Torpedo Run (1958)

Really Surprised!

Dreadfully Boring

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

lame brained slow stupid movie. torpedo run, or sorry honey, i torpedoed the kid. does anyone out there seriously believe that a man might make a choice like that & then live with it so easily? it would have been far more interesting to see him mistakenly sink the captives, learn about it afterwards, & THEN start his revenge path. & i don't know about reviewers who claim submarine experience but so blithely heading into a mine field & so easily escaping from it? nah? pathetic American 50s propaganda, & bad propaganda at that. if you want to see a proper submarine movie, burt lancaster & clark gable in run silent run deep or curt jurgens & robert mitchum in the enemy below are far superior fare.

The Leonard Maltin movie guide describes this World War 2 movie as being "sluggish". To some degree I would have to agree. Despite the movie taking place on the ocean battlefield, there often seems to be some sort of spark missing, with an almost casual feeling taking place instead. While I'm not looking for Michael Bay speed and edits, more adrenaline should have been injected. The leisurely pace is not the only thing dated. While some of the Oscar-nominated special effects *are* good, there are a few special effects shots that may provoke giggles from modern day audiences. And the ending wraps things up a little suddenly, and may be unsatisfying to some viewers.Fortunately, there is more good than negative stuff. Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine give solid and believable performances. (And there is fun seeing L.Q. Jones and Dean Jones among the supporting players.) And while the movie may be leisurely at times, it doesn't get to the point of being boring. If you are looking for a submarine warfare movie, you could do worse.

TORPEDO RUN is a decent film and much of the film is pretty exciting. However, it suffers from a serious glut in the genre--there are just so many really, REALLY good submarine films. Just off the top of my head, DESTINATION TOKYO, OPERATION PACIFIC, RUN SILENT RUN DEEP, CRASH DIVE, THE ENEMY BELOW and the amazing DAS BOOT all come to mind as great sub films--all of which clearly surpass TORPEDO RUN. However, if you haven't had too much of all this sort of film, then by all means give this film a look.The film stars Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine. Ford's character and performance are very quiet and intense--almost reminiscent of Captain Ahab but in a more subdued way. Borgnine, on the other hand, while not the official star of the film seemed to have a better and more interesting role as the second in command who is friends with Ford but a bit worried about his boss' mental state. The reason this is a concern is that apparently Ford's wife and daughter are aboard a Japanese prisoner ship that their sub accidentally sinks (this is WAY too coincidental a plot device--I mean, what are the chances?!?). However, despite the ridiculousness of the plot, the battle sequences are taut, well executed and the special effects are very good. You can't see the sides of the pool in which they filmed the underwater scenes (something you can see in many other sub films--even some of the ones listed above) and only once did I clearly notice a string pulling one of the torpedoes through the water (again, it's unfortunately common to see this in other sub films).So what we have is a fairly good and typical film of the genre that is impeded a bit by a hard to believe plot twist. However, decent performances (particularly by Borgnine) still make this reasonably good entertainment.

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.