Cheap Gray Lady Down (DVD) (Charlton Heston, David Carradine) (David Greene) Price

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Customer Reviews of Gray Lady Down

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)? Dan Daley played it better versus John Wayne's maverick officer character in "The Wings of Eagles."

Stacy Keach is wasted as the wooden-faced 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. Why they abandoned the book to such a degree is a mystery - unlike the movie's outcome, which is predictable 1970's disaster stuff.

Davey Jones' Locker
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.

Excellent print Great Movie.
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.