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Gray Lady Down (1978)
Director: David Greene
Cast: Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach
Genre: Adventure Drama
On the return voyage home a nuclear submarine, the USS Neptune collides with a cargo ship in heavy fog. Severely damaged the sub sinks in 2000 feet of water. The sub will be crushed at 1200 feet. Can the crew be saved?
Released in 1978, Gray Lady Down feels a lot like other 'disaster movies' made at that same time: (Airport, Raise the Titanic). The film is heavy on action and detailed scenes of the rescue attempt. However it's light on character development, which makes us not really care about the trapped men. There's one big plot hole: In the first scenes the submarine captain (Charlton Heston) and some of his crew are out on the sub's deck when the sub is struck by the cargo ship....in the very next scene we see the sub sinking far below the surface. Nothing explains how the men got back into the sub and sealed the hatch. And they are not even wet!
This isn't a particular good drama. After watching the film I know next to nothing about the submarine captain and what makes him tick. We learn next to nothing about the men. Instead the film focuses on the rescue procedure which is a factually showing of how the Navy at that time rescued men stranded in a sub.
The scenes that showed the submersible rescue vehicle and the Navy ship are real and so look great. I would say that is the highlight of the film. But the inside of the sunken sub is a set and looks way to big to be real, I never get the feeling of being a sub.
Just an OK movie for a lazy day, don't expect much and you might enjoy it.
Director: David Greene
Cast: Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach
Genre: Adventure Drama
On the return voyage home a nuclear submarine, the USS Neptune collides with a cargo ship in heavy fog. Severely damaged the sub sinks in 2000 feet of water. The sub will be crushed at 1200 feet. Can the crew be saved?
Released in 1978, Gray Lady Down feels a lot like other 'disaster movies' made at that same time: (Airport, Raise the Titanic). The film is heavy on action and detailed scenes of the rescue attempt. However it's light on character development, which makes us not really care about the trapped men. There's one big plot hole: In the first scenes the submarine captain (Charlton Heston) and some of his crew are out on the sub's deck when the sub is struck by the cargo ship....in the very next scene we see the sub sinking far below the surface. Nothing explains how the men got back into the sub and sealed the hatch. And they are not even wet!
This isn't a particular good drama. After watching the film I know next to nothing about the submarine captain and what makes him tick. We learn next to nothing about the men. Instead the film focuses on the rescue procedure which is a factually showing of how the Navy at that time rescued men stranded in a sub.
The scenes that showed the submersible rescue vehicle and the Navy ship are real and so look great. I would say that is the highlight of the film. But the inside of the sunken sub is a set and looks way to big to be real, I never get the feeling of being a sub.
Just an OK movie for a lazy day, don't expect much and you might enjoy it.