This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Bad acting all round here - amazing what Charlton Heston and Ned Beatty descended to to make a movie. Dumb story and anything but "gripping" as the description says. Unfortunately just another flavor of 70s disaster movies in the same vein of Posiedon Adventure, Towering Inferno and Earthquake. I predicted the end of this movie about 20 minutes in and was right on the money! Don't waste the time unless you really like naval movies that seriously stretch the imagination about how sea rescues really work or if you just have to see Charlton Heston in another mediocre role just to say you've seen them all. Special effects aren't bad given the era.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater when it came out and the review in Time magazine. OK I remember one part of what was a positive review. It said that the movie avoids the bane of the disaster genre, the subplot. The best sentence in the review that I think describes the movie perfectly is," It is a job-oriented movie about job-oriented men." I can't think of a better way to describe it. The actors give there best professional naval officer performances (well maybe not Carradine...good performance...not sure about the naval officer part) and the movie sticks its subject, the rescue. An entertaining movie that delivers a straightforward story and there is nothing wrong with that.

This murky disaster film concerns the fate of a nuclear submarine which is carelessly struck by a freighter and sinks 1400 feet beneath the surface. Heston plays the stalwart captain who is just about to give up seafaring when this last voyage turns deadly. Cox is his somewhat adversarial second-in-command. Keach is a stubborn captain heading the rescue effort on topside. Carradine, along with assistant Beatty, is the creator of an experimental mini-sub which may be able to aid in the rescue effort. The initial collision is so poorly handled that it threatens to spoil the film (pitiful rear projection and unclear evacuation of the bridge), but thankfully the interior scenes come off more effectively. A terrific rotating set adds to the verisimilitude. Underwater sequences range from good to horrible. Sometimes the use of miniatures is startlingly obvious. As far as acting goes, Heston is solid and has several great solitary moments along with authoritative ones. (One memorable line: "I feel like a one-legged man at an ass-kicking contest!") Carradine and Keach establish a nice antagonism (though Keach is occasionally a little intense, becoming unintentionally funny.) Beatty is an appealing and endearing presence. Eighth-billed Forsyth's role was cut down to almost nothing. She says five words (!) in her one scene. Many of the supporting cast come off like either hunky mannequins, bad ham actors or stuntmen giving acting a try (though there are several familiar faces sprinkled throughout, notably Reeves as Keach's shadow.) The film is at it's best when tension mounts in the sub and among the officers on the surface. This is dissipated ridiculously when sailors who may be experiencing their last hours alive play backgammon and watch the movie "Jaws" on their projector (!) acting as if nothing's wrong! The tedium kicks in when the rescue attempt is shown in a bit too much detail (long tracking shots of the rescue vehicles) and repeated tries are shown over and over! Like "Airport '77", the dry naval scenes dull the human element. Jerry Fielding's music is appropriately dirge-like at times and eerie other times (though certain elements were interpolated into his awful score for "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure".) Probably the best moment occurs when the trapped men have to open an air tank. The film should hold interest for a first time viewer as long as one is prepared for a somewhat technical approach to the drama. (And was there ever another film so preoccupied with the state of the injured when the whole sub could implode or slide off a cliff at any moment?)

"Gray Lady Down", which bears very little resemblance to the novel it was based on, is a nice, entertaining action thriller that holds up well today in contrast to today's action films because it's cloaked with a realism and plausibility that today's filmmakers seem determined to avoid like the plague.