Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie; Terrible DVD Presentation
Review: "Gray Lady Down" was Charlton Heston's last movie as an action lead, and it is a much more pleasing film than some of the other 70s disaster films he appeared in like "Earthquake" and "Airport 1975." This time, the disaster story of a nuclear submarine trapped on the ocean floor after colliding with a ship on the surface, has an air of believability and tension and the rescue procedures we see as the Navy tries to get to the sub before it's too late are well done. Compared to today's high-tech sub movies, "Gray Lady Down" may seem quaint, but that only serves to enhance its charm as a more realistic action film than today's mindless drivel. Christopher Reeve has a bit part as an officer, and it was this appearance that first brought him to the attention of producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind when they were looking for candidates for "Superman". Unfortunately, this new DVD release is not the right way to experience the film since Goodtimes Video has incredibly chosen to release it pan and scan instead of letterboxed, which totally defeats the purpose of DVD entertainment in the first place. Turner Classic Movies has shown it letterboxed before, and I recommend waiting for it to show up there again before being subjected to the wrong way of seeing it. Shame on Goodtimes Video for not doing this film justice with a decent video release!
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie; Terrible DVD Presentation
Review: "Gray Lady Down" was Charlton Heston's last movie as an action lead, and it is a much more pleasing film than some of the other 70s disaster films he appeared in like "Earthquake" and "Airport 1975." This time, the disaster story of a nuclear submarine trapped on the ocean floor after colliding with a ship on the surface, has an air of believability and tension and the rescue procedures we see as the Navy tries to get to the sub before it's too late are well done. Compared to today's high-tech sub movies, "Gray Lady Down" may seem quaint, but that only serves to enhance its charm as a more realistic action film than today's mindless drivel. Christopher Reeve has a bit part as an officer, and it was this appearance that first brought him to the attention of producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind when they were looking for candidates for "Superman". Unfortunately, this new DVD release is not the right way to experience the film since Goodtimes Video has incredibly chosen to release it pan and scan instead of letterboxed, which totally defeats the purpose of DVD entertainment in the first place. Turner Classic Movies has shown it letterboxed before, and I recommend waiting for it to show up there again before being subjected to the wrong way of seeing it. Shame on Goodtimes Video for not doing this film justice with a decent video release!
Rating: 
Summary: Sub Standard Fare
Review: Based - loosely - on David Lavelle's excellent book, "Event 1000", the film version does not even come close. Charlton Heston finds himself in yet another disaster film but this one seems to confuse him. Join the crowd. Ronny Cox is trapped not only on the sub, but in a badly written role. He tries faithfully to create the intended conflict between himself and Heston, but cannot overcome his burden. David Carradine plays the obligatory maverick officer that finds a way to save the day. Ned Beatty is his dutiful CPO and sidekick (doesn't every maverick officer have one)? Blessed with a decent script, Dan Daley played it better (versus John Wayne's maverick officer character) in "The Wings of Eagles." Stacy Keach is wasted as a one-dimensional Commodore of the rescue squadron. The book offers some real conflict in the tough decisions that have to be made - some affecting international relations (totally missing from the movie) and some affecting the lives of the would-be survivors (lucky devils - they are so far underwater they don't hear the dialogue). Why the studio abandoned the original story to such a degree is a mystery - unlike the movie's outcome, which is predictable 1970's disaster stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: Grey Lady Down
Review: Charlton Heston makes a very good showing in this movie. In this thriller we see all the errant and the excellent qualities of human nature displayed in the cast including Heston himself. We see a situation where an individual may or may not be using the best judgment of character in his final return toward home and ends up in a true test of his character and the metal that he is made of. The explicit technical aspects of the film cannot be ignored. We find that the current cutting edge technology of the day is displayed in this movie. Anyone looking for and education and familiarity with submarine technology and techniques still in use today worldwide would be well served by this movie. Its clear the part played by the U.S. Navy in this movie was just fabulous. Getting back to our cast. We see a variety of leadership techniques displayed including that portrayed by David Carradine and Stacy Keach (who also both do very well in this movie). As this thriller unfolds we see how the complexity of the different characters and continually unfolding circumstances knit a web of excitement that few could sit back through. Anyone looking forward to an exciting cinematic experience would be pleased. My six-year-old scuba-diving son was glued to the screen and still raves of the movie. One cannot ignore the excellent lessons in human character to be learned. I give this movie the full five stars. Top Marks!
Rating:
Summary: ***** Film of my life!
Review: For all the films that have ever been made about submarines, especially nuclear-powered ones (THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, DAS BOOT, etc.), the 1978 drama GRAY LADY DOWN stands out as a very good film that even the passage of more than a quarter of a century can't diminish.
Loosely based on David Lavallee's novel "Event 1000", the film puts legendary actor Charlton Heston in the role of the commander of the nuclear submarine "Neptune". On its way home, the sub is accidentally hit by a wayward Norwegian freighter in dense fog some sixty miles off the Atlantic seaboard. While he and his crew (including Ronny Cox, Dorian Harewood, and Stephen McHattie) try to find ways of staying alive and sane as the sub rests on an unstable slope more than a quarter mile underwater, a massive rescue operation is mounted by a by-the-book captain (Stacy Keach) and a non-conformist Navy man (David Carradine) that involves not only the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) but Carradine's own debris-clearing vehicle the Snark.
The result is, despite some minor flaws, a very good and taut suspense drama, with Heston giving yet another one of his professional performances, this time not as a megahero (a la BEN-HUR), but as just one of the guys. Keach and Carradine also do a good job under the direction of David Greene, as does Ned Beatty as Carradine's assistant. Solid underwater photography and special effects, plus a tension-packed score by Jerry Fielding (Oscar nominee for THE WILD BUNCH and STRAW DOGS) make GRAY LADY DOWN a thoroughly underrated film that is well worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: "Any station this is Neptune, 'can anyone hear us"
Review: Gray Lady Down is not that bad of a movie to see. Charton Heston, David Carradine, and Stacy Keach do very good in their roles. The story starts when the U.S. Navy's newest nuclear submarine, the U.S.S. Neptune is accidentlly ramed by a Norwegian frieghter and sinks to the bottom of the North Atlantic floor. The U.S. Navy quickly sends a rescue ship with their new DSRV mini sub to the accident site. Can the new mini sub rescue Neptune's crew in time. I have this movie on DVD, and the DVD runs very well. The special effects are good, the plot is great and the story isn't bad at all. Look for Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, and a young Christoper Reeve in a pre Superman role.
Rating:
Summary: Charlton Heston's career goes down with the ship
Review: How sad it was to watch the once-great actor Charlton Heston's career go down with the ship in the '70's, as he finished his career as the star of major studio fare with "Gray Lady Down," an undistinguished, by-the-numbers disaster opus in which he's the captain of a nuclear submarine that sinks to the bottom of the ocean after being accidentally rammed by a Russian ship. The film follows the Navy's desperate attempt to rescue the surviving crew members before they run out of air, or worse yet, fall off the ridge they are resting on and crush in the resulting water pressure.
That's it for plot. What follows is pure tedium, as Heston and crew (watch closely for Michael O'Keefe and a pre-"Superman" Christopher Reeve) struggle to survive while the Naval authorities above (led by Stacy Keach and David Carradine) come up with a rescue plan. Evidently, all rescue procedures showcased in the film are authentic and were in use at the time, but so what? Watching this film is like spending two hours watching a bunch of sweating men sitting in a sauna. Director David Greene (an ace TV director who is out of his league on the big screen) manages to create absolutely no suspense or urgency in nearly two hours and exhibits zero style or technique. Even the musical score is boring.
As for the performances, Heston seems less stiff here than in "Airport 1975," but he once again fails to exhibit any of the charisma or phenomenal talent he displayed in classics like "Ben-Hur," "A Touch of Evil," and "The Planet of the Apes." He just looks tired, and it's no wonder that this was his last major studio film and that only three more star vehicles would follow: the unfortunate trio of the vulgar "The Mountain Men," the horrible "The Awakening" and the middling actioner "Mother Lode." Keach, on the other hand, is effective as the chief rescuer, Ned Beatty provides needed moxie as a particularly sweaty rescue worker, and David Carradine adds an offbeat edge as an unusual, zen-like Naval officer. (Although even then he appears to be waiting for Quentin Tarantino to grow up and create "Kill Bill" for him.) Unfortunately, Ronny Cox exits early as Heston's doomed replacement (cliche alert: this is Capt. Heston's final voyage, natch).
In all, "Gray Lady Down" is a total misfire and plays like a tired rehash of "Airport '77." And it looks particularly bad when compared to great submarine films like "Das Boot," "The Hunt for Red October" and "Crimson Tide." In all, it sinks faster than the submarine.
Incidentally, the DVD in in panavision widescreen (2:35:1) and is remastered with superior sound. However, there are no special features of any kind. All in all, a tired presentation of a tired film. ** (out of *****)
Rating:
Summary: Gray Lady Down
Review: I really like this movie, but could you release it in wide
screen. This movie really needs to be viewed in it's original
aspect ratio, as it was quite wide.
Rating:
Summary: "Any station this is Neptune, 'can anyone hear us"
Review: I was in it, and it left a lot to be desired. In 1976, I was attached to the US Navy Deep Submergence Vehicle Turtle housed at the Submarine Rescue Unit, Naval Air Station, Coronado, California. One day the word was passed that a movie about a sunken submarine and how the crew were rescued by a DSRV had begun filming, and many of the scenes were to be shot at or near the Rescue Unit. The DSRVs Mystic and Avalon were in existance at the time of the filming. DSRV stands for Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle. The vehicles portrayed in this movie were actually designed to mate to the hatch of a disabled submarine stuck on the bottom, and they are still in operation to this day. Many of the sailors attached to all four vehicles at the Rescue Unit, which by the way were visible in one scene of the movie, I won't say where, were asked to be extras in the scenes. So, being the type of person never to pass up a chance to be in a movie, I volunteered. After the scenes I was in were shot, and there were three, I realized the movie industry was not for me. So much time spent for so little film in the movie. Still, I was able to meet some of the cast, including Christopher Reeve before he was Superman. Now to my review. As I said at the beginning of my review, it left much to be desired. But then again I have not been overwhelmed by most submarine movies other than Das Boot. Having served on submarines, let me say this, it is highly unlikely the situations portrayed would have occured as they did in the movie. But, sensationalizing is what Hollywood is famous for. It was probably believable for the average lay person, but not to me. I am too biased towards how a real sub would have responded to a similar casualty. The acting was tolerable and overstated, especially David Carradine as the rogue Navy Captain, not much believability in his part. The minature models of the various vessels used in the film were typical of that time, and very unbelievable (computer graphics sure would have been nice back then). All submarine operations in that era, were shrouded in secrecy so most evolutions portrayed were not be very acurate. On the other hand, if the movie had been realistic to me or someone else who served on subs, that would be a great indicator to see the movie, particularly for the realism. Finally, I gave it a two star rating because I was in it. Not that I made a difference, otherwise it would have been a one star rating. Yet, I have something to tell my grandsons some day.
Rating:
Summary: A Review from a Former Extra in the Movie
Review: I was in it, and it left a lot to be desired. In 1976, I was attached to the US Navy Deep Submergence Vehicle Turtle housed at the Submarine Rescue Unit, Naval Air Station, Coronado, California. One day the word was passed that a movie about a sunken submarine and how the crew were rescued by a DSRV had begun filming, and many of the scenes were to be shot at or near the Rescue Unit. The DSRVs Mystic and Avalon were in existance at the time of the filming. DSRV stands for Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle. The vehicles portrayed in this movie were actually designed to mate to the hatch of a disabled submarine stuck on the bottom, and they are still in operation to this day. Many of the sailors attached to all four vehicles at the Rescue Unit, which by the way were visible in one scene of the movie, I won't say where, were asked to be extras in the scenes. So, being the type of person never to pass up a chance to be in a movie, I volunteered. After the scenes I was in were shot, and there were three, I realized the movie industry was not for me. So much time spent for so little film in the movie. Still, I was able to meet some of the cast, including Christopher Reeve before he was Superman. Now to my review. As I said at the beginning of my review, it left much to be desired. But then again I have not been overwhelmed by most submarine movies other than Das Boot. Having served on submarines, let me say this, it is highly unlikely the situations portrayed would have occured as they did in the movie. But, sensationalizing is what Hollywood is famous for. It was probably believable for the average lay person, but not to me. I am too biased towards how a real sub would have responded to a similar casualty. The acting was tolerable and overstated, especially David Carradine as the rogue Navy Captain, not much believability in his part. The minature models of the various vessels used in the film were typical of that time, and very unbelievable (computer graphics sure would have been nice back then). All submarine operations in that era, were shrouded in secrecy so most evolutions portrayed were not be very acurate. On the other hand, if the movie had been realistic to me or someone else who served on subs, that would be a great indicator to see the movie, particularly for the realism. Finally, I gave it a two star rating because I was in it. Not that I made a difference, otherwise it would have been a one star rating. Yet, I have something to tell my grandsons some day.
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