“Crimson Tide” (1995)
The Best of Tony Scott — Vol 3.
My rather wistful odyssey of re-releasing my favourite films directed by the one and only Tony Scott comes seeped in memories of seeing this film way back in those glorious middle 1990’s when a twenty something forever teenager had this film in pride of place on his rickety VHS shelf. A forever teenager, I saw this film even then as an exploratory dive into the world of “adult” films. No, not those adult films! The films you saw your parents love or talk about with reverence: slow burning war stories, westerns, stuffy period dramas. This film had Gene Hackman in it for crying out loud! And he looks damn angry about it!
Oh those years of being a twenty something forever teenager!
For Tony Scott (1944–2012) and a real Naval submariner from yesteryear, Patrick Blackford (1930–1986).
“You keep your priorities straight. Your mission, and your men”.
Tony Scott again teams up with Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer in this, his eighth cinematic feature. This film remains a personal favourite of mine for a host of reasons. Being a Portsmouth lad and brought up near the coast and a bustling dockyard, my Father was a submariner in his very early years and many, many years before I entered the fray. My older Sister was married to a sailor, hence I was lucky enough to set foot on both a small frigate naval ship and inside an unbelievably claustrophobic submarine when I was a very young boy. However, that’s not the main reason for my love of this film. It’s for two performances of the highest calibre, from Denzel Washington as Lieutenant Commander “Ron Hunter” and Gene Hackman as Captain “Frank Ramsey”, his portrayal in particular is Oscar worthy yet cruelly overlooked.
Although Produced by the combination of Simpson/Bruckheimer, please don’t allow that to put you off as this film is so much more than their traditional blockbuster genre of popcorn fare. With an uncredited writing position for Quentin Tarantino and a sublime musical score from Hans Zimmer, this claustrophobic thriller set almost exclusively within a submarine is still fantastic 17 years after initial release and has aged very, very little. A stellar supporting cast of a young Viggo Mortensen as “Peter Ince” and James Gandolfini as “Bobby Dougherty” excel, as do Matt Craven as “Roy Zimmer” and George Dzundra as “Chief of the Boat”. There are numerous more superb cameos throughout.
The opening twenty minutes, whilst jingoistic nonsense, sets up the premise for the film as a whole. A rogue Russian breakaway republic is threatening to launch nuclear missiles at both the USA and Japan and the clock is very much ticking. In retaliation and as both an attack and defence mechanism, the USS Alabama under the stewardship of Captain Ramsey is launched. With newly installed “XO” or Commanding Officer Hunter next to him, Ramsey takes centre stage and it’s a thunderous, yet nuanced at times performance from Gene Hackman. I’ll explore both Hackman’s and Washington’s roles later. Within the first twenty minutes are numerous stock footage shots of the present day, mimicking the cold war of recent times between the USA and Russia, but these opening minutes are all exposition for the real core of the film aboard the USS Alabama. Very similar in style to 1990’s John McTiernan directed The Hunt for Red October but more similar to my personal favourite Das Boot (directed by Wolfgang Petersen), all three films brilliantly depict life inside a cramped and claustrophobic submarine deep in the ocean.
Rather than give further exposition as to the plot of the film, I’ll complete this appraisal by focussing on the giant performances from Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. Their joint scenes together litter the film with greatness and are at the heart of the film as they verbally joust their way to dominance in every scene. Sparring with each other verbally, to gain dominance and the higher ground and more importantly, the moral higher ground in many respects. Both performances are sublime, however Hackman’s is corrosive, explosive, exploitative and utterly compelling. The following is a brief dissection of their first three joint scenes together, all within the opening Act of the film:
With his Chief of the Boat standing and hovering over the conversation and against a backdrop of raining pouring down the window panes, the camera zooms into Captain Ramsey reading Hunter’s citations and recommendations, only glancing up for his first look at Hunter, with a sneering smile and “A year at, excuse me….Harvard?”. It’s both a question and a statement of intent from the Captain. With only an occasional cut away shot to the Chief of the Boat, there’s now predominantly just two cameras used, both over the shoulders of our protagonists, for that’s what they are and are brilliantly portrayed by both actors here. Captain Ramsey, smoking his cigar and staring intently at Hunter, a nervously smiling, agitated and unsure exactly what footing the conversation is on. Ramsey is quick to change from smile to sneer, joke to serious question, forever trying to unbalance the young recruit.
Needing a new Commanding Officer, Ramsey confirms Hunter’s name was “at the top of the list” but before Hunter can gain comfort from this compliment, Ramsey dead pans a further “It was a short list” gibe. Continually underlining everything he says with a veneer of sarcasm and/or contempt, Ramsey continually unsettles Hunter. The close ups on Denzel Washington confirm this brilliantly, a smile is quickly replaced by a quizzical look of bemusement, of wonder, his ease replaced by a concerned look. Ramsey ends the scene abruptly with a knowing look to his Chief of the Boat before standing and confirming to his new charge “Welcome aboard The Alabama son. Do me proud”.
On deck and amidst a beautiful setting sun in the background, Captain Ramsey passes Hunter a cigar to enjoy, along with the sunset.
“Last breath of polluted air for the next 65 days. Gonna miss it. I don’t trust air I can’t see”.
Captain Ramsey describes this as his favourite part, the setting sun before the submerging of the submarine. With the camera mainly on the Captain (Hunter is in shot by mainly on the periphery) Ramsey gives Hunter a rare genuine compliment before he gives the final order to dive “Bravo Hunter. You knew to shut up and enjoy the view”. This short scene ends with brilliant slow motion shots of the submarine slowly submerging and diving from view, to the strains of “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”.
My favourite scene of the film so I make no apology for including it here!
Sitting around the Officers Mess/Lunch room post dinner, the conversation amongst the Officers is of their Russian adversaries, of warfare and of the merits and demerits of dropping the Atomic bomb in World War Two. His smiles turning to snarls and sneers, Captain Ramsey holds court, dominating the conversation as he begins to almost test Hunter on his views of warfare and their reasons for being where they are. Testing his commitment yet still playing to the assembled officers, Hackman is formidable here as Captain Ramsey, the old wise head of Naval warfare and conflict, juxtaposed against the fresh faced Academy Graduate Hunter. A brilliantly written and shot scene, it climaxes all too soon, but not before Hunter finally gains some momentum in his verbal jousts with his new Captain.
Quoting the teachings and philosophy of Carl Von Clausewitz, a moral crusader in times of 18th Century war, Ramsey misquotes him to which Hunter corrects him “the purpose of war is to serve a political aim but the true nature of war is to serve itself” whilst also giving his leanings and moral views on modern day warfare “I just think that in the nuclear world, the true enemy cannot be destroyed”. A further verbal joust ensues before Captain Ramsey, pulling hard on his cigar stares intensely at Hunter, never leaving his gaze as the scene ends.
The opening jingoism aside, this film remains a firm favourite of mine. The cinematic score from Hans Zimmer is often overlooked but is a wonderful accompaniment to the film. As is the screenplay (uncredited Tarantino addition or not). A triumph for the Director, but two stand out performances that still stand the test of time.
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film articles are linked below or there’s well over 200 blog articles (with 400+ individual film reviews) within my archives from which to choose:
