In 1996 I worked at a video store in Central Virginia. It was called Video to Go. It was a small mom and pop store and while working there I had unlimited access to movies. It was pretty cool.
Another benefit of working there is that we would receive “screeners’. These were copies of movies put out by studios to people who worked in the industry. We would receive them weeks before the movie was available to the general video-renting public.
Their goal in sending out these screeners was to get video store owners and employees to watch and hopefully like the movie. If that goal was achieved, it would result in more orders for that particular video. Back then, VHS copies of new releases cost the store $100 per copy, so every extra unit ordered was money in the bank for these distributors.
Down Periscope was one of the screeners we received. It was a movie that came and went from movie theaters without much fanfare. It was important to have good sales at the video store level if this movie was ever to become profitable.
I took the Down Periscope screener home and was pleasantly surprised. This movie is a comedy movie about a rag tag crew who are assigned a dead end mission. They are to take to ocean on a WW2 era diesel submarine and try to outsmart modern nuclear submarines in a war game scenario. Hijinks ensue.
The movie stars Kelsey Grammer, the actor best known for his work on Cheers and Frasier. Both were extremely popular shows and the latter was in peak production in 1996.
But Kelsey Grammer isn’t alone as far as comedic talent is concerned. Check out the other names on this cast list:
- Lauren Holly
- Rob Schneider
- Bruce Dern
- Harry Dean Stanton
- William H. Macy
- Rip Torn
- Harland Williams
- Patton Oswald (one scene only)
As you can see it is loaded with talent. The movie is fun, funny, entertaining and at just 93 minutes is the perfect length. I definitely recommend watching this movie if you are in the mood for a goofy yet inspiring film. I give it a score of 88 on Baldy Potatoes. It’s currently available on Prime.
PS, we only ended up buying two copies of the video. I would have purchased more if it were up to me. Those two copies stayed rented out most of the time and the feedback was always almost positive.