Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (TV 1991)

True story of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, its crew's struggle to survive the sharks and exposure, and the captain's scape-goat court-martial.

Director:

Robert Iscove

Writer:

Alan Sharp

Stars:

Stacy Keach, Richard Thomas, Steve Landesberg

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stacy Keach	...	Capt. Charles Butler McVay
Richard Thomas	...	Lieutenant Steven Scott
Steve Landesberg	...	Lipscombe
Don Harvey	...	Kinderman
Robert Cicchini	...	D'Angelo
David Caruso	...	Wilkes
Bob Gunton	...	Chaplain
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Hashimoto
Jeffrey Nordling	...	Tasker
Tim Guinee	...	Dobson
Neil Giuntoli	...	Goldstein
Gordon Clapp	...	Elias
Joseph Carberry	...	Spilner (as Joe Carberry)
Dale Dye	...	Major Green
Eddie Frias	...	Cortes

Storyline

True story of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, its crew's struggle to survive the sharks and exposure, and the captain's scape-goat court-martial.

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Plot Keywords:

court martial | shark | 1940s | ship sinking | north pacific | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | War

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

29 September 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mission of the Shark

Filming Locations:

Mobile, Alabama, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fries Entertainment, Richard Maynard Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the scene where a seaplane lands at sea to rescue the crew, the plane used is a Grumman Albatross. However, this aircraft was not put into service until 1949. The real life aircraft that rescued the crew, was a Catalina PBY.

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Connections

Edited from Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980)

User Reviews

New Book about the sinking!

I saw this film when it was first aired... Since then I have been interested in the story of the tragedy. This book has recently been published about the sinking, "In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors" by Doug Stanton. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to know the complete story with the most current information. This will probably be the last book with new interviews from survivors as source material.