Down Periscope (1996)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

David S. Ward

Writers (WGA):

Hugh Wilson (story)
Hugh Wilson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 March 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

A rusty sub. A rebel commander. A renegade crew. When destiny called, they should have hung up.

Plot:

Lt. Cmdr. Tom Dodge is assigned as Captain to the USS Stingray, an old diesel driven submarine that has seen better days...

Plot Keywords:

Submarine | War Game | Navy | Naval | Admiral

Cast

Kelsey Grammer	...	Lt. Cmdr. Thomas 'Tom' Dodge
Lauren Holly	...	Lt. Emily Lake, Diving Officer
Rob Schneider	...	Executive Officer Martin T. 'Marty' Pascoe
Harry Dean Stanton	...	CPO Howard, Chief Engineer
Bruce Dern	...	RAdm. Yancy Graham
William H. Macy	...	Cmdr. Carl Knox (Orlando)
Ken Hudson Campbell	...	Seaman Buckman
Toby Huss	...	Seaman Nitro 'Mike'
Duane Martin	...	Planesman 1st Class Jefferson 'R.J.' Jackson
Jonathan Penner	...	Seaman Stanley 'Spots' Sylvesterson
Bradford Tatum	...	Engineman 1st Class Brad Stepanak (Winslow)
Harland Williams	...	Seaman 2nd Class E.T. 'Sonar' Lovacelli
Rip Torn	...	Vice Adm. Dean Winslow
James Martin Jr.	...	Orlando Radioman
Jordan Marder	...	Orlando Ensign

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some crude language.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #34116) | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Denmark:12 | Finland:S | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Alameda Naval Air Station, Alameda, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The diesel submarine used in the movie is the USS Pampanito (SS 383), a WWII submarine currently (2000) on display to the public at Pier 45 in San Francisco, California.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: The captain's name is Tom Dodge, as heard in the movie and in the final credits. On the cover for the VHS and DVD, however, he is referred to as John Dodge.

Quotes:

[Buckman has just let go a huge fart]
Captain Carl Knox: Hear something?
Orlando Sonarman: Yeah. Almost sounded like... an explosion.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Stealth Fighter (1999)

Soundtrack:

You Make Me Feel So Young

Hysterically clever and upbeat comedy.

Surprisingly good and quick-witted adventure that features Kelsey Grammer (supposedly in his first lead role in a feature) as an unconventional Navy sub commander who wants to run a nuclear sub of his own, however; he has earn it by competing against the U.S. Navy in a series of war-games with a crew of untested, questionable, and lovable men (and a woman, too).

Director David S. Ward ("Major League") and his writers have put together a hysterically clever and upbeat comedy that tries to make the film easy to understand, which they do quite well. Second, besides the Grammer character, most of the crew provide some or plenty of the movie's humor, which is treated like a double-edged sword. Three members of the supporting cast - Harland Williams, Toby Huss, and Rob Schneider provide the funniest scenes, which includes weird gestures, impersonations, and, well, their personalities.

"Down Periscope" is more than a Navy version of "Police Academy" or "The Dirty Dozen". What the film does is get the job done the right way and I liked it.