Torpedo Run (1958)

Beautiful, moving film.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Just a few corrections to prior comments, and a few comments on the film: first, the ship they are after is an aircraft carrier, not a battleship. Second, the harbor the subs penetrate is not Tokyo, it is Kitka or Kitska -- which sounds like it's in the Alaska/Aleutian area. This matters because when they open their orders after having left Hawaii, it is the fact that the sub is being sent to out-of-the-real-action Alaska that makes the captain think the admiral has sent them away to nowheres-ville, which the captain attributes to the executive officer having told the admiral about the captain's earlier collapse. Then later, when they discover that the target carrier really is up there in Kitka, this vindicates the executive officer and exposes the unfairness of the captain. Third, the escape sequence is unusual and interesting, but the fact that they did this in icy Alaskan waters makes it very unlikely -- in reality the cold water would have quickly disabled the crew. Fourth, there is no way the second sub could have surfaced inside the harbor and sat there so long to pick-up the survivors -- we already know there were at least 9 Japanese ships in the harbor, and only two were torpedoed, leaving at least 7 ships to be madly searching for American subs. Fifth, the sub would have lost a lot more than just 6 men.

These submarine films always follow the pattern of playing out the relationship of the determined Captain and the watchful, suspicious second in command. This one features Ford as the Captain and Borgnine as the Lieutenant. Same old routine. The film starts fine then gradually becomes absurd as feverish Ford turns into Captain Ahab relentlessly in search of his white whale---in this case the Japanese carrier Shinaru. Seems the Navy is perfectly willing to accommodate Ford on his obsessive mission, and Borgnine is even willing to reject the offer of a command of his own vessel in order to stick by Ahab-Ford's side. Oh, sure. And what started all this? In an earlier scene, Ford is "forced" to torpedo a transport filled with 1400 civilians, including Ford's wife and child (caught in Manila) that is being used as a screen to protect the Shinaru. Absurd! Both the Navy and Ford's character, fully aware the transport is there, would never take that kind of chance. The potentially staggering loss would have been a calamity that would never have been sanctioned. This is just a ridiculous contrivance to fuel Ford's obsession. In addition, the filmmakers try to have it both ways by never stating whether or not Ford's family survives or not. Borgnine is merely there as the Voice of Reason. His only other duty seems to be offering Ford coffee in every other scene.Otherwise, this film is a second-rate action film. The supporting actors have almost nothing to work with, leaving them blanks we could care less about. Interesting to see a young Al Freeman, Jr. on board, since there were few black submariners in the service. So, not historically inaccurate. The stock footage of U.S. destroyers used to play Japanese destroyers IS inaccurate, obviously. And the special effects are variable; effective at times and painfully obvious at others. And the multi-depth charge walloping Ford's sub takes is very impressive, but also hard to believe that the sub isn't blown to pieces considering most of the charges explode right on top of it. One other odd note is the lack of a music score credit. The score is perfectly fine yet whoever provided it was either denied credit or took their name off it. Wonder why.

Read all of the posted comments pertaining to the movie. Seems some viewers thought the Greyfish was going after a Battleship, but the evasive target was a Japanese Carrier and it looked like a big one. Based on my knowledge of WW II Submarine warfare events, I think it is partially based on some actual events. Also, in response to one commenter's thoughts about Momsen Lungs: This invention was successfully used in October 1944 to bring 8 sailors to the surface from the USS Tang (SS 306) after it sank in 180 feet of water in the East China Sea. I served on submarines in the mid 1950's and used the Momsen lung to ascend 100 feet in a training tank. Two years later the device was abandoned in favor of the so called "blow-and-go" method of free ascent to the surface. I made this ascent in the same training tank from a depth of 50 feet. Like some of the folks that commented on the movie, I too watch all the submarine movies that I can. Seen some of them three or four times. Last comment, there IS info to be found on the Internet pertaining to the Momsen lung.

More a drama than an action film, this movie may have a fairly simplistic plot line and a few implausible events but it's primarily about the sort of awful decisions men sometimes have to make in war and the actors all do an admirable job of conveying different reactions to the consequences of a bad call. Particularly good is Glenn Ford as a commander who finds himself risking the lives of his own wife and child for the greater good. Ernest Borgnine is as always superb as his first officer and best friend and the very personal events unfolding in front of the entire crew give an excellent example of how an extremely insular environment like a submarine can be, while still stripping everyone on board of the luxury of privacy. The setting--World War II, and a hunt for an infamous Japanese aircraft carrier--are handled well and if details aren't 100%, it is no less accurate than most Hollywood submarine films, with an interesting personal tone amidst the technical and Navy confines.