mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Spikeopath Richard Widmark {Capt. Adam Jones} stars in this Cold War thriller as the leader of a submarine expedition to the frozen depths of Alaska. His mission is to thwart the communist Chinese who are intent on kick starting World War 3.Hell and High Water is one of the multitude of pictures that serve only as studio efforts made for made's sake. Take your leading actor, surround them with jobbing actors, and mold a picture together as best as you can. Sometimes a film can break free of its B and C movie roots to truly surprise, but others flounder to only serve as time fillers on terrestrial television. This film falls some where in between the two, not particularly bad exactly, but outside of a couple of tight sequences, not necessarily good either.It was actually in premise, building up to be a promising film. Then we see a shapely pair of legs coming down the submarine stairs and we just know that this film will lose its edge, and sadly, where it's all going to end up. The insistence of many writers and film makers to shoe horn in a love interest in the grittiest of places rarely works, and here it most assuredly doesn't either. Not that Bella Darvi {owner of those shapely legs} is poor or is at fault for the film being average, it just takes the film in a direction that it didn't need to go. Tension is built up, with one face off submarine sequence being particularly hold your breath inducing, but the preposterous romantic angle on a submarine death mission is badly misplaced. Tidy but unmemorable, and cribbing from Crash Dive released eleven years earlier, it's probably one for Widmark purists only. 5/10

ShootingShark Former US Navy submariner Adam Jones receives a mysterious mission - he is to captain an ageing Jap sub to a remote North Pacific island where his superiors suspect something secret and sinister is going on …Although this is not one of Fuller's best films, it's still a pretty enjoyable sub action flick and the script contains many of his usual quirks and non-stereotypical characters. What's most intriguing here is the open world-view; the crew are a mixture of American, French, Japanese and Chinese, all of whom pull together well, and love interest Darvi is never reduced to an obvious sex object. I always need to remind myself that Fuller made most of his films in the fifties because they never reflect any of the bigotry and narrow-minded xenophobia of the time. The action moves pleasingly along from the setup to an undersea dogfight to a gun-battle finale, but the movie feels somewhat stilted at times and Jones' transformation from selfish mercenary to moral leader isn't really successful. Production values are much higher than normal for Fuller's work, with a hefty budget and rich blue Cinemascope colours, but dramatically it doesn't score as well as his best work (Run Of The Arrow, Verboten!, The Crimson Kimono, Shock Corridor). Skilfully written by Fuller and Jessy Lasky Jr., and featuring a booming Wagnerian score by Alfred Newman.

bob the moo When yet another atomic scientist goes missing behind the Iron Curtain, a private submarine expedition is put together to trail a freighter suspected of being able to lead the crew to what is believed to be the place where the Chinese are conducting nuclear research in preparation for a war. Former submarine commander Jones is contracted to lead the exhibition with a ragtag crew and a submarine in need of maintenance time that is not available to him. With Professor Montel technically in charge with his (female) assistant Professor Gerard by his side, the boat sets out on the mission of observation but with the ever present threat of danger in the hostile waters.A bit of a romp this one as it revels more in the gaudy sweep of the telling rather than the tension from narrative detail. The plot doesn't really matter so much as it is a simple device for the voyage. Along the way we get personal conflicts, crew tensions and underwater stand-offs as well as some fire-fights. At no point was I hooked but it is rather entertaining in the way that school-boy adventure stories are – full of tough men, sacrifice and action. In this regard it suits the people making it and Fuller directs with simple but bright colours – easy to understand and engage with even if they are too simple to be real. So it is with the characters and plot but it still works. The romantic side of the story is a flop and I didn't see why a female character couldn't just be a character and had to be a love interest (well, obviously I understand why this decision is made, but I didn't see the value of it in the story).The headlining of Richard Widmark is rarely a bad thing and he fits this tough action drama with his stern delivery and commanding presence. There is no doubting that Darvi is sexy and a good presence when it comes to being coy and flirtatious however when more is asked of her she is found wanting as she lacks the range. The rest of the cast fit in well around them – nobody brilliant of course but everyone able to be at the level required by the material.Not that intelligent or complex a film but a solid enough wartime action film which will do the job if that's all you're looking for.

starracer007 Although she didn't make but three major Hollywood motion pictures, Bella Darvi had magnificent screen magnetism that made a man's pulse beat red hot. In this campy picture (her first film), she does a fine job in her first effort as a film actress, displaying good technique cinematically. She was, as they say, a natural. The French accent, the smooth skin, the sharp facial bone structure, those arched eyebrows, that smoldering stare, and that oh-so-sexy slightly cross-eyed look just made a guy want and wonder. Her voice was strong and yet soft at the right moments. There was something about her that made a man want scoop her up into his arms and say, "Hey, baby, it's gonna be okay!"It's too bad that she was perhaps a victim of her own sexuality as it is rumored that Mrs. Darryl Zanuck discovered there might have been some hanky-panky with Mr. 20th Century Fox.Richard Widmark is fittingly commanding and cantankerous as the sub skipper, and Cameron Mitchell does what he did so well in playing the comic relief sidekick sonar guy.The script and it's dialog is something straight out of a comic book, but you've got to love it. It's got all of the marbles in one bag: submarines, underwater battles complete with ramming full speed ahead, a silent running sweatout, crash dives, commando shore raids, evil Commies, a spy guy named Chin Lee, a B-29 bomber, and just to put the cherry on the Boston cream pie, the obligatory nuclear explosion. Check Bella Darvi out opposite Kirk Douglas in "The Racers". There again, the lady is smokin' hot! So, if you want a good time, pop some corn, pull up a chair, and watch "Hell and High Water"!!!