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Gray Lady Down

Gray Lady Down

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent print Great Movie.
Review: Make sure your purchase THIS version of Gray Lady Down, it is from Universal and is released in widescreen as it should be. I already had a copy of The Goodtime release which as other reviewers have stated it was in pan and scan.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good sea drama
Review: Most professional critics have been dismissive of this movie, and even Charlton Heston in his autobiography had little good to say about it. Yet I found "Gray Lady Down" to be an above-average submarine epic. The cast includes many fine stars, and the story is believeable and exciting. One drawback, though: this DVD is in full-screen format, not widescreen.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Davey Jones' Locker
Review: On the big board at NORAD, there is a single horrifying word that, when lit up, makes even combat hardened Admirals and Generals weak in the knees. The word is "DISSUB." It means that there is a disabled submarine, lost somewhere under the waves. It is a word that every senior officer at NORAD hopes that he never, ever sees on his watch.

This is a movie about just such a circumstance; an American sub (SSN) on her way home after a routine patrol collides with a Norwegian tanker, due to low visibility. The sub sinks to an unstable ridge on the side of an underwater mountain in the depths of the Atlantic. A furious rescue operation then gets underway by the US Navy to save the sailors trapped on board.

This is a fine submarine movie which boasts fine performances by Charlton Heston and Stacy Keach. Even the usually one dimensional David Carradine plays a passable under-appreciated engineer. The direction is also quite good and the special effects are decent.

While I was in the Navy, there was a running joke that went something like this: The good news is that you're never, ever more than 6 miles from land. The bad news is, the land is straight down. Here is a frightening story of what happens when an unfortunate submarine slips down to that land. It is a tale which has all the more relevance given the fates of the USS "Thresher," USS "Scorpion" and the more recent incident on the Russian sub "Kursk." This is a worthwhile and realistic Navy movie worth watching. Hopefully, the scenario depicted will never come true.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Davey Jones' Locker
Review: On the big board at NORAD, there is a single horrifying word that, when lit up, makes even combat hardened Admirals and Generals weak in the knees. The word is "DISSUB." It means that there is a disabled submarine, lost somewhere under the waves. It is a word that every senior officer at NORAD hopes that he never, ever sees on his watch.

This is a movie about just such a circumstance; an American sub (SSN) on her way home after a routine patrol collides with a Norwegian tanker, due to low visibility. The sub sinks to an unstable ridge on the side of an underwater mountain in the depths of the Atlantic. A furious rescue operation then gets underway by the US Navy to save the sailors trapped on board.

This is a fine submarine movie which boasts fine performances by Charlton Heston and Stacy Keach. Even the usually one dimensional David Carradine plays a passable under-appreciated engineer. The direction is also quite good and the special effects are decent.

While I was in the Navy, there was a running joke that went something like this: The good news is that you're never, ever more than 6 miles from land. The bad news is, the land is straight down. Here is a frightening story of what happens when an unfortunate submarine slips down to that land. It is a tale which has all the more relevance given the fates of the USS "Thresher," USS "Scorpion" and the more recent incident on the Russian sub "Kursk." This is a worthwhile and realistic Navy movie worth watching. Hopefully, the scenario depicted will never come true.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: a solid "disaster" thriller
Review: The misfortunes keep piling up, as the Neptune, a nuclear submarine that has collided with a Norwegian cargo ship, sinks to the bottom of the waters near Cape Cod. There are many interesting character studies, as the increasing stress brings out the dark side, and also the heroic aspects of the personalities cooped up and running out of air, as well as those above, attempting to rescue the stranded sub.
Two underwater vehicles are used in the rescue, a two-man experimental Snark, and a DSRV (Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle). There are many taut, exciting scenes in the process, and the pacing by director David Greene keeps the action flowing.

Charlton Heston delivers a strong performance as Captain Blanchard, with moments of anguish he dare not show his crew. David Carradine and Ned Beatty, who operate the Snark, add a lot to the film as they try to find the "Gray Lady Down" on the murky ocean floor.
Other notable performances come from Stacy Keach, Ronny Cox, and William Jordan, and Christopher Reeve has a bit part, that if you blink you'll miss.
Great score by Jerry Fielding, and cinematography by Stevan Larner, filmed in part on the USS Cayuga and USS Pigeon.
Despite its many tragedies, ultimately it's a feel-good film, that celebrates American strength and ingenuity, and makes for good, solid family viewing.
Total running time is 111 minutes.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: All Star Cast was put to good use
Review: This is a pretty good film.It's beliveable that a sub can be accidently rammed and sink over 1200 feet before coming to rest on the ocean floor. The Navy DSRV rescue sub is standard equipment for rescueing crews from drownd subs. Also good performances by a number of actors in this film too; Charton Heston, Stacy Keatch, Ronny Cox, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beaty, and David Carridine. Buy and enjoy this film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WHAT'S THE POINT?????
Review: What's the point of even buying this great film when the DVD is presented in lousy pan-and-scan instead of widescreen? It doesn't make sense, because Goodtimes usually presents a nice letterboxed transfer -- so why screw up this Heston classic??? DON'T BUY -- WHEN YOU WATCH IT ON DVD, YOU'LL HATE IT.


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