Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9935 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Customer Reviews

Very good sub movie with Ford and Borgnine
In the late 50's and early 60's there was a wrash of submarine movies released in theaters, one of which is Torpedo Run. The movie tells the story of Lt. Commander Barney Doyle and his submarine, the Greyfish. After Doyle accidentally sinks a prisoner transport, with his wife and child on board, he becomes obsessed with going after the ship he intended to sink, the Japanese carrier, Shinaru. Doyle will sink the Shinaru at any cost which puts his sub and crew at risk. Torpedo Run is one of the best war movies made about submarine warfare. If you like this movie, I recommend Run Silent, Run Deep and Up Periscope. For a tense, exciting war adventure set in the Pacific theater, I highly recommend Torpedo Run.

Glenn Ford is good, as always, as Lt. Commander Barney Doyle, who attempts to sink the Japanese carrier, Shinaru, at all costs. Ernest Borgnine is equally as good as Doyle's executive officer and second-in-command, Lt. Archer Sloan, who turns down a promotion to remain with Doyle on the Greyfish. In a smaller part, Diane Brewster plays Doyle's wife, Jane. The rest of the crew includes Dean Jones as Lt. Jake "Fuzz" Foley, a young, inexperienced officer on board, L.Q. Jones, Robert Hardy, and Paul Picerni. The movie also stars Philip Ober and Richard Carlyle. The Torpedo Run VHS is of decent quality, but this submarine movie deserves a DVD release in widescreen presentation as is shown on Turner Classic Movies. For an excellent and exciting submarine adventure with a great cast, check out Torpedo Run!

Solid sub flick
Glenn Ford & Ernie Borgnine star in this World War II submarine picture. Ford is the Captain, and Borgnine the XO who grapple with the most heart rending decision a submarine skipper has to make... risk killing his own family to sink an enemy carrier. The taut drama is well directed and acted. A nice little film to add to your WWII collection.

Entertaining sub flick
I've seen at least eight different sub movies: Run Silent, Run Deep, The Enemy Below, Das Boot, U-571, Torpedo Alley, The Hunt for Red October, K-19 the Widowmaker, and this one. (Does the SF TV series, "Voyage to the Bottom of the Toilet Bowl," count? How about the Beattles' "Yellow Submarine? That would be nine). :-)

Although maybe not in the same class as Run Silent, Run Deep (what is?), this is still a pretty good sub flick. I say that with a couple of reservations, as it's sort of like the Yellow Brick Road of sub war movies, because of the apparently crazy or excessively risk-taking behavior of the captain, played by Glenn Ford. In one scene, Ford makes the dangerous decision to shoot the Japanese aircraft carrier hiding behind a transport ship although 1400 American POWs (including his own wife and family) are on board the transport. He misses and sinks the transport. It's not made clear why he couldn't move around to the other side of the carrier, which is using the transport as a human shield.

However, another scene where they must negotiate the underwater minefield in Tokyo harbor to get inside the Japanese defenses is suspenseful and well done. Glenn Ford craftily gets the sub both in and out of the harbor without being detected, sinking a ship in the process. They snag a couple of mine mooring lines, which sound pretty creepy as the lines scrape along the side of the hull, but none explode.

Good ol' Glenn Ford manages to project an aura of avuncular warmth and thoughtfulness despite being the stern, serious, sub captain who obviously intends to live life on the edge--even for submarine warfare--even if that means sending his ship to the bottom--which he does in another scene, although the crew manages to escape. Ernest Borgnine is also good in his supporting role. Overall a pretty decent submarine war movie despite not a few implausible elements.