Gray Lady Down (1978)

Director:

David Greene

Writers:

David Lavallee (novel)
Frank P. Rosenberg (adaptation)

Release Date:

April 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A Navy Captain uses his experimental Snark to reach a nuclear submarine stuck on an ocean ledge.

Plot Keywords:

Submarine | Rescue | Disaster | U Boat | Based On Novel

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Capt. Paul Blanchard
David Carradine	...	Capt. Gates
Stacy Keach	...	Capt. Bennett
Ned Beatty	...	Mickey
Stephen McHattie	...	Murphy
Ronny Cox	...	Cmdr. Samuelson
Dorian Harewood	...	Fowler
Rosemary Forsyth	...	Vickie
Hilly Hicks	...	Page
Charles Cioffi	...	Adm. Barnes
William Jordan	...	Waters
Jack Rader	...	Harkness
Antony Ponzini	...	Caruso
Michael O'Keefe	...	Harris
Charles Robinson	...	McAllister (as Charlie Robinson)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Norwegian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | France:Unrated | Netherlands:12 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Feature film debut of Christopher Reeve.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Neptune bottoms out below her collapse depth, the Captain says, "Thank God and General Dynamics." No submariner ever refers to the Groton, Connecticut shipyard as "General Dynamics" (which is the parent company) but by its original name: "Electric Boat" (formerly the Electric Boat Company, and now a division of GD)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Catch and Release (2006/II)

GRAY LADY DOWN (David Greene, 1978) **1/2

Watching this rescue-of-a-sinking-sub film back in the day, it must have felt kind of redundant in the wake of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) and AIRPORT’ 77 (1977); that said, it didn’t hinder movie mogul Lew Grade from financing a production not long after depicting the biggest (fictional) rescue operation of all time with RAISE THE TITANIC (1980) – which, incidentally, is a title I haven’t watched in some time!

In any case, GRAY LADY DOWN is as much a drama detailing the plight of the sub’s constantly diminishing crew, commandeered by the oh-so-stoic Charlton Heston, as a showcase for novel sea exploration/rescue techniques (in the form of a mini-sub armed with sonar and camera designed and maneuvered by David Carradine). The tension arises out of the fact that the damaged vessel is slipping ever downwards due to the water level inside and the unstable surface where it’s been lodged; added to this, however, is antagonism going on both above and below the surface (between Carradine and Stacy Keach, the officer in charge of the rescue operation, and between Heston and Ronny Cox, the man who was supposed to relieve him of duty, respectively). Also in the cast is Ned Beatty as Carradine’s long-suffering chubby pal and Christopher Reeve (in his film debut) as Keach’s young aide; interestingly, the two would be re-united soon after for SUPERMAN (1978)!

The film is aided by nice Widescreen photography and a serviceable score by Jerry Fielding, but let down somewhat by overlength (the repetitive and draggy nature of events tending towards a general dullness). However, as I said in reviews of some of the other disaster movies I’ve been watching of late, while most of these were pretty much dismissed when originally released, with time, have achieved an undeniable campy charm (amusingly, at one point the submerged crew choose to watch JAWS [1975] – conveniently, also a Universal production – as a means of respite from their current dilemma, but especially when Heston proclaims in desperation: “I feel like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest!”).