After his submarine is sunk by a Japanese Akikase destroyer in the Bongo Straits off the coast of Japan in a 1942 encounter, Commander 'Rich' Richardson (Clark Gable) is put behind a desk for a while at Pearl Harbor...
During a year, the vessel that destroyed his battleship, sinks three other American subs that dare to enter Area Seven home of the Bungo Straits... Richardson is seen, reliving his Bungo failure, with one target in mind: Hunting down and destroying the Imperial Japanese Navy's Submarine...
His chance comes when the captain of another sub, the U.S.S. Nerka, reaches retirement... Richardson eventually convinces the Navy top brass for another chance and is given command...
The crew he inherits is antagonistic, as is his new executive officer, Lt. Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster), who had hoped for the command himself...
Richardson cannot forget the Akikase and his nightmares about it... Determined to sink it, he puts his ship and crew through many difficult training maneuvers anticipating the inevitable encounter...
When he learns of the destroyer's whereabouts, he deliberately announces that the Nerka is going into the Bongo Straits in direct defiance of orders to knock out the Japanese ship...
The pairing of Gable and Lancaster as incompatible but mutually respectful naval officers is at the head of Robert Wise's motion picture... Later, of course, the destroyer against sub action reappears, but the most interesting sequences are when Wise stresses the human emotion of two screen icons, one on the ascent, and the other near the end of his career...
'Run Silent Run Deep' has little resemblance to the book written by Capt. Edward R. Beach, who served on the personal staff of General Omar Bradley during Bradley's tenure as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as naval aide to President Dwight D. Eisenhower... The motion picture isn't particularly a great underwater action film, but with Lancaster and Gable in top form and ably supported by Jack Warden, Don Rickles, Brad Dexter and Lancaster's frequent sidekick Nick Cravatit remains an interesting study of submariners and their dedication to duty under fire in World War II... The hate-your-enemy attitude remains undiluted however...
During a year, the vessel that destroyed his battleship, sinks three other American subs that dare to enter Area Seven home of the Bungo Straits... Richardson is seen, reliving his Bungo failure, with one target in mind: Hunting down and destroying the Imperial Japanese Navy's Submarine...
His chance comes when the captain of another sub, the U.S.S. Nerka, reaches retirement... Richardson eventually convinces the Navy top brass for another chance and is given command...
The crew he inherits is antagonistic, as is his new executive officer, Lt. Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster), who had hoped for the command himself...
Richardson cannot forget the Akikase and his nightmares about it... Determined to sink it, he puts his ship and crew through many difficult training maneuvers anticipating the inevitable encounter...
When he learns of the destroyer's whereabouts, he deliberately announces that the Nerka is going into the Bongo Straits in direct defiance of orders to knock out the Japanese ship...
The pairing of Gable and Lancaster as incompatible but mutually respectful naval officers is at the head of Robert Wise's motion picture... Later, of course, the destroyer against sub action reappears, but the most interesting sequences are when Wise stresses the human emotion of two screen icons, one on the ascent, and the other near the end of his career...
'Run Silent Run Deep' has little resemblance to the book written by Capt. Edward R. Beach, who served on the personal staff of General Omar Bradley during Bradley's tenure as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as naval aide to President Dwight D. Eisenhower... The motion picture isn't particularly a great underwater action film, but with Lancaster and Gable in top form and ably supported by Jack Warden, Don Rickles, Brad Dexter and Lancaster's frequent sidekick Nick Cravatit remains an interesting study of submariners and their dedication to duty under fire in World War II... The hate-your-enemy attitude remains undiluted however...