Gray Lady Down

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Gray Lady Down
Promotional poster for Grady Lady Down
Directed by	David Greene
Produced by	Walter Mirisch
Written by	David Lavallee Frank P. Rosenberg James Whittaker Howard Sackler
Starring	Charlton Heston David Carradine Stacy Keach Ned Beatty Stephen McHattie Ronny Cox Dorian Harewood
Music by	Jerry Fielding
Cinematography	Stevan Larner
Editing by	Robert Swink
Release date(s)	March 10, 1978
Running time	111 min
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Gray Lady Down is a 1978 disaster film by Universal Studios which starred Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, and featured the first film role for a young Christopher Reeve.

[edit] Plot

An aging, respected commander (Charlton Heston) is on his final submarine tour before his retirement. Surfaced and returning to port, the submarine, USS Neptune (possibly a Skate-class or Nautilus-class attack submarine), is struck by a Norwegian freighter in heavy fog, and sinks to a depth of 1,450 feet on canyon ledge above the ocean floor. A US Navy rescue force commanded by Stacy Keach arrives on scene, but Neptune is perched at an angle that does not allow the Navy's Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) rescue submarine to complete its work.

A small experimental submersible, "Snark," is brought in to assist with the rescue. Snark is very capable, but run by a nonconformist navy misfit (David Carradine). The tiny submersible is the only hope for a rescue.

Ronny Cox plays Neptune's executive officer, scheduled to take over command from Charlton Heston, Ned Beatty plays the Snark's second crewman, and Christopher Reeve appears in his first film role in a bit part for the sharp-eyed viewer.

The movie re-used submarine special-effect footage from Ice Station Zebra, as well as the large-scale submarine model, with that film's submarine (Tigerfish) appearing as the USS Neptune.

The movie is adapted from the novel Event 1000 by David Lavallee (1971).