Gray Lady Down
Gray Lady Down
The USS Neptune, a nuclear submarine, is sunk off the coast of Connecticut after a collision with a Norwegian cargo ship. The navy must attempt a potentially dangerous rescue in the hope of saving the lives of the crew.
Magnus Parde reviewedSeptember 21, 2025
Let’s be clear: this isn’t Das Boot. It doesn’t have the claustrophobic dread, the psychological unraveling, or the visceral tension that made Wolfgang Petersen’s submarine epic a benchmark. But Gray Lady Down still manages to carve out a few respectable moments in the deep.
The premise is classic disaster fare: a U.S. nuclear submarine collides with a freighter and sinks to a precarious ledge on the ocean floor. What follows is a race against time, with the Navy deploying experimental rescue craft to save the trapped crew. The tension is intermittent—sometimes gripping, sometimes oddly relaxed (flute-playing and movie screenings while oxygen runs low don’t help the stakes).
What elevates the film is its rich ensemble cast. Charlton Heston anchors the story with his usual gravitas, while David Carradine adds a rebellious edge as the maverick submersible pilot. Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Stacy Keach, and even a young Christopher Reeve round out a lineup that’s almost too good for the material. Will Geer also pops up, adding a touch of warmth and authority.
📌 Verdict: Gray Lady Down is watchable, competently made, and occasionally suspenseful. But it’s also a bit too polished, too safe. It lacks the raw intensity of its European counterpart and fades quickly from memory once the credits roll. A decent entry in the 1970s disaster genre—just don’t expect it to linger.