old enough to understand this movie, you will do them a favor by showing it to them. I've got it queued for next time the grandchildren are over.

I was a nuke aboard a fast attack submarine in the mid-seventies and this movie brought back a lot of memories; good and bad. The Navy's nuclear training program was (and I presume still is) incredibly difficult weeded out a lot of very intelligent men who weren't able to live up to Rickover's standards. As a result, the U. S. Navy nuclear fleet is second to none. As the movie shows, incompetence, finger pointing, whining, etc. Were not tolerated. If you couldn't perform your duties as a nuke then you didn't last long. Our current "leaders" should be required to watch this movie over and over until they understand the message it contains. Barring that, this movie should be required viewing in our schools.

For reasons perhaps unfathomable, the ratings on this seem to have been driven down by some sort of brigade.

It's interesting history behind the birth of the nuclear navy.

It's a character study of the fascinating and quirky personality driving it all.

At first, Tim Blake Nelson's portrayal of Rickover seems kind of goofy and ridiculous, but then the documentary footage kicks in, and the acting job seems rather spot on.

5.8 hmmmmmmmmm ... why?

Because the anti-progress folks organize to destroy truth. The documentary points out that nuclear power is not evil, as the left would have you believe. And make no mistake, the only reason they want you to believe that is so you will beg them to enslave you with anti-science solutions to all of humanities problems.

Nuclear energy is like a gun ... in the hands of a woman about to be raped, it is a savior ... in the hands of leftists (like Nader, Carter, etc.) it is the extinction of life. You want good things like nuclear energy? Then you have to deplatform or lock-up the evileft. The definition of leftism is the violently insane lust for power. Nuclear energy can be a godsend, the reason people think it isn't, is because our 90% of the world's leaders (aka enslavers) are leftists.

I learned so much about this determined, intelligent, visionary man in this excellent documentary. The film combines dramatized scenes as well as historic footage.

We owe Rickover so much for his genius to use clean secure reliable nuclear energy in a peacetime way to protect our country. The way he created a secure demanding training program is a model that is replicated in civilian nuclear energy plants.

Rickover is an unsung hero in our history. Energy makes the world run. We need dependable clean sources of electricity to power our society.

Rickover overcame so many obstacles thru sheer willpower that makes this film inspirational and informative.

The acting and dialog were both terrible. It's an interesting story. "I'll wait for the book to come out."