Crimson Tide (1995)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Tony Scott

Writers (WGA):

Michael Schiffer (story) and
Richard P. Henrick (story) ...

Release Date:

12 May 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Danger runs deep

Plot:

On a US nuclear missile sub, a young first officer stages a mutiny to prevent his trigger happy captain from launching his missiles before confirming his orders to do so.

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear | Submarine | Alabama | Order | Mutiny

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Denzel Washington	...	Lt. Commander Ron Hunter
Gene Hackman	...	Capt. Frank Ramsey
Matt Craven	...	Lt. Roy Zimmer, USS Alabama Communications Officer
George Dzundza	...	Chief of the Boat
Viggo Mortensen	...	Lt. Peter 'WEAPS' Ince
James Gandolfini	...	Lt. Bobby Dougherty
Rocky Carroll	...	Lt. Darik Westergard
Jaime Gomez	...	Officer of the Deck Mahoney (as Jaime P. Gomez)
Michael Milhoan	...	Chief of the Watch Hunsicker
Scott Burkholder	...	T.S.O. Billy Linkletter
Danny Nucci	...	Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti
Lillo Brancato	...	Petty Officer Third Class Russell Vossler (as Lillo Brancato Jr.)
Eric Bruskotter	...	Bennefield
Rick Schroder	...	Lt. Paul Hellerman
Steve Zahn	...	William Barnes

Also Known As:

Crimson Tide - In tiefster Gefahr (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Maré Vermelha (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Marea roja (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
USS Alabama (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Allarme rosso (Italy) [it]
Az utolsó esély (Hungary) [hu]
Crimson Tide (Greece) [el]
Denizde isyan (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Fjenden i dybet (Denmark) (video title) [da]
Marée rouge (Canada: French title) [fr]
Marea roja (Crimson Tide) (Spain) [es]
Purppuravyöhyke (Finland) [fi]
Rött hav (Sweden) [sv]
Skrlatna plima (Slovenia) [sl]
USS Alabama - Crimson Tide (Germany) [de]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language.

Runtime:

116 min | USA:123 min (extended version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #33747) | Iceland:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Germany:12 (w) | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Chapman University - One University Drive, Orange, California, USA

Company:

Hollywood Pictures

Trivia:

Andy Garcia was one of the early choices for the role later taken by Denzel Washington.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Red caps would only be worn during a drill. For instance, if the boat was going through a reactor scram drill (essentially turned off), the captain would wear one if he was back in the engineering spaces. Wearing the cap is saying "I'm not really here." Ramsey is seen wearing a red cap after he has been arrested, one time when he is certainly not participating in a drill.

Quotes:

Capt. Ramsey: Rickover gave me my command, a checklist, a target, and a button to push. All I had to know was how to push it, and they'd tell me when. They seem to want you know why.
Hunter: I would hope they'd want us all to know why, sir.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Stealth Fighter (1999)

Soundtrack:

EBBEN, NE ANDRO LONTANA

Good, but...

Enjoyable, good tension, good dilemma, good cast. But:

You have a movie like this where either Washington's or Hackman's character side could be right about their course of action. The aim of the movie, ostensibly, is to present both sides and let the viewer figure out which is the correct course.

But you can't possibly side with Hackman, can you?

After all, his character goes nuts when everything starts happening. His character is possibly racist. And his character is prepared to launch nukes. Washington's character is, quite nobly, none of those things.

Ho hum. Hollywood audience manipulation at its finest.

Would it kill these writers and producers to present a dilemma movie in an intelligent fashion for once? I'd like to struggle with "who's right and who's wrong?" just once in my moviegoing life.