zardoz-13 Billed as 'the untold story of Uncle Sam's underwater commandos,' "Action in the North Atlantic" director Lloyd Bacon's "The Frogmen" concerns the daring exploits of the U.S. Navy's Underwater Demolition Team (U.D.T.) during the twilight of World War II. This thoroughly routine secret mission fodder casts Richard Widmark as Lieutenant Commander John Lawrence, the new kid commander on the block and depicts his efforts to win the respect of his fellow frogmen. If you've seen another Twentieth Century Fox classic "Twelve O'Clock High," "The Frogmen" is somewhat reminiscent of it as well as "The Flying Leathernecks.: It seems that the guys revered their former commander, Mr. Cassidy, who died in the line of duty and have a difficult time accepting Lawrence as his replacement. Cassidy was a favorite about the men, but Lawrence does nothing but antagonize them. At one point, everybody on the UDT team requests a transfer out. For the record, "The Frogmen" is a movie for guys because there are no women in cast and virtually all the action happens at sea.The action transpires for the most part aboard a navy ship as our heroes are called upon to survey beachheads for future assaults and later blow-up a Japanese submarine pen. Bacon and "So Dear to My Heart" scenarist John Tucker Battle don't exactly have much to work with here and there is only the barest reference to the time frame during which these adventures occur. Presumably, since they mention Iwo Jima, everything in "The Frogmen" takes place afterward as America considered invading Japan. The ship's captain, Lieutenant Commander Pete Vincent (Gary Merrill of "Twelve O'Clock High") offers the green skipper advice, such as holding a funeral service after several men in his command die when their boat receives a direct hit. Lawrence has to contend with thick-skulled personnel , like Chief Jake Flannigan (Dana Andrews of "The Ox-Bow Incident") and Pappy (Jeffrey Hunter of "The Searchers") when they jeopardize their lives playing a prank to get back at the Marines. Pappy has a $50 dollar bet that the Marines will wade ashore and see a banner that Flannigan and he stake out on the beach welcoming the jarheads. On the way back, Pappy catches a couple of bullets near the spine and has to be laid up in traction. Of course, the team will eventually accept Lawrence as one of their own but not under this 96-minute, black & white epic is almost finished. One scene that generates some suspense occurs when a Japanese torpedo penetrates the hull of Vincent's ship and Lawrence has to disarm it. Complicating matters considerably is the presence of the torpedo in the same room where Pappy is strung up with counterweights until they can reach the surgeons at Pearl Harbor. Lawrence has the task of disarming the torpedo. The grand finale at a Japanese submarine pen is the only time that we see the soldiers of the Rising Sun. There is a brief underwater struggle with Japanese divers before everything goes up. Nothing disparaging is ever mentioned about the Japanese enemy and they seem largely benign and pose little threat. Essentially, this is a traditional World War II opus where the men change their haughty attitude of dislike for their commander into one of adulation. However, at no time do they advocate killing him. The underwater photography looks good, but the suspense comes up short. Mind you, Bacon and company don't spout the war cliché that on the basis of a single mission hangs the fate of the war. Altogether, "The Frogmen" qualifies as tolerable.

kmiller12 The first time I saw this I was 10 years old, very impressionable and wanted very much to be like these men of war. This film has a lot to say about dedication and hard work learning the art of war. As John Wayne once said in "Sands of Iwo Jima" about the learning of the proper procedures of how to fight a war, because if we don't do it right a whole lot of men don't walk away from it, "forevermore they don't". As has been said this is the precursor to the modern day Seals. Sure I know they are tougher men today, but in my estimation not any more honorable and dedicated than the men portrayed in this "great" film.The acting is outstanding and very real, especially to be so good that an old man like myself, remembers how I felt all the times I saw the film. If a film and the men involved in telling the tale of "The Frogmen" left that much impression and remembered to this day, then it had to be great acting, direction and favorably produced. There was no outlandish computer graphic techniques of today nor scenes of blowing up the world that come so common place in todays action genra films, but a reason and purpose for the gritty life and death struggle each man faced to become a frogman in the U. S. Navy or UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams) as they were and are called.This black and white picture was dominated by the snarling Richard Widmark in perhaps his best performance in his career. I know many remember him for other films, but to me, he made this film and was the quintessential commander training his men to do a very difficult job with nothing more than shear strength of character and leadership. They did not have the high tech apparatus of todays Seals, but for what they lacked in equipment they more than made up for in "guts and glory" beneath the waters.The rest of the cast, Dana Andrews, Gary Merrill, Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner, just to name a few seemed to be portraying what is best in the Navy and men of war. Several more gave memorable performances in telling the tale of "The Frogmen" and the U. S. Navy's dedication to the finest in warfare.The standard war movie is one thing, but this is a classic not seen much today and one in which many that followed learned by this tale of the U. S. Navy.

yarborough I didn't expect too much from this movie as I watched it for the first time, but it was even more minor than I originally thought. Widmark is a bland star for this one, as is Dana Andrews, but young Jeffrey Hunter does a decent job. However, the characters on the ship (which is the setting for the whole movie) are simply too immature and childish to be believable as navy men. Also, the story is simply not interesting (though it has a few intriguing moments) and the climax is sleepy and trite. On top of that, the underwater sequences are not impressive. But the biggest disgrace in this movie is the publicity stunt that was pulled for Robert Wagner. In the opening credits of this movie Wagner is billed fifth, with his name in huge letters, but he appears literally in no more than five seconds of the movie, has no lines, and can only be seen at a distance. Apparently, when this movie was made, he was nothing, but by the time it was released, he attained some popularity, so the company pulled a fast one on the young girls who hoped to see him in this movie. Years ago I noticed that a similar stunt was pulled for Wagner for the 1950 film "Halls of Montezuma" but to a lesser extent.

Piafredux Pity 'The Frogmen' isn't yet on DVD. It features the techniques developed and applied by WWII's U.S. Navy UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams), many of which techniques formed the basis for the methods employed by today's SEAL teams - and the UDT's did their bit with rebreather rigs that weren't nearly as sophisticated or reliable as today's high-tech SCUBA and rebreather gear. The UDT's were pioneers on the cutting edge of their mission, an edge the likes of which will not likely be seen again.A standard plot is redeemed by fine performances from all, and by exciting action sequences that have not dated as much as one might suspect they would have by 2003.