Line #24 Film/RunSilentRunDeep


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/39c1796287b11cee6738ca062175c1b9.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Macho vs. macho.]]
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4	''Run Silent, Run Deep'' is a 1958 film directed by Creator/RobertWise, starring Creator/ClarkGable and Creator/BurtLancaster.
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6	Commander P.J. Richardson (Gable) had his submarine sunk in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungo_Channel Bungo Straits]] by the Japanese destroyer ''Akikaze'' in 1942. Richardson, who survived the sinking but was reassigned to desk duty, is obsessed with the sinking of his ship, continually running war games to try and figure out what went wrong. Eventually he wrangles a posting as captain of the submarine USS ''Nerka''. The ''Nerka'''s executive officer, Lt. Bledsoe (Lancaster) is none too happy about missing out on the chance to be CO of the ''Nerka'' himself. Tensions between Richardson and Bledsoe increase even further when Richardson tells his men that he's taking the ''Nerka'' back to the Bungo Straits, in search of the ''Akikaze'', in direct defiance of Navy orders telling him to stay out of that area.
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8	If not the {{Trope Maker\|s}} for HotSubOnSubAction and other submarine warfare tropes in film, definitely a TropeCodifier. Loosely based on a novel by RealLife submarine commander Edward Beach. Other than the DawsonCasting of Gable and Lancaster (both decades too old to play sub officers), considered one of the more realistic depictions of submarine warfare, with effects that were cutting-edge for 1958.
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10	Insult comic Creator/DonRickles has a non-comic part as one of the crew.
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12	----
13	!!Tropes:
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15	* ActionPrologue: The opening scene is Richardson's previous sub getting sunk by the Japanese.
16	* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: If a submarine is sunk while submerged, as was the case with Richardson's first boat, there's a nearly 100% chance it will go down with a loss of all hands. Of course, if it had, there wouldn't be a movie.
17	* ClosedCircle: Everybody is confined to the ''Nerka'' while the plot plays out.
18	* DiscOneFinalBoss: The Akikaze is destroyed quickly and without much of a fight during the final battle, only for it to turn out that it had a previously unknown submarine escort which proves to be a much greater threat.
19	* DiveDiveDive: Done realistically, and not in the panicked way that this line is often delivered in movies.
20	* EndingMemorialService: Richardson's burial at sea ends the movie.
21	* EurekaMoment:
22	** When Bledsoe realized that the Japanese found the ''Nerka'''s trash, which allowed them to set up an ambush. This piece of information leads him to change his mind and execute Richardson's attack plan.
23	** Richardson has one of his own when he figures out the mysterious Morse transmission is coming from a Japanese submarine. Turns out it was a submarine, not the ''Akikaze'', which sank his ship and the others lost in Bungo Straits.
24	* HotSubOnSubAction: Pretty realistically done. The Japanese sub twice fires torpedoes at the ''Nerka'' while underwater, and twice misses. When the ''Nerka'' finally sinks the Japanese sub, it does so while the Japanese sub is on the surface. Furthermore, the men of the ''Nerka'' are surprised that there's a sub attacking subs; it's completely unexpected.
25	* TheMutiny: Bledsoe relieves Richardson of command and orders a course back to Pearl Harbor. [[{{Subverted}} Until he changes his mind and goes back to the Bungo Straits.]]
26	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The Tokyo Rose propaganda message about the ''Nerka'''s loss to the ''Akikaze'' allows Bledsoe to figure out how the Japanese saw them coming, which lets him come up with a plan to win the rematch.
27	* PassedOverPromotion: Bledsoe had been acting captain of the ''Nerka'' for some time since the previous captain fell ill when he sailed into Pearl, and everyone on the ship, including him, expected him to be promoted to official captain and left in command. Then Richardson talks the Admiralty into giving him another sea-going command and Bledsoe's promotion is put on hold something the younger officer resents.
28	* PetTheDog: Commander Richardson, obsessed as he is, does have one nice moment. Namely, when a man is caught outside as the sub is diving and frantically pounding on the hatch loud enough for the crew to realize the situation, Commander Richardson instantly orders an emergency surface to save him from drowning.
29	* RealityHasNoSubtitles: In the scenes that occur on the Japanese destroyer Akikaze or the unnamed Japanese submarine, none of the comments the Japanese naval officers make to each other are translated for the audience.
30	* SilentRunningMode: Done by both the crew of the USS ''Nerka'' and, later, by the Japanese submarine that was hunting them. This sets up a suspenseful sequence in which both the ''Nerka'' and the Japanese sub go quiet and even cut their engines, eventually drifting just past each other underwater.
31	* TapOnTheHead: Averted. Richardson falls and hits his head during battle. This causes him to suffer recurring and prolonged blackouts that cause him to be relieved of command and he later dies of lingering internal injuries.
32	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Exactly two parts for a woman (three if you count the pinup poster the men pat on the ass for good luck)--Richardson's wife, who appears in one scene at Richardson's home before the ''Nerka'' sets sail, and the unseen woman who voices the Tokyo Rose propaganda broadcasts. {{Justified}} as women serving on subs wasn't exactly a thing back in WWII.
33	* SubStory: One of the better ones.
34	* {{Taps}}: Becomes part of the soundtrack at the very end, right after Richardson's body has been committed to the sea.
35	* TimeToStepUpCommander: Lt. Bledsoe objects to Cmdr. Richardson's obsessive hunt for the ''Akikaze'', as do his officers, who want Bledsoe to take command. After Richardson cracks his skull during combat, Bledsoe finally does take command, and he orders the ''Nerka'' back home. Gable, who was concerned with his super-macho screen image, insisted that Richardson be injured prior to being relieved of command.
36	* TokyoRose: The crew sometimes listens to her. A transmission from Tokyo Rose in which she identifies several of the crew by name tips off Bledsoe as to how the ''Nerka'' was tracked--the Japanese recovered their trash dumps.

Context Film / RunSilentRunDeep