Down Periscope (1 March 1996)
directed by David S. Ward
starring Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, Rob Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton, Bruce Dern, William H. Macy, Rip Torn
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MPAA rating: Studio: 20th Century Fox Script: Hugh Wilson, Andrew Kurtzman, Eliot Wald Music: Randy Edelman Running time: 92 minutes Suggested retail price: $$14.98 (US) Tags: Comedy; navy; sailors; submarines Tactical strength: [6/10]
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for some crude language
A fairly formulaic underdog-overcomes-all-odds movie with some good acting and better-than-average action. Lt. Cmdr. Tom Dodge (Kelsey Grammer) wants his own command, but his checkered past has held up his promotion for several rounds. Apparently while drunk, Dodge had his penis tattooed, and knowledge of the tattoo has spread throughout the navy. This more than anything else has kept Dodge from getting a promotion. But eventually, his performance record seems to require a promotion. The Navy wants to run some war games simulating a renegade diesel submarine attacking U.S. ports, so instead of giving Dodge a modern, nuclear submarine, the Navy assigns him to a ancient diesel sub, the USS Stingray. The Navy also assigns an equally misfit crew to man the ancient vessel. Of course, Admiral Winslow (Rip Torn), whom the Navy forced to promote Dodge, wants Dodge to fail and will stop at nothing to see him disgraced.
The plot proceeds with several scenes common to many other submarine movies: take the ship below crush depth, land the ship on the bottom, deal with leaks in the engine room, deal with a mutiny attempt, evade predators through tricky navigation, and blow up a ship with torpedoes. Each of these events enables Dodge to build his rapport with the crew, and enables the crew to build confidence as a team. Since we all know how underdog movies end, it doesn't give anything away to tell that Dodge overcomes his checkered past, outperforms expectations, and earns command of a nuclear submarine. And for a warm-fuzzy moment, he "respectfully requests" that his entire crew move with him to his new command, minus XO Marty Pascoe (Rob Schneider), whom they offloaded mid-film more for his bad attitude than his "mutiny" attempt. And, Admiral Winslow through his unethical practices during the war games has fallen from grace with the Navy.
In spite of the rehashed themes and copycat scenes, the comedy works and you do find yourself pulling for the crew. Grammer does a passable job at portraying a submarine captain. He also seems to have successfully switched gears from television performances, so Down Periscope while sometimes slapstick never dips down to totally adolescent humor such as, for example, a Police Academy movie.
I watched Down Periscope on a cable movie channel. I don't think I'll run out and buy this one, but it's worth watching at least once.
