Product Details

• Actors: Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Holly, Rob Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton, Bruce Dern
• Directors: David S. Ward
• Writers: Andrew Kurtzman, Eliot Wald, Hugh Wilson
• Producers: Jack Cummins, Robert Lawrence, Stanley Wilson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: June 3, 1997
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (170 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304107641
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,207 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Kelsey Grammer stars as the captain of a rust-bucket submarine who is fighting for his career by proving his skills in a contest against far more sophisticated ships. Rob Schneider provides comic support as an uptight ensign, and Lauren Holly plays an officer who has to fight her own will-they-accept-me-because-I'm-a-woman anxieties. The film didn't do well at the box office, but it is actually pretty funny, Grammer is enjoyable, and the above-the-water/below-the-water action sequences are as good as any in most submarine films. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great film, under-rated and worthy of a DVD (when?!), April 27, 2003

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Down Periscope [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is without a doubt one of the funniest sea movies ever. Yet it got mediocre reviews when it came out. Kelsey Grammer plays a renegade sub captain who gets his first command not on a nuclear sub, but on a mothballed diesel rustbucket, destined for scrap after some wargames guaranteed to deep-six his naval career.

But Captain Dodge (Grammer) has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He even gets the best from his mutinous crew and by the pirate scene (priceless) I was pretty much slumped on the couch, laughing my keester off. We like this one so much we watched it twice in a row.

Yeah, it's another submarine film (I can't resist them!) and this one is...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED--even if it's not yet on DVD.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!, December 8, 2003

By 

Mr. KnowItAll "The DVD GURU" (In a galaxy far, far away!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down Periscope (DVD)

Have you ever gone to the theater and just picked a movie at random that you think sounds good? Well, that's what I did with this movie, and let me tell you....IT ROCKS!!! You walk into the theater with no expectations because, after all, you have no idea what to expect. You've never even heard of the film, so you take your chances and roll the dice. This was a fantastic film. No! It did not have huge success at the box office. No! It does not have superstar caliber actors. What it does have is great writing, great characters, and the kind of "off-the-wall" humor that makes you say, "I can't believe they just said that!". I especially like Harland Williams as "Sonar".

If you have never seen this movie please see it, even if you rent it first, because as far as I'm concerned it is a true classic! I will be buying it the day it is released. I have been waiting for this to come to DVD for about three or four years now. All I can say is.....IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! See this movie! You'll have a "whale" of a time!

FIVE STARS for it's humor and wacky characters (the kind that you feel you actually know, and will miss when the movie is over!) ENJOY it with a group of friends!
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69 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Love the movie...hate the DVD, February 13, 2004

By 

D. Najarian "warmachine999" (Pleasant Prairie, WI. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Down Periscope (DVD)

Finally got my DVD copy of Down Periscope...my favorite movie starring Kelsey Grammer. I opened it immediately and put it in my DVD player, saying to myself, NOW I will see the whole movie in WIDESCREEN!!

Nope.

They did not put out the orignal print. This is the pan-and-scan version with the top and bottom of the screen chopped off. Its very apparent in several parts of the movie. I ran my VHS on one TV and the DVD on the home theater...its the same width of screen.

I was also not impressed with the 5.1 surround. Not nearly enough seperation and use of the back speakers, or subwoofer!! Buckman's fart should have come booming out of my subfoofer...Nada.

At least the colors and quality of print on the pan-and-scan side are better than my VHS copy.

Movie is great. DVD is not.