A film for comedy and good time
Content Rating: PG-13
Director: David S. Ward
Writer: Hugh Wilson, Andrew Kurtzman, Eliot Wald
Stars: Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, Rob Schneider
Genre: Comedy
Lt. Cmdr. Tom Dodge is assigned as Captain to the USS Stingray, an old diesel driven submarine that has seen better days.
Down Periscope is a 1996 American military comedy submarine film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Robert Lawrence and directed by David S. Ward, that stars Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, and Rob Schneider. The film co-stars Bruce Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, William H. Macy, and Rip Torn.
Lt. Commander Thomas Dodge is being considered for a third time to captain a submarine. He has been previously passed over because of his unorthodox command methods that include a "brushing" incident with a Russian submarine and a genital tattoo that he acquired afterward while drunk on shore leave. Another denial will result in Dodge's being dropped from the Navy's submarine command program. Rear Admiral Yancy Graham, who dislikes Dodge, speaks out
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Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge is being considered for a third time to captain a submarine. He has been previously passed over because of his unorthodox command methods that include a "brushing" incident with a Russian submarine near the port of Murmansk, Russia, and a genital tattoo reading "Welcome Aboard" that he acquired afterward while drunk on shore leave. Another denial will result in Dodge's dismissal from the Navy's submarine command program.
Rear Admiral Yancy Graham, who dislikes Dodge, speaks out against Dodge's promotion, but Vice Admiral Dean Winslow, Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic, who likes Dodge and his methods, selects him to participate in a war game to test the Navy's defenses against attack from diesel-powered submarines. Russia has been selling off their diesel fleet to America's adversaries, so Dodge is given command of the World War II-era Balao-class diesel-powered submarine, USS Stingray. His orders are to "invade" Charleston harbor without being detected, and if successful, to sink a dummy warship in Norfolk harbor with two live torpedoes. Though initially reluctant to participate, Dodge offers Winslow a wager: if he successfully completes both tasks, Winslow will give him a nuclear submarine to command. Winslow agrees to consider it, instructing Dodge to "think like a pirate" during the exercise.
Graham, boasting that he has never lost a war game and motivated by his own ambition, handpicks "the crew from hell" for Stingray: hot-tempered, uptight Lieutenant Martin G. Pascal as the executive officer; crusty civilian naval contractor Howard as the Chief Engineer; rebellious Engineman 1st Class Brad Stepanak; ultra sharp-eared Sonarman 2nd Class E.T. "Sonar" Lovacelli; compulsive gambler Seaman Stanley "Spots" Sylvesterson; former losing college basketball player Seaman Jefferson "Stoneball" Jackson; shock-prone (and shock-addled) Electrician's Mate Michael Nitro; and not-so-Culinary Specialist Second Class Buckman as Stingray's cook. Additionally, Graham assigns Lieutenant Emily Lake as the sub's Diving Officer, part of a "special program" to see if women can successfully serve aboard submarines.
Using a storm off the Carolina coast as a diversion, Dodge and his crew take full advantage of the gale. To offset their technological disadvantage, they use deception to sneak into Charleston Harbor and set off signal flares. Upset at losing the first part of the war game and desperate to defeat Dodge, Graham halves the game's containment area without Winslow's authorization. Running into trouble on their first attempt at Norfolk harbor, Dodge leaves the containment area and heads out to sea, cutting off all contact with the Navy. Irate at this lapse in protocol, the zealous by-the-book Pascal openly accuses Dodge of hijacking his own boat and attempts to relieve him of command. Stingray's crew, weary of Pascal's berating and harassment, refuse to support his action, and Dodge charges Pascal with attempted mutiny. On deck, Lake looks on as Dodge and the crew, wearing makeshift buccaneer outfits and speaking like pirates, commit a mock execution by blindfolding Pascal and making him walk the plank into the raised net of a waiting fishing trawler that will take him ashore.
During the Stingray's second attempt at Norfolk, Graham, hellbent on stopping Dodge, assumes command of the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Orlando, headed by Commander Carl Knox. Dodge employs an incredibly dangerous maneuver: passing Stingray between the huge propellers of a commercial supertanker to avoid sonar detection by the naval ships and aircraft protecting the approach to Norfolk. Orlando eventually locates and chases down the Stingray. By the time his boat is targeted, Dodge has fired two live torpedoes at 900 yards (820 m) into a target ship anchored in Norfolk harbor, thereby winning the war game.
After Dodge's crew returns to port, Winslow chastises Graham for attempting to undermine Dodge's success and also denies Graham's promotion. He then goes on to congratulate Dodge and informs him that he will now be given command of a new Seawolf-class submarine, along with a proper crew to man her. Dodge respectfully requests that his entire Stingray crew be transferred with him, to which Winslow agrees, also revealing that crewman Stepanak is his son. After Dodge dismisses his crew to begin a well-earned shore leave, Lake casually asks him as both of them leave the dock, "What exactly is this tattoo I keep hearing about?".
Source : wikipedia