“Torpedo
Run” was directed by Joseph Pevney who had been in the Signal Corps in
WWII. His other war movie was “Away All
Boats”. The Navy cooperated with the
movie and the technical adviser was Adm. Charles Lockwood (commander of
Submarine Force Pacific). He should have
been ashamed of the product he advised on.
The movie was unbelievably nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual
Effects.
The
movie opens in the South Pacific in 1942. Lt. Commander Doyle (Glenn Ford) of
the Grayfish is morose over the fact that his family was in the Philippines
when it fell. He later finds out they
are alive. That’s the good news. The bad news is they are on a transport that
is screening an aircraft carrier named the Shinaru. The Shinaru led the attack on Pearl Harbor
and is the number one target for any submarine.
Even though he knows his family is on the transport (don’t ask), Doyle
decides to take the shot despite the reasonable admonitions of his exec and
best friend Sloan (Ernest Borgnine). It
will take an amazing shot to hit the aircraft carrier instead of the innocent
civilian-laden transport. He does not
pull it off. Sloan consoles Doyle by
telling him “Jane would have wanted you to try”. Yeah, right.
Of course, this fits the cinematic Navy where skippers always put their
job ahead of family. He can’t bring his
family back, but Doyle can get revenge against the carrier. The rest of the movie covers his quest against
his great white whale. Sloan is along
for the ride even though he questions Doyle’s obsession. In fact, he turns down his own boat to stay
with Doyle. This is the same Doyle who
considers him to be a back-stabber.
Awkward!
Dear Admiral Lockwood, what the hell were you
doing during the production of this movie?
Did you feel it was a good idea to approve a script where an obviously
mentally unstable skipper is allowed to take a sub out again? Hey Admiral, would a captain risk killing a
transport full of civilians? Sure. Would a sub sink a net tender, thus alerting
every destroyer in a harbor? Sure. Could a sub fire a torpedo into an anti-sub
net and then negotiate the hole?
Sure. Would a sub negotiate a
mine field by sheer luck? Sure. Could a Japanese destroyer block all six
torpedoes heading for a carrier? Sure.
“Torpedo
Run’ is a two man show. Glenn Ford plays
an a**hole. I’m not sure if that was the
intention, but let’s face it. And this
guy has a loyal best friend, an unquestioning crew, clueless superiors, and a
dead family. I’m a big Ford fan, but he
is terrible in this film. He pouts and
smirks his way through the film. Ernest
Borgnine is better, but he has to play the saintly Sloan. No one else in the cast makes an
impression. Nor do they get a
chance. The movie could not care less
about the crew. It could also not care
less about reality. This is one
aggravating and anti-intellectual war movie.
The plot is chock full of implausibilities. The tactics are laughable, as I tried to
point out to Adm. Lockwood. As far as
the special effects, it must have been a pretty uncompetitive year at the
Academy Awards. Fake miniatures in a
swimming pool are not very impressive.
Even in glorious technicolor.
How
does this movie get made in 1958? In my
recent Submarine Movies Tournament, it was the ninth sub movie to be released. Not only does it not improve on the previous
movies, it is possibly the worst. It
does manage to avoid most of the established clichés, but it substitutes
incidents that are inane and poorly executed.
I agree that the stacking implausibilities of the plot sink this move. Which is a shame, because Ford and Borgnine are good actors and should play well off of each other. I think that a movie that had to work within the constraints of historical plausibility - or better yet, of actual history - would have led to more interesting, if understated, characters.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm sure that this movie was made to be sold as an action spectacle, and Ford and Borgnine probably gave the performances they were asked to give to make that work. I hope that the intended audience was satisfied with the result.