(Also look for a future comic in the crew - the inimitable Don Rickles!)ĭamn the Defiant (1962) - Lewis Gilbert's overlooked British entry fires on all cylinders. Produced by Lancaster's own production company, Run remains not only a riveting war film, but one of mega-star Gable's last shining moments. Wise creates just the right mood of simmering hostility via some pointed Gable/Lancaster by-play, and various telling incidents with the crew, including a young Jack Warden and Brad Dexter.
Crew unrest grows as Richardson drills the crew mercilessly on maneuvers ("Dive! Dive!"), and it dawns on Bledsoe that Richardson intends to bend his orders to pursue the infamous Japanese destroyer that slammed him before, taking the vessel right into the Bungo Straits, which orders specify they're meant to avoid.
Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster) who'd been in line to helm the sub. Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) - In veteran director Robert Wise's tense, trim Run, an aging but vigorous Clark Gable plays Commander Richardson, a career Navy officer who wrangles one last submarine command a year after his last sub was torpedoed in Japan's perilous Bungo Straits. Also notable as Powell's last screen appearance. Returning to the big screen after an eight-year absence, Fonda successfully recreated his indelible stage role in Mister Roberts under the initial direction of John Ford, replaced by Mervyn LeRoy when Ford and Fonda literally came to blows just weeks into shooting! Young Lemmon must have been humbled by the cast line-up for this film: Fonda, Cagney, and the legendary William Powell (as a philosophical ship doctor) all on the same boat! Yet his manic energy was ideal for Pulver, winning Lemmon that year's Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Reluctant, but thankfully Ensign Pulver (Jack Lemmon) - "in charge of laundry and morale" - is on board to provide him and the crew with much-needed laughs and sympathy. Roberts is frustrated by life aboard the S.S. Doug Roberts (Henry Fonda), an officer on a WWII cargo ship, desperate to see action, who instead has to cope with irascible, by-the-book Captain Morton (James Cagney). Mister Roberts (1955) - Adapted from Joshua Logan's Broadway hit, this service drama tells of Lt.
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His crew is also tops, with young star-to-be John Garfield a standout as a female-crazed sailor aptly dubbed "Wolf." And the movie only improves the closer we get to Japan, and the outcome of the sub's perilous assignment. His Cassidy is steady but human - a born leader. Grant is fabulous playing against his usual well-tailored image in a modern war movie, one of his few. (Cassidy's tender thoughts of his wife and son as he heads his sub towards Japan served then as a potent reminder of what we were fighting for - always a good question to ask during wartime). Notwithstanding some explicit anti-Japanese sentiment, crew roughhousing and longings for home that feel a trifle sappy in today's more unsentimental world, Destination stands as a first rate propaganda picture, released at a time when we needed it most. His daring mission: to plant his sub right smack in Tokyo Bay, get a landing party ashore, and bring back vital intelligence vital to the success of a major upcoming air engagement.
Destination Tokyo (1943) - Still smarting from the Pearl Harbor attack and subsequent Japanese victories, seasoned submarine captain Cassidy (Cary Grant) helps the allies go on the offensive in the Pacific in the thick of the Second War.