Themes: Obsessive Quests, Death of a Child, Death of a Partner
Main Cast: Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Diane Brewster, Dean Jones, L.Q. Jones
Release Year: 1958
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
In the psychological WW2 drama Torpedo Run, Glenn Ford plays submarine commander Barney Doyle, who is obsessed with sinking a particular Japanese aircraft carrier. Several months earlier, the carrier had escaped destruction by shielding itself with a POW transport ship, which was sunk by Doyle's torpedoes. The sunken transport had been carrying Doyle's wife and daughter, captured in the Philippines. This tragically unavoidable incident has transformed Doyle into a modern Ahab, mercilessly driving the men under him towards the single goal of blowing the hated enemy aircraft carrier out of the seas. Finally, Doyle achieves his goal, and all is forgiven between himself and his crew, especially his second-in-command Archer Sloan ($Ernest Borgnine). Unfortunately, Doyle's sub was irreparably damaged in the attack, making it necessary for him to attempt an escape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Philip Ober - Adm. Samuel Setton; Richard Carlyle - Cmdr. Don Adams; Fredd Wayne - Orville "Goldy" Goldstein; Don Keefer - Ensign Ron Milligan; Robert Hardy - Lt. Redley; Paul Picerni - Lt. Burt Fisher
The American submarine Grayfish, under Lieutenant Commander Barney Doyle (Glenn Ford), searches for the Shinaru, one of the Japanese aircraft carriers that led the attack on Pearl Harbor. Doyle receives word that the target has an escort, including a transport ship carrying his wife and child, who were captured in the Philippines.
As luck would have it, Grayfish finds the ships. Doyle's second in command, Lieutenant Archer Sloan (Ernest Borgnine) tries to talk his friend out of risking the lives of his family, but Doyle proceeds with the attack. To their horror, their torpedoes sink the transport. The Japanese make no attempt to rescue the survivors, hoping to lure the sub to the surface. Doyle is forced to leave the prisoners to drown.
Doyle manages to follow the Shinaru into Tokyo Bay itself and tries again to sink his nemesis, but fails and barely escapes from Japanese destroyers. The Grayfish then returns to Pearl Harbor. There, Admiral Setton (Philip Ober) wants to promote Doyle to a desk job, but the anguished man begs for and gets one last chance at the Shinaru. Sloan turns down a command of his own to accompany him.
Doyle is assigned a quiet, out-of-the-way patrol area off the Alaska coast, but fortune is with him. He encounters the Shinaru once more. The sub sustains some damage from a collision and has to launch its attack using sonar alone. After the torpedoes are away, the sub is sent to the bottom by the Shinaru's escort. Fortunately, the crewmen are able to exit and use Momsen lungs to reach the surface, where they are rescued by a sister sub. When they are brought aboard, they are told that they have sunk the Shinaru.
