RUN SILENT RUN DEEP (1958)

WWII Navy Cmdr. Rich Richardson (Clark Gable). sidelined for a year because he lost his sub to a Japanese destroyer, pulls strings to command another sub that was slated for Lt. Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster). This sets off a bitter feud between them, and the crew (siding with Bledsoe) that both officers manage to finesse with dedication to duty, as Richardson obsesses about finding and sinking that destroyer. Gable, who never played anyone other than himself no matter what the nominal role, is ageing, paunchy but turns in a surprisingly nuanced performance. Lancaster is excellent, as always, in a typically manly role. The human drama is very well done, as are the battle scenes. This is a typical WWII movie made 15 years after the fact, but still packing the punch of those earlier films. Instead of Alan Hale, Sam Levene, Richard Conti and Dane Clark, the all-ethnic crew in "Run Silent," includes Jack Warden, Eddie Foy III, Nick Cravat, Brad Dexter, Rudy Bond and...Don Rickles. The obligatory kid sailor on his first mission gets killed off, too. Very fine movie.