FerDeLance

Fer-de-Lance (1974)

In this made for TV movie we follow a US Navy submarine called the Fer-de-Lance. We watch as it stops to pick up some divers for underwater testing of explosives. While in port one of the crew thinks it would be a fun idea to bring some snakes aboard. Poisonous snakes that start to bite the crew. As if this wasn’t bad enough the chaos created by the snakes causes an accident that traps the sub and crew at the bottom of the ocean. As they try and figure a way to free the sub they also have to deal with the snakes.

I’m not old enough to have watched this movie when it was first broadcast, but I did catch it several times in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s on the late night movie shows. The combination of the claustrophobic setting of the submarine and my overall dislike for snakes made this movie very scary to me. I have to admit as an adult it doesn’t work that well on me anymore. The story is very predictable and the stuff with the snakes really isn’t that scary. I mean yeah we seen them slithering around the pipes a bit, but the movie has no atmosphere. In fact once they figure out that they should turn the heat down the snakes disappear as a plot point for the rest of the movie. All the stuff not snake related about the sub being trapped underwater has the feel of a low budget disaster movie and isn’t that interesting.

The cast does have a few familiar faces. The best and most recognizable is David Janssen, who walks thru most of the movie looking like he doesn’t really want to be there. He plays a stereotypical gruff officer that is forced to be in command when everyone above him has died in the accident. I’ve seen and enjoyed him in a lot of cheesy TV movies (Moon of the Wolf is a blast!) but this might be the worst that I’ve seen form him. Other then Janssen we get to see a pre WKRP Frank Bonner and a pre Quincy Robert Ito in supporting roles. All I can say about there performances is that Bonner is much better here then he was in Equinox.

The production values are about what you would expect on a made for Television movie from this era. There is some okay miniature work with the underwater sub exteriors and the scuba scenes are pretty ambitious. But I was disappointed in how well light the interiors are after the accident. It is so damn bright that there aren’t that many shadows that totally kills any atmosphere the movie could have had. Also I know they were limited in what they could do with the snakes, but it was still lacking somehow. Not to mention the snakes go from small to pretty damn good size in a couple of hours.

Sometimes it is fun tracking down and old favorite and sometimes you might wish that you didn’t. While I had some nostalgic fun while watching Fer de Lance, it really isn’t that good of a movie. Not only that but I had a heck of a time tracking down a copy so it probably isn’t worth the effort. It pains me to say this but I can’t recommend spending the time and effort locating or watching this movie.

1 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer