Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

ranger27 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.

MisterChandu In my youth the USS Threasher submarine accident occurred off Nantucket. All aboard were killed presumably from an internal pipe failure which caused a loss of power. The Threasher fell backwards and sank beyond it's crush depth cracking like an egg and killing all on board. A disaster!The U.S. Navy brought in the Trieste, a bathyscaphe to find the sub. The "Trieste" took to find any wreckage finally taking some photos of the sail and the tail of the sub. the Navy learned from this disaster that they needed a small deep diving mini sub to help with future operations and rescues. Hence the "Alvin" and the "DSRV" were developed.http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-t/ssn593.htm Many elements of that story plus the wrecks of the Submarines S-4 (rammed, surviving crew members suffocated) and the "Sqaulus" (open hatch, much of crew rescued) can be seen in this film. It is maybe what was once called a "service picture" but why you would want to join the Navy after seeing this is a little beyond me.This story is pure Hollywood disaster movie and presents a scenario that probably would not happen or if it did would have resulted in the immediate death of all on the submarine. However, this displays the theory of how modern deep sea rescues would take place and also (all these mini submarines were brand new at the time) displayed some of the technology that would later find the wreaks of the Titanic, the Bismark, the Aircraft Carrier Yorktown, and dozens of other ships.Charlton Heston is superb and at his peak in this saying those good old "Gee, I wish I could talk like that!" Navy dialog. Having renewed his career with "Planet of the Apes" and "Airport 75", he gives that classic action hero performance that got him paid the "big bucks" of the time. I guess this was his last real action role. I do remember him on the Dick Cavett show promoting this film which was a bit sad because it was a one week wonder, opening and closing around the country as he was doing the interview.Providing more than adequate acting support are Ronny Cox in one of his early roles as the Exec. So is Stacey "Mike Hammer" Keach, Ned "Squeal like a piggy!" Beatty, and David "Grasshopper" Carradine. It is also the late Christopher "Superman" Reeve's first film. There are also many African American actors as both officers and crewman, something that was still new to American movie audiences.The special effects are good enough although there are a couple of cheesy underwater scenes. Adding to the unreality the submarine manages to not have it's batteries damaged in the accident, something that would be impossible because the circuit breaker panels all ran thru the compartment that was flooded. In other words, everyone should have been in the dark without any CO2 air scrubbers, heat, or light. It was like camping out with electricity.Still this is a good piece of entertainment and really gets a discussion going when you have REAL submariners watching it with you. Fun aplenty under those circumstances. Maybe I would tell you how a certain Polaris sub straddled it's crush depth during practice. These things are like planes underwater and just like you can fly too low, you can dive too low! I can recommend this film. It is good entertainment. It is available on DVD and can be had new for less than $6.00.

Libretio GRAY LADY DOWN Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)Sound format: MonoWhilst heading home on its final voyage, a nuclear submarine is sunk by a careless fishing vessel and lands on a crumbling ledge above a yawning abyss.Arriving at the tail-end of the 1970's disaster cycle, this half-baked thriller toplines catastrophe stalwart Charlton Heston (going through the motions) as an iron-jawed captain who preserves morale amongst his surviving crewmembers while awaiting rescue by military top brass (including Stacy Keach and David Carradine). Unfortunately, the basic scenario - remarkably similar to another sub-in-peril drama, MORNING DEPARTURE, filmed in 1950 - is fairly humdrum, and once it's been established that the survival of Heston's crew depends on work carried out by a unique exploratory vessel created by Carradine, the plot begins to alternate between non-activity in the sub and endless journeys to and from the stricken vessel by Carradine's miniature craft. TV director David Greene fails to generate much excitement, and the outcome is entirely predictable. Co-stars Ned Beatty and Christopher Reeve were re-teamed later the same year in Reeve's break-out movie, SUPERMAN.

mm-39 I rented it with the wife one day after remembering seeing it as a child. 5.6 is about the right rating for this film. Not a failure, but not that entertaining either. Many other sub movies like Das Boat give a better feel. Heston does another great role, it is hard to name many bad films he has been it. In the end, rent something else! 5/10