:USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage

In 1945, the Portland-class heavy cruiser {{USS|Indianapolis|CA-35|6}}, commanded by Captain Charles McVay, delivers parts of the atomic bomb that would later be used to bomb Hiroshima at the end of World War II. While patrolling in the Philippine Sea, on July 30 in 1945, the unescorted ship is torpedoed and sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarine I-58, taking 300 crewmen with it to the bottom of the Philippine Sea, and the rest climb out of the ship and were left stranded at sea for five days without food and water in shark-infested waters.

With no hope for five days, most of the remaining crewmembers are eaten by sharks or die of salt water poisoning by drinking seawater, which also caused some of those injured to die from seasickness and infectious wounds. Others swim off from their groups after hallucinating a non-existent island, never to be seen again. On the fifth day, the surviving crew are spotted by a PBY Catalina, and rescue later arrives. Only 316 survived the disaster.

Looking for a scapegoat for its own gross negligence, the US Navy court-martials and convicts Captain McVay for "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag." Despite having been found not guilty by overwhelming evidence supporting McVay, as well as testimony from the former captain of the IJN's I-58 submarine, Captain McVay commits suicide in 1968 since he is already been stricken by grief and is being harassed by phone calls and mail from the deceased crewmen's relatives, as well as from the media. The movie's postscript states that Captain McVay was posthumously exonerated of all charges by President Bill Clinton in 2000.

While the credits roll, two Navy sailors recount the sharks in the waters, and real footage of the rescue is shown, along with many still shots of lost sailors.

{{castlist|

• Nicolas Cage as Captain Charles B. McVay III
• Tom Sizemore as Chief Petty Officer McWhorter
• Thomas Jane as Lieutenant Adrian Marks
• Matt Lanter as Chief Petty Officer Brian "Bama" Smithwick
• James Remar as Rear Admiral William S. Parnell
• Brian Presley as Waxman
• Yutaka Takeuchi as Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1798276/ Yutaka Takeuchi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824085853/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1798276/ |date=2017-08-24 }} on IMDb
• Johnny Wactor as Connor
• Adam Scott Miller as Mike D'Antonio
• Cody Walker as Petty Officer Third Class West
• Callard Harris as Lieutenant Standish
• Mandela Van Peebles as Theodore
• Craig Tate as Garrison
• Joey Capone as Alvin
• Emily Tennant as Clara
• Shamar Sanders as Quinn
• Max Ryan as Lieutenant Wilbur "Chuck" Gwinn
• Patrice Cols as Jean-Pierre
• Currie Graham as Captain Ryan, Prosecutor In McVay's Court Martial.
• Matthew Pearson as "Deuce"
• Timothy Patrick Cavanaugh as Commander Cavanaugh
• Jose Julian as Sanchez
• Weronika Rosati as Louise, McVay's Wife
• Mattie Liptak as Paul
• Justin Nesbitt as Lindy

}}

The project USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, set in July 1945, is about the Navy ship {{USS|Indianapolis|CA-35|6}} and was first announced in 2011 by Hannibal Classics. Near the end of World War II, when the ship was returning from the US base on the island of Tinian after delivering important parts for the atomic bomb known as Little Boy, it was torpedoed by {{Ship|Japanese submarine|I-58|1943|2}}.{{cite news |last1=McNary |first1=Dave |title='USS: Indianapolis' Shoot Set for June in Alabama (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2013/film/news/uss-indianapolis-shoot-set-for-june-in-alabama-exclusive-1200966571/ |access-date=April 27, 2015 |work=Variety |date=December 17, 2013 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402185636/http://variety.com/2013/film/news/uss-indianapolis-shoot-set-for-june-in-alabama-exclusive-1200966571/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Second USS Indianapolis Film to go into Production |url=http://nukethefridge.com/2011/08/20/second-u-s-s-indianapolis-film-to-go-into-production/ |access-date=June 25, 2015 |work=nukethefridge.com |date=August 20, 2011 |archive-date=October 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027025720/http://nukethefridge.com/2011/08/20/second-u-s-s-indianapolis-film-to-go-into-production/ |url-status=dead }} Only 317 of the 1,197 people on board the ship survived to be rescued; almost 300 went down with the ship, and more than 500 who survived the sinking were killed by dehydration, exposure, salt water poisoning, or shark attacks over the next five days. Cam Cannon and Richard Rionda Del Castro, the latter also being engaged as a producer, wrote the script for the film. The focus of the film is on the bravery of the crewmen aboard Indianapolis.

On December 17, 2013, Hannibal set Mario Van Peebles to direct the film, and Patriot Pictures would finance and Rionda Del Castro would produce along with Michael Mendelsohn. The studio (Hannibal) had developed the film in five years by consulting the survivors of the disaster, including the US Navy and the US Coast Guard. The US Navy helped with the completion and finalization of the last draft of the script.

Walt Conti of Edge Innovations provided the animated sharks, and the production reportedly secured two fully-operational World War II-era warbirds to portray the airplanes that were involved in the real rescue operations after the disaster. Silo Inc. and Hydroflex were attached to handle digital effects and underwater filming for the film, respectively. The battleship {{USS|Alabama|BB-60|6}} and {{USS|Drum|SS-228|6}}, preserved as museum ships at the Battleship Memorial Park near Mobile, Alabama, were used to depict Indianapolis and the Japanese submarine.

The film is dedicated to the men of the USS Indianapolis and their families.

On February 5, 2015, Nicolas Cage was set to play the lead role of Captain Charles McVay in the film.{{cite news |last1=McNary |first1=Dave |title=Berlin: Nicolas Cage to Star in WWII Drama 'USS Indianapolis' (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/news/berlin-nicolas-cage-on-uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-exclusive-1201422962/ |access-date=June 25, 2015 |work=variety.com |date=February 5, 2015 |archive-date=July 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703190250/http://variety.com/2015/film/news/berlin-nicolas-cage-on-uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-exclusive-1201422962/ |url-status=live }}

Matt Lanter was set on April 1, 2015 to play a US Navy diver, named Chief Petty Officer Brian "Bama" Smithwick.{{cite news |last1=Lincoln |first1=Ross A. |title=Matt Lanter Boards 'USS Indianapolis' With Nicolas Cage; Two More Jump In 'The Lake' |url=https://deadline.com/2015/04/matt-lanter-uss-indianapolis-nicholas-cage-two-more-join-the-lake-1201402737/ |access-date=April 27, 2015 |work=Deadline Hollywood |date=April 1, 2015 |archive-date=May 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506101910/http://deadline.com/2015/04/matt-lanter-uss-indianapolis-nicholas-cage-two-more-join-the-lake-1201402737/ |url-status=live }} Lanter revealed to the producers after his audition that his grandfather, Kenley Lanter, was a Signalman on Indianapolis. Furthermore, Lanter's father, Joe Lanter, is a chairman of Second Watch, an organization of survivors and their families. Joe Lanter and his co-chair, Maria Bullard, stayed in contact with the producers during pre-production and were welcomed to the set during photography.

On May 13, 2015, Variety revealed that Tom Sizemore, Thomas Jane and Brian Presley had also joined the cast of the film, in which Sizemore would play McWhorter, one of the crew on the ship, while Jane was to play the pilot Chuck Gwinn.{{cite news |last1=McNary |first1=Dave |title=Cannes: Nicolas Cage's 'USS Indianapolis' Bought by Saban Films (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/news/nicolas-cage-uss-indianapolis-sold-to-saban-1201495482/ |access-date=June 25, 2015 |work=variety.com |date=May 13, 2015 |archive-date=July 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710225022/http://variety.com/2015/film/news/nicolas-cage-uss-indianapolis-sold-to-saban-1201495482/ |url-status=live }}

In May 2015, Saban Films acquired the North American distribution rights to the film. On May 18, 2015, Sizemore's role was confirmed by Variety.{{cite news |last1=Kroll |first1=Justin |title=Tom Sizemore Joins Nicolas Cage in WWII Movie 'USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage' |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/news/tom-sizemore-uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-cast-nicolas-cage-1201499699/ |access-date=June 25, 2015 |work=variety.com |date=May 18, 2015 |archive-date=July 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709114422/http://variety.com/2015/film/news/tom-sizemore-uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-cast-nicolas-cage-1201499699/ |url-status=live }}

On July 15, 2015, Cody Walker was cast in the film to play one of the crewmen aboard the ship.{{cite news |last1=McNary |first1=Dave |title=Paul Walker's Brother Cody Walker Starring in Nicolas Cage's 'USS Indianapolis' |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/news/paul-walker-brother-uss-indianapolis-1201540959/ |access-date=July 16, 2015 |work=variety.com |date=July 15, 2015 |archive-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716163633/http://variety.com/2015/film/news/paul-walker-brother-uss-indianapolis-1201540959/ |url-status=live }}

Principal photography on the film began on June 19, 2015 in Mobile, Alabama with many scenes shot aboard the battleship {{USS|Alabama|BB-60|6}}.{{cite news|title='USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage' Starring Nicolas Cage Open Casting Call|url=http://www.projectcasting.com/casting-calls-acting-auditions/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-starring-nic-cage-open-casting-call/|access-date=June 25, 2015|work=projectcasting.com|date=June 10, 2015|archive-date=July 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708091527/http://www.projectcasting.com/casting-calls-acting-auditions/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-starring-nic-cage-open-casting-call/|url-status=live}} Filming was also to take place in San Francisco and Kyoto, Japan, but the producers later opted to double Mobile for both San Francisco and Japan. On June 27, 2015, filming was underway in Orange Beach.{{cite news |last1=Coffaro |first1=Devan |title=Exclusive: FOX10 tours USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage |url=http://www.fox10tv.com/story/29421633/exclusive-fox-10-tours-uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage |access-date=June 30, 2015 |work=fox10tv.com |date=June 27, 2015 |archive-date=July 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702134531/http://www.fox10tv.com/story/29421633/exclusive-fox-10-tours-uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage |url-status=dead }}

A World War II-era vintage PBY-6A Catalina amphibious seaplane was being used for the filming on June 29, 2015, when it took on water and beached near the Flora-Bama lounge, Orange Beach.{{cite news|last1=Mullen|first1=John|title=Vintage plane planned for movie beached at Flora-Bama|url=http://www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com/stories/trailer-for-uss-indianapolis-partly-shot-in-orange-beach-is-released,38526|access-date=2016-10-10|work=gulfcoastnewstoday.com|date=2016-05-06|archive-date=2023-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715041624/https://gulfcoastmedia.com/stories/trailer-for-uss-indianapolis-partly-shot-in-orange-beach-is-released,38526|url-status=live}} There were no injuries during the incident, and the rescue team secured the pilot and co-pilot.{{cite news |last1=Lowe |first1=Kinsey |title='USS Indianapolis' Production Delayed After Vintage Plane Waterlogged |url=https://deadline.com/2015/07/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-delayed-vintage-pby-plane-fail-1201468055/ |access-date=July 5, 2015 |work=Deadline Hollywood |date=July 3, 2015 |archive-date=June 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622094617/http://deadline.com/2015/07/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-delayed-vintage-pby-plane-fail-1201468055/ |url-status=live }} Producers had to put the production on hold temporarily to save the plane, but "the salvage company was unable to save the aircraft," which was broken apart, according to the producers.{{cite news |last1=Ikenberg |first1=Tamara |title=WWII – era plane flown in for film "USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage" falls apart during salvage attempt |url=http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/07/uss_indianapolis.html |access-date=July 6, 2015 |work=al.com |date=July 4, 2015 |archive-date=July 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706230240/http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/07/uss_indianapolis.html |url-status=live }} The plane was provided by firefighters from Washington and was being piloted by Fred and Jayson Owen.{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=Marc D. |title=Beached WWII-era seaplane disrupts filming of Nicolas Cage movie in Orange Beach |url=http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/07/beached_wwii_era_seaplane_disr.html |access-date=July 6, 2015 |work=al.com |date=July 1, 2015 |archive-date=July 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703202312/http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/07/beached_wwii_era_seaplane_disr.html |url-status=live }}

After filming on July 14 in downtown Mobile, Cage met a real Navy veteran named Richard Stephens on a bench at Bienville Square. Stephens was one of the survivors of the ship, so Cage and Stephens had an extended discussion about the disaster.{{cite news |last1=Ikenberg |first1=Tamara |title=Nicolas Cage meets a man of courage on the set of 'USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage' |url=http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/07/nicolas_cage.html |access-date=July 16, 2015 |work=al.com |date=July 14, 2015 |archive-date=July 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150718043642/http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/07/nicolas_cage.html |url-status=live }}

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 17% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 3.4/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter referred to the movie as "slapdash", and called the special effects "garish and unconvincing"; the movie's sharks he thought were "Sharknado-style".{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/uss-indianapolis-men-courage-946503 |title='USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage': Film Review |work=The Hollywood Reporter |last=Scheck |first=Frank |date=November 11, 2016 |access-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-date=August 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810061514/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/uss-indianapolis-men-courage-946503 |url-status=live }} Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com thought, just as Scheck and many other reviewers did, that such a "harrowing" story would have been adapted to the screen far earlier. His consensus was the film was "not exactly unwatchable", but also "completely not worthy of watching", with its "lazy inattention to period detail", summing it up as "two-hours plus of bumbling and pandering".{{cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-2016 |title=USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage |last=Kenny |first=Glenn |work=RogerEbert.com |date=November 11, 2016 |access-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624164748/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-2016 |url-status=live }}

Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times criticized the film's "lack of subtlety" in dealing with such an "almost unbelievable" story. He called the characters' storylines away from the main plot "flimsy" and the special effects "rickety", and noted that the film's "leaden" treatment of the central story "suck[ed] all the drama out of it".{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/movies/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-review-nicolas-cage.html?_r=0 |title=Review: 'U.S.S. Indianapolis,' a War (Yawn) Catastrophe |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |work=The New York Times |date=November 10, 2016 |access-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-date=August 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806223141/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/movies/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage-review-nicolas-cage.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{IMDb title|2032572}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|uss_indianapolis_men_of_courage}}
• [https://www.shark-utopia.com/movie/uss-indianapolis-men-of-courage/ USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage] at [https://www.shark-utopia.com Shark Utopia]

{{Mario Van Peebles}}

Category:American disaster films

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