Too much of everything

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

In 1942, the commander of the submarine USS Grayfish, Barney Doyle (Glenn Ford) commands a motley crew such as : Lt. Jake 'Fuzz' Foley (Dean Jones) , 'Hash' Benson (L.Q. Jones) , Lt. Redley (Robert Hardy) , Lt. Burt Fisher (Paul Picerni) and especially the second-in command Lt. Archer 'Archie' Sloan (Ernest Borgnine) with whom Barney has a special relationship . Doyle is a stiff captain who plans to sink a Japanese carrier . As their main target is the Japanese aircraft Akagi, which led the attack on Pearl Harbor. But there is a freighter in the way , and on board are his wife and child . Doyle is tormented by the fact that his spouse and baby daughter were taken prisoner when the Japanese invaded the Philippines and he has no word from them for almost 10 months . They're really prisoners of the Japs and whom we have grown to love in flashbacks . Shortly after , Barney is overjoyed when reliable sources confirm that they are alive . There was good reason for the Japanese to let him know however : all of the civilians are being transported to Japan . At the end takes place the confrontation and square off in the Pacific Ocean and Tokyo bay . Standards submarine melodramatics about an US submarine that must torpedo a Japanese carrier which holds some of the crews family members . Glenn Ford gives a good acting as an able ship's captain well respected by his men and effective at sea , who pursues the ship that led the attack on Pear Harbour back Tokyo . Although the film relies heavily on the deep relationship between Lt. Cmdr. Barney Doyle/Glenn Ford and Lt. Archer 'Archie' Sloan/Ernest Borgnine . This nail-biter is a tightly-knit drama centered on the relentless sea maneuvers of a sub going after a carrier and vice versa . Sometimes slow , generally worthwhile watching . As a main premise results to be an engaging issue : a ship transporting his family is acting as a shield for the Akagi carrier forcing Doyle to make a terrible decision, as his country comes first and he blows the freighter out of water . The film is known as one of the most famous WWII submarine movies, though some scenes at sea, however, suffer from the utilization of obvious models in a just as obvious studio tank . Secondary cast is frankly good such as : Diane Brewster, Dean Jones , L.Q. Jones , Philip Ober , Richard Carlyle and Robert Hardy . George J. Folsey's colorful and vivid cinematography , including spectacular maritime scenes , set in the Pacific Ocean of World War II ; in fact , this movie's ocean scenes were filmed in the Pacific Ocean. .¨Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1958) wishes to thank the Department of Defense and the United States Navy for their assistance in the production of this motion picture."The motion picture was professionally directed by Joseph Pevney who also made other WWII films as ¨Away all boats¨. Pevney shot all kinds of genres as Comedy , Film Noir , Mystery , Drama , such as : ¨Who is the black Dahilia ?¨, ¨The strange door¨, ¨Man of a thousand faces¨, ¨Mysterious Island of beautiful women¨, ¨Cash McCall¨, ¨Tammy and the bachelor¨, ¨Istanbul¨, ¨Because of you¨ and Westerns as ¨Night of Grizzly¨ .This ¨Torpedo run¨ represents one of a select group of a few World War II submarine movies which have won the one single Academy Award in a technical category, that's just only the one Oscar in either special effects or sound editing. These movies include ¨Crash Dive¨ ; ¨Enemy below ¨(57) by Dick Powell with Curt Jurgens, Robert Mitchum , and ¨U-571¨. The non-WW II sub-movie, ¨The Hunt for Red October¨ also won just the one Oscar as did the WW 2 part sub-movie 49th Parallel , but for Best Original Story . Furthermore , other important films about submarine are ¨Run Silent Run Deep¨, ¨Crimson tide¨ by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman; ¨K19¨ with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and the best ¨Das Boot¨ (1982) by Wolfgang Petersen with Jurgen Prochnow .

This is a pretty decent little war drama. It's not high on the "must see" list but it's got Glenn Ford in it so...it's worth a watch.The subs captain is living in Manila with his wife and child before the war starts in the Pacific. His wife in Manila, decides to stay behind and hide in the hills/mts. if and when the Japanese invade. The captain tries to put his foot down but she won't have it, she's staying with their child. Well the Japs invade and they imprison her and the child. The Japs know what sub captains are in the area and decide to take a troop ship of prison camp detainees, 2 who include his wife and child, all the way to Japan. They use the ship to block a heavily fortified Carrier ship from being torpedo'd by the captain. Well, they make the wrong move. The captain tries to shoot the Carrier anyhow...and misses...hitting and sinking the transport ship...killing his wife and child. From here on out its a cat and mouse game of finding the carrier ship he missed. What I got out of this film is making good and bad choices. If he would have laid down the law with his wife, they would have been somewhere else..alive and well....but he acquiesces and lets her have her way. Down the line he eventually shoots the boat by mistake. Both of these were difficult choices that he now...has to live with.So what would you have done?

I happen to like submarine movies, but normally the plot situations are the same in every one of them. Torpedo Run though it bares most resemblance to the Cary Grant World War II film from Warner Brothers, Torpedo Run has a unique involvement of Ford's family in combat.Japanese intelligence has marked Ford as one of America's top submarine commanders so when on a mission, Ford receives word that his wife and three young daughters have been accounted for in the Phillipines and are being held by the Japanese, you've got to wonder. The Swiss government which did the liaison work during World War II regarding prisoner information and exchange has just gotten word about Diane Brewster and the daughters.The devilish orientals have something up their sleeves all right. A transport ship with the civilian prisoners is screening the new pride of the Japanese fleet, one humongous aircraft carrier. That's not something Cary Grant faced in Destination Tokyo or any other American submarine skipper in any other film I remember.It's a grim Glenn Ford we see doing his duty in World War II. Only Executive officer Ernest Borgnine knows exactly what's at stake for Ford and he's reliable and supportive. The flashback sequences before the war involving Ford and Brewster are poignant and contribute to the overall tension of Torpedo Run.The combat and rescue sequences are well staged. Torpedo Run is a good portrait of a man under tremendous stress. My guess is that Ford was cast in this role seeing how well he performed in another film involving a pressure situation, Ransom.Glenn Ford's legion of fans and fans of World War II films in general will applaud Torpedo Run.

Another submarine movie. This one is now a standard for the genre. All that tension. It makes you wonder why they can't all just get along. Even the best of friends seem to fall out when they get cooped up in a submarine. Glenn Ford and Ernie Borgnine are best buddies and Captain and Exec aboard the Greyfish. Best of buddies, of course, until Glenn Ford is forced to make a decision Ernie disagrees with - and here we go again. Cary Grant and Burt Lancaster, Ronald Reagan and Arthur Franz, Glenn and Ernie, etc. We never seem to get tired of the clichés. Let me make this one point though. For once, we don't have the usual cast of characters. No wise guy called Brooklyn, no homey coyoot called Texas, and no hayseed from Nebraska called, well Nebraska. Or maybe Junior. Remember him with the freckles and the cowlick? There isn't much point in going into the story. You've seen it before. You've probably seen this movie before. It's no Das Boot, but for what it is, it holds it's own.I never understood Glenn Ford. He really needed to lighten up. I don't think I ever saw the man smile - never mind laugh. He always seemed to be barely in control of some unexplained rage. I don't know what he was like personally, but if his acting was any reflection of the man, one might wonder why he never made the front page of The Hollywood Reporter.