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.Written by
Kevin Ackley <kackley1@aol.com>
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). See more »
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. See more »
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.
See more »
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. See more »
"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.
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"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.