Run Silent Run Deep (1958)

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

John Gay (screenplay)
Edward L. Beach (novel)

Release Date:

27 March 1958 (USA)

Genre:

War | Action | Drama

Tagline:

Gable and Lancaster make the seas boil in the battle adventure that hits like a torpedo!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Captain Tyrannical | Naval Battle | 1940s | War | Navy

Awards:

1 win

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Run Silent, Run Deep (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

93 min | Germany:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | West Germany:12 (f) | Brazil:12 (DVD rating) | Norway:16 (1958) | USA:Approved | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions

Trivia:

Frank Gorshin was originally due to test for the role of Officer Ruby but refused to fly to the testing. Instead he drove and was involved in an accident, leaving him with a fractured skull. After 4 days in hospital he awoke to find the role had been given to Don Rickles.

Goofs:

Continuity: Torpedo tubes on submarines are numbered odd on the port side and even on the starboard side. When they fired #1 it comes out the starboard side from # 2 tube. In fact, all the shots come out of the same tube.

Quotes:

Commander Richardson: A fleet boat of the Navy, with most of her fighting capability intact! And you'd take her back to Pearl, I don't believe it!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007)

Playing Navy Politics

This was the second of two films that Burt Lancaster's Hecht-Hill-Lancaster company produced with a co-star from the earlier generation of film icons. Lancaster got the services of Gary Cooper for Verz Cruz and for Run Silent Run Deep, Clark Gable signed on for a hitch in as a submarine captain with a mission that isn't in the orders.

Clark Gable has been desk bound for a year after losing his submarine in the Bungo Strait in Japanese waters. He hears of another submarine coming into Pearl Harbor with a wounded captain who will be on medical leave. So with a little back channel influence playing naval politics, Gable gets command of the U.S.S. Nerka.

He inherits a resentful crew and an executive officer in Burt Lancaster who thinks he should have inherited the job. Gable's going back to the Bungo Stratis to nail the Japanese battleship that sank his former submarine and it's against orders.

The conflict already existing between Gable and Lancaster and the one some in the crew would like to make is what gives the film its spark. Though this is a submarine film, you can see plot elements of Flying Leathernecks and The Caine Mutiny here. Brad Dexter is in the Fred MacMurray role.

If Humphrey Bogart on the Caine had had at least one confidant on board he might not have cracked up. Gable's confidante on the Nerka is Jack Warden who is desk bound with him and transferred with him to the Nerka when Gable got command. Both Warden and Dexter are the best in a good supporting cast.

By the way what Gable is drilling his men in doing is shooting with precise speed and accuracy into the bow of an oncoming enemy ship and then diving for cover in split seconds. Quite a maneuver.

And quite a good film as well.