Run Silent Run Deep (1958)

A U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

John Gay (screenplay), Edward L. Beach (based on novel by) (as Commander Edward L. Beach)

Stars:

Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Clark Gable	...	Cmdr. 'Rich' Richardson
Burt Lancaster	...	Lt. Jim Bledsoe
Jack Warden	...	Yeoman 1st Class Mueller
Brad Dexter	...	Ens. Gerald Cartwright
Don Rickles	...	Quartermaster 1st Class Ruby
Nick Cravat	...	Russo
Joe Maross	...	Chief Kohler
Mary LaRoche	...	Laura Richardson
Eddie Foy III	...	Larto
Rudy Bond	...	Sonarman 1st Class Cullen

Storyline

The captain of a submarine sunk by the Japanese during WWII is finally given a chance to skipper another sub after a year of working a desk job. His singleminded determination for revenge against the destroyer that sunk his previous vessel puts his new crew in unneccessary danger.

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Plot Keywords:

submarine movie | submarine | submarine crew | captain tyrannical | war at sea | 

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Taglines:

In all the seven seas never two like these!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The older / younger dynamic (deskbound older commander taking the reins of what was to be the younger commander's first ship, yet keeping the younger officer on as the Exec) was featured prominently in another Robert Wise film some 20 years later: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).

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Goofs

Near the end of the film, when they finally realize that there is a Japanese submarine nearby shooting torpedoes at them, the first time we see inside the Japanese sub, a close-up of its periscope shows that it has an air outlet plug marked "air-out." (There are drying inlet and outlet plugs on periscopes that are used during maintenance to force dry nitrogen through the mechanism to dry out the interior of the periscope.) It's a Japanese sub, so the words would not be in English.

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Quotes

Yeoman 1st Class Mueller: [after practicing submarine warfare tactics on Richardson's desk] You sunk him again, sir. That makes 200 times you sunk Bungo Pete
[checks calendar]
Yeoman 1st Class Mueller: In 200 days. He only sunk you once.
Commander Richardson: [irritated] Just once, but it wasn't on a desk.

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Crazy Credits

Not sure why Bungo Straits is cited as a crazy credit. The Bungo Suido (translates to Bungo Straits) is the waterway between Kyushu and Shikoku.

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)

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Soundtracks

Anchors Aweigh
(uncredited)
Music by Charles A. Zimmerman

User Reviews

Gable and Lancaster on a collision course with the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. Superb

"Run Silent, Run Deep" featured the only pairing of two screen giants-Clark Gable, in the twilight of his career, and Burt Lancaster, whose best performances were still ahead of him. Sad to say that they couldn't be used in a joint effort again, as the on-screen chemistry was on a supreme height.

Gable plays the commander of a WWII submarine that has recently been sunk in an ara referred to as the Bunko Straits, or Area 7. He has been assigned to a desk job back at Pearl Harbor, and even after a year, is still brooding over the loss of his crew and his boat. Lancaster has a good part, that of the Executive Officer of a sub called the USS Nerka. This boat has just had a command change, Lancaster desires that position, but is passed over in favor of Gable, who senses a chance to return to the Straits and extract revenge on the Japanese destroyer which he feels certain sank his old command. The clash between the two men is obvious, but they put their personal differences behind them, and head for a long lasting combat mission, which against orders, will include Gable's return visit to the forbidden area 7 of the Bunko Straits.

Besides the pairing of two of Hollywood's screen legends, the film features the realism of using an actual ship of the line, the USS Redfish, for many of the shots. Also, the viewer has a chance to feel a part of the underwater tensions and claustrophobic conditions that submariners experienced during times of combat underwater. A must-see, or even better, a must buy film for those that enjoy films of this genre.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

27 March 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Run Silent, Run Deep

Filming Locations:

Salton Sea, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions, Jeffrey Pictures Corp.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1