Customer Reviews

Down Periscope [VHS]

5 star:		(122)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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!
***************************************************************

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.

The first time I saw Down Periscope wasn't at the theater, it was a video rental. As I watched the movie, I found myself wrapped up in the plot, the intellectual (as well as the not so intellectual) humor, and the way the cast seemed to meld together. Why did this movie not do well at the theaters? Was it not given the same level of advertising which Sargent Bilko received? I feel that Down Periscope was a better movie. But because Kelsey Grammer is not as big a name comedian as Steve Martin, Down Periscope was simply overlooked.

I would love to have this movie on DVD.

Considering that Down Periscope is a comedy, they get more things right than a lot of "serious" movies. Okay, this isn't a movie you'd want to watch if you wanted to know exactly how things were done on a diesel sub. Things are moved around to accommodate camera placement, and the crew is mostly too young. If the Navy ever did something like, you'd expect a lot of middle-aged reservists, guys old enough to have some actual experience with diesel boats. (And not just one potty old engineering officer, either.) The torpedoes are wrong, too. You can't fire a Mark-48 from a Balao's tubes.

But that's not the point. This is good, sophomoric fun, humor for humor's sake. It's not a movie that requires you to think that much. You might be better of if you didn't, and just sat back and enjoyed it. You might even learn something useful. As a Marine officer pointed out in a Naval Institute Proceedings article, Down Periscope may be a comedy, but Kelsey Grammer's Tom Dodge also represents a pretty good example of applied leadership skills.

Oh, and despite what some reviewers have suggested, the wide screen DVD isn't the "pan and scan" full screen version with the top and bottom of the screen cut off. It's just the opposite, in fact. The full screen version includes image area at the top and bottom of the screen that was never really intended to be shown. (Like the top of Dodge's golfing pants before the gag is revealed.) Most wide screen movies with heavy CGI effects are shot "flat" today, instead of with anamorphic lenses, and mask the unwanted image area in printing.

This histerical movie has the funniest cast I've ever seen aboard ship (boat). You can ignore the action of the main characters in many situations and just watch what's going on in the background and laugh out loud. The electrician/radio operator is really classic. Every one who's been in the service knows that guy. I'd forgotten how much I missed him. Suberbly directed, editing was right on the button.

I had already loved this movie, and then I saw it with my huge weight lifting ex-marine boyfriend. He laughed so hard, he couldn't breathe, but he still couldn't stop laughing. He sounded like a 3 year old girl!

This is a family movie that we watch over and over and it is as funny the 20th time as the first. Why it didn't do well at the box office is anyone's guess except that I don't recall much, if any, publicity for it. The cast members are perfect. Love it, love it, love it. Finally, a DVD. Our VHS is worn out.

Kelsey Grammer is one of the best commiedian ever and in this movie he will not let you down. The story is very good and the actors are brilliant.
Kelsey is an ex-o on a nuclear submarine and his dream is about to come true, he gets to command his own sub. But not the sub he expected. The submarine he gets is a diesel submarine almost 50 years old. The crew are a bunc of idiots handpicked by an admiral who doesn't like kelsey very much. He must do a bunch of impossible things with this diesel sub and it's crew to be able to get a real submarine. So they start what they call a WARGAME and Kelsey is set up to lose. This movie is great in every way and everyone will enjoy this one. Whatch it...

This has to be one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen and it seems to get funnier each time viewed. The scene where the sailor walks the plank is so funny that when I think about it during the day, I break out laughing. Also when Kelsey Grammer goes "Arrrr" as a pirate my cheeks start to hurt from laughing so hard Why isn't it on DVD