This well-made, suspenseful, made-for-TV movie – presented as part of The ABC Movie of the Week – stars Star Trek‘s Leonard Nimoy as Commander Phillip Kettenring, US Navy.
Kettenring is given command of the USS Anthony Wayne, an American nuclear submarine on a top-secret mission, although he has just been released from hospital and is judged by some to be mentally unstable.
The mission of the Wayne is to test whether nuclear submarines could be converted into moveable anti-ballistic missile (ABM) sites.
Kettenring’s conflict with the civilian scientist aboard, Dr Emile Dykers (Malachi Throne), his demands for a disciplined ship, and recurring headaches cause concern and uneasiness.
Meanwhile, Russian agents have infiltrated the crew and are aboard the submarine to sabotage the tests and steal the experimental missile guidance system.
All of the submarine sets were re-used from the movie Ice Station Zebra (1968). Some of the underwater special effects shots and footage of the submarine cruising on the surface, submerging, and surfacing were also from that film.
Commander Phil Kettenring
Leonard Nimoy Admiral
Joseph Cotten Orville Kelly
Keenan Wynn Captain Frank Reardon
William Windom Skip Langley
Dewey Martin Lieutenant Dave Burston
Lloyd Haynes Dr Emile Dykers
Malachi Throne Ensign William ‘Bill’ Sandover
Sam Elliott Donald Ellington
Ivor Barry CPO Corky Schmidt
Ron Masak Lieutenant Manners
Lee Stanley Lieutenant Benson
David Thorpe Clarence W. ‘CW’ Karp (First Karp)
Dale Tarter Second Karp
Gordon Hoban Mrs Karp
Ellen Tucker Paine
Paul Sears
Airport '79 - The Concorde (1979) The fourth helping of Airport adventure was subtitled The Concorde, and this time the plot dealt with international arms…
The mission of the Wayne is to test whether nuclear submarines could be converted into moveable anti-ballistic missile (ABM) sites.
