Can a crew of misfits in a rusty submarine win a modern war game?
In short: In the 1996 comedy Down Periscope, Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge is tasked with an impossible mission: infiltrate a major harbor using a decrepit World War II-era diesel submarine. To succeed against a bitter rival, Dodge must ignore naval protocol and lead a crew of outcasts to victory.
Directed by David S. Ward and released on March 1, 1996, Down Periscope follows the career-saving efforts of Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge. After being repeatedly passed over for promotion due to his unorthodox command style—which includes a past incident of brushing a Russian submarine and an ill-advised tattoo—Dodge is given one final chance. Vice Admiral Dean Winslow assigns him the USS Stingray, an obsolete Balao-class vessel, to participate in a naval war game. The goal is to test defenses against diesel-powered threats by infiltrating Charleston Harbor and sinking a dummy warship in Norfolk Harbor.
Dodge’s antagonist, Rear Admiral Yancy Graham, intentionally sabotages the mission by assigning him a dysfunctional crew, including a civilian contractor, a rebellious executive officer, and a diving officer tasked with evaluating women's service aboard submarines. To overcome their technological disadvantage, Dodge adopts a pirate-like strategy, famously disguising the Stingray as a fishing trawler and navigating between the propellers of a commercial supertanker to evade detection. The film’s climax sees the Stingray successfully fire two live torpedoes at a target ship, securing a win for Dodge and earning him command of a modern Seawolf-class submarine.
While the film features a notable cast including Kelsey Grammer, Bruce Dern, and William H. Macy, it received largely negative critical reception upon release. Critics like Stephen Holden of The New York Times found the performances lacked the necessary energy for the genre, and review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes currently hold the film at an 11% approval rating. Despite its critical reception, the production remains a distinct entry in the submarine film subgenre, playing on tropes established by earlier dramas like the 1959 film Up Periscope.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Down Periscope
- Also: Wikidata — Down Periscope · CC0
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