Sauvez le Neptune !

A truly wonderful underappreciated gem from the tail-end of the "disaster" films of the 1970s, that was also Charlton Heston's last film as an action lead. What really makes "Gray Lady Down" a terrific film is that unlike the disaster films of the 90s (and some of the bad ones of the 70s), there is an air of believability to the whole thing. We don't see anything extremely outlandish, and we don't see incredible death-defying feats by the leads who then improbably survive such endeavors. Instead, we get a sense of how the real Navy might respond to a crisis like this and the end result proves to be quite gripping.

The cast is great, including Heston as the downed sub's captain, Stacy Keach (minus his usual hairpiece-a rarity) as the squadron commander, and surprisingly David Carradine who after all those years of "Kung Fu" shows that he can handle a different kind of role credibly. Christopher Reeve has a bit part as an officer, and this helped bring him to the attention of the Salkinds when they were looking for candidates for "Superman." Fine score by Jerry Fielding too.

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!”).

I remember seeing this movie in the theater when it came out and the review in Time magazine. OK I remember one part of what was a positive review. It said that the movie avoids the bane of the disaster genre, the subplot. The best sentence in the review that I think describes the movie perfectly is," It is a job-oriented movie about job-oriented men." I can't think of a better way to describe it. The actors give there best professional naval officer performances (well maybe not Carradine...good performance...not sure about the naval officer part) and the movie sticks its subject, the rescue. An entertaining movie that delivers a straightforward story and there is nothing wrong with that.

Charlton Heston is the Captain of the "USS Neptune", a nuclear submarine returning to port after his final mission in command. Whilst running on the surface they collide with a Norwegian boat with faulty radar and sink deep down into the Atlantic and end up perched precariously on a ledge prone to rockslides. It's now a race against time to rescue the seamen and Stacy Keach ("Capt. Bennett") is drafted in to lead the rescue with the help of "Capt. Gates" (David Carradine) who brings his revolutionary "Snark" DSRV to the scene of the accident. As usual, there are personality clashes a plenty; panic scenarios and temper tantrums as tools to try and develop story tension and suspense - they work well enough with the crew on the sub; much less so with the crew on the surface where the acting is far more of the willy-waving variety. Unlike many of these disaster movies, it's got good gadgets and they help keep it quite realistic.

I first saw "Gray lady Down" in the theater (Floral Park, NY). I've seen quite a few times since. The cast is very good. The movie looks great. It has more than a couple of tense moments. It moves fast with little, if any, downtime. "Gray Lady Down" is not a classic. I wouldn't put it on any of my Top Ten lists but I always have a good time when I watch it.