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Snakes on a Submarine!?
August 23, 2006

With the entertainment news and online community engaged i

n what are probably the final throes of New Line’s Snakes on a Plane media blitz (sadly, the assault didn't lend itself to more notable opening weekend box office numbers), we’re surprised that we’ve seen nary a mention anywhere of Fer-de-Lance, the 1974 TV movie may well have been the inspiration for New Line’s online sensation.

Directed by Russ Mayberry (a top episodic TV director of his day, unless you don’t consider The Rockford Files, McCloud, Magnum P.I. and The Six Million Dollar Man to be the top!), Fer-de-Lance is essentially, in today’s parlance, Snakes on a Submarine. Check it out: Unbeknownst to the crew of an American submarine that has just left Tierra del Fuego, a stupid crew member has secretly smuggled on board a container full of poisonous snakes. (The variety would be that of the titular fer-de-lance, which is generally considered to be the most dangerous snake of Central and South America and the cause of more human deaths than any other American reptile.) Within a half-hour and a couple of commercials later, the snakes have escaped and done some preliminary biting, causing an accident that cripples the sub and leaves it stranded at the bottom of the sea. Attempts to escape the sunken vessel are hindered, of course, by those darn snakes.

Starring a pair of TV stalwarts of the era, David Janssen and Hope Lange (what the hell was Mrs. Muir doing onboard a submarine?), Fer-de-Lance is not available on disc and is long out of print on Goodtimes VHS, though some used copies are floating around on the ‘net. We smell a DVD debut...!

Posted by on August 23, 2006 | Comments (1)