Gray Lady Down

A truly wonderful underappreciated gem from the tail-end of the "disaster" films of the 1970s, that was also Charlton Heston's last film as an action lead. What really makes "Gray Lady Down" a terrific film is that unlike the disaster films of the 90s (and some of the bad ones of the 70s), there is an air of believability to the whole thing. We don't see anything extremely outlandish, and we don't see incredible death-defying feats by the leads who then improbably survive such endeavors. Instead, we get a sense of how the real Navy might respond to a crisis like this and the end result proves to be quite gripping.

The cast is great, including Heston as the downed sub's captain, Stacy Keach (minus his usual hairpiece-a rarity) as the squadron commander, and surprisingly David Carradine who after all those years of "Kung Fu" shows that he can handle a different kind of role credibly. Christopher Reeve has a bit part as an officer, and this helped bring him to the attention of the Salkinds when they were looking for candidates for "Superman." Fine score by Jerry Fielding too.

One of the better disaster films of the 70s with fine performances by Charlton Heston and David Carradine, lending strong support are Stacy Keach, Stephen McHattie, Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, and a cast of recognizable faces including Christopher Reeve in his film debut pre-Superman. Solid thrills and tension throughout with a tight script and believable story based on a real incident (supposedly). Solidly entertaining and holds up well. One of the best submarine films out there. Highly recommended.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater when it came out and the review in Time magazine. OK I remember one part of what was a positive review. It said that the movie avoids the bane of the disaster genre, the subplot. The best sentence in the review that I think describes the movie perfectly is," It is a job-oriented movie about job-oriented men." I can't think of a better way to describe it. The actors give there best professional naval officer performances (well maybe not Carradine...good performance...not sure about the naval officer part) and the movie sticks its subject, the rescue. An entertaining movie that delivers a straightforward story and there is nothing wrong with that.

Charlton Heston is the Captain of the "USS Neptune", a nuclear submarine returning to port after his final mission in command. Whilst running on the surface they collide with a Norwegian boat with faulty radar and sink deep down into the Atlantic and end up perched precariously on a ledge prone to rockslides. It's now a race against time to rescue the seamen and Stacy Keach ("Capt. Bennett") is drafted in to lead the rescue with the help of "Capt. Gates" (David Carradine) who brings his revolutionary "Snark" DSRV to the scene of the accident. As usual, there are personality clashes a plenty; panic scenarios and temper tantrums as tools to try and develop story tension and suspense - they work well enough with the crew on the sub; much less so with the crew on the surface where the acting is far more of the willy-waving variety. Unlike many of these disaster movies, it's got good gadgets and they help keep it quite realistic.

Nice underwater drama film based on a real-life incident about pitting man and machine . It deals with an US Navy atomic submarine (commanded by Charlton Heston on his final voyage and as second in command Ronnie Cox) that has accidentally collided with Norway freighter and goes down into deep . The movie concerns upon an American sub , the complications originated for a nuclear scape and fight against time . But the submarine, and its crew, are ill prepared for the challenges they will face . A two-man rescue operation by means of an experimental driving craft (captained by David Carradine and Ned Beatty) try to find the victims , as many sailors will have to sacrifice themselves to save life of crew members. And a greatest ship based in San Diego California with an expert crew of ¨Submarine Rescue Unity¨ heads the sinking location.

Runtime film is overlong , the flick is slow moving and a little boring , though a bit monotonous is quite interesting. Tense and exciting at times and climatic ending , but lot of minutes are superfluous ,it has half hour of excess, however the movie is enough agreeable.

The yarn is interesting and based on real deeds as submarine U.S.S. Thresher that sank in 1963 in one of the worst catastrophes at sea. There are suspense ,thriller and action, though the scenario is mostly developed into submarines.

Charlton Heston's performance as commandant is excellent, he hands perfectly the role , Heston has gotten the best character along with David Carradine as valiant skipper . Ronny Cox's acting as the contender official is first rate. Facing off between two commanders is top-notch . And large support cast as Stephen McHattie, Dorian Harewood, Charles Cioffi, Rosemary Forsyth and look for Christopher Reeve and Michael O'Keefe .

David Greene direction is fine and cinematography is atmospheric and colorful . Jerry Fielding music is spectacular and adjusted to film.

The movie will appeal to disaster genre enthusiasts and action lovers . Rating : 6,5 , better than average .