Gray Lady Down

This is a great movie for military enthusiasts and disaster buffs both. If you're looking for that, this is a classic.

Don't pay attention to reviews about military-based films by anyone who derides the movie as a "waterlogged Naval documentary," which contains two errors in one statement. First, there is no need to capitalize "naval," and second, what kind of snobby theater twit attacks a movie for being too "Naval" when the subject is about...a U.S. NAVY SUBMARINE? Next he'll attack Ghostbusters for being a shill for paranormal investigators.

Stupid reviewers aside, this is a good movie.

"Gray Lady Down", which bears very little resemblance to the novel it was based on, is a nice, entertaining action thriller that holds up well today in contrast to today's action films because it's cloaked with a realism and plausibility that today's filmmakers seem determined to avoid like the plague.

I first saw "Gray lady Down" in the theater (Floral Park, NY). I've seen quite a few times since. The cast is very good. The movie looks great. It has more than a couple of tense moments. It moves fast with little, if any, downtime. "Gray Lady Down" is not a classic. I wouldn't put it on any of my Top Ten lists but I always have a good time when I watch it.

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.

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.