Gray Lady Down

Gray Lady Down
Promotional poster for Gray Lady Down
Directed by	David Greene
Written by	David Lavallee (novel) Frank P. Rosenberg James Whittaker Howard Sackler
Produced by	Walter Mirisch
Starring	Charlton Heston David Carradine Stacy Keach Ned Beatty Stephen McHattie Ronny Cox Dorian Harewood
Cinematography	Stevan Larner
Edited by	Robert Swink
Music by	Jerry Fielding
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	March 10, 1978 (1978-03-10)
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Gray Lady Down is a 1978 American submarine disaster film by Universal Studios starring Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox and Rosemary Forsyth, and includes the feature film debut of Christopher Reeve. It is based on David Lavallee's 1971 novel Event 1000.

Plot

Aging, respected Captain Paul Blanchard (Heston) is on his final submarine tour before promotion to command of a submarine squadron (COMSUBRON). Surfaced and returning to port, the submarine, USS Neptune, is struck by a Norwegian freighter en route to New York in heavy fog. With the engine room flooded and its main propulsion disabled, the Neptune sinks to a depth of 1,450 feet (442 meters or approx. 241.6 fathoms) on a canyon ledge above the ocean floor. A United States Navy rescue force, commanded by Captain Hal Bennett (Keach), arrives on the scene, but Neptune is subsequently rolled by a gravity slide to a greater angle that does not allow the Navy's Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) to complete its work.

A small experimental submersible, Snark, is brought in to assist with the rescue. Snark is very capable, but run by a U.S. Navy officer misfit, Captain Don Gates (Carradine). The tiny submersible is the only hope for a rescue. Ultimately, the surviving members of the crew are rescued by the DSRV, thanks to Gates sacrificing himself by using the Snark to jam the Neptune in place as another gravity slide begins while the rescue is taking place. Moments later the gravity slide pushes the Neptune and the Snark off the ledge and into the ocean's abyss. The film ends with a somber Blanchard climbing out of the DSRV and being welcomed aboard the rescue ship USS Pigeon by Bennett and his officers.

Cast

• Charlton Heston as Captain Paul Blanchard
• David Carradine as Captain Don Gates
• Stacy Keach as Captain Hal Bennett
• Ned Beatty as Mickey
• Stephen McHattie as Lieutenant Danny Murphy
• Ronny Cox as Commander David Samuelson
• Dorian Harewood as Lieutenant Fowler
• Rosemary Forsyth as Vickie Blanchard
• Hilly Hicks as HM3 Page
• Charles Cioffi as Vice Admiral Michael Barnes
• William Jordan as Waters
• Jack Rader as Chief Harkness
• Michael O'Keefe as RM2 Harris
• Charlie Robinson as McAllister
• Christopher Reeve as Lieutenant (JG) Phillips
• Melendy Britt as Liz Bennett
• Lawrason Driscoll as Lieutenant Bloom
• David Wilson as SK1 Hanson
• Robert Symonds as Secretary of Navy
• Ted Gehring as Admiral at Pentagon Meeting
• Charles Cyphers as Larson
• William Bryant as Bill, Rear Admiral at Pentagon Meeting
• Jeffrey Druce as Neptune Executive Officer
• James Davidson as SACLANT Duty Officer
• David Clennon as Neptune Crewmember
• Michael Cavanaugh as P03 Peña (uncredited)
• Bob Harks as Radio Operator (uncredited)
• Robert Ito as Jim, Lieutenant at SACLANT (uncredited)
• Sandra De Bruin as Irma Barnes (uncredited)
• John Stuart West as Submariner (uncredited)

Production

Even though the submarine depicted in the movie is a Skate-class submarine, in the opening credits, footage of the real-life submarine USS Trout (SS-566) was filmed specifically for Gray Lady Down, depicting the fictional USS Neptune. Gray Lady Down also re-used submarine special-effects footage and the large-scale submarine model originally used to portray the fictional submarine USS Tigerfish in the 1968 movie Ice Station Zebra to depict USS Neptune. The US Navy's USS Cayuga (LST-1186) is also featured in the film as the rescue ship USS Cayuga. The USS Pigeon (ASR-21) and her DSRV were prominently featured in the movie.

See also

• A Fall of Moondust, 1961 science-fiction novel about vehicle trapped under lunar surface with similar plot elements

External links

• Gray Lady Down at IMDb
• Gray Lady Down at Rotten Tomatoes
• Gray Lady Down at AllMovie