Uncommon Valor

For the Jedi Mind Tricks song, see Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story.
Uncommon Valor

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ted Kotcheff
Produced by David Brown
Michael Tolkin
Nick Wechsler
Buzz Feitshans
John Milius
Written by Joe Gayton
Starring
Music by James Horner
Cinematography Stephen H. Burum
Edited by Mark Melnick
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • December 16, 1983 (1983-12-16)
Running time
 105 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $30,503,151 (USA)

Uncommon Valor is a 1983 American war film written by Joe Gayton and directed by Ted Kotcheff, about a U.S. Marine officer who puts together a team to try to rescue his son, who he believes is among those still held in Laos after the Vietnam War. The film stars Gene Hackman, Fred Ward, Reb Brown, Robert Stack, Michael Dudikoff, and in an early screen appearance, Patrick Swayze.

Plot

Taking place in the early 1980s and set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, retired Marine Colonel Jason Rhodes (Gene Hackman) is obsessed with finding his son Frank, listed as "missing in action" (MIA) since 1972. After 10 years of searching Southeast Asia and turning up several leads, Rhodes believes that Frank is still alive and being kept in Laos as a prisoner of war.

After petitioning the United States government for help, but receiving none, Colonel Rhodes brings together a disparate group of Vietnam War veterans, including some who were a part of Frank's platoon: Wilkes (Fred Ward), a "tunnel rat" who suffers from PTSD; "Blaster", a demolitions expert (Reb Brown); and "Sailor", a mental case with a heart of gold (Randall "Tex" Cobb). Additionally, two helicopter pilots, Distinguished Flying Cross recipient Johnson (Harold Sylvester) and Charts (Tim Thomerson), join the group. Former Force Recon Marine Kevin Scott (Patrick Swayze) joins the team and later turns out to be the son of a pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and listed as MIA.

With the financial backing of rich oil businessman McGregor (Robert Stack), whose son served in Frank's platoon and is also listed among the missing, the men train near Galveston, Texas, before embarking on their trip to the Laos camp in an attempt to bring back the POWs. However, the CIA, fearing an international crisis from Rhodes' actions, intercepts him in Bangkok and confiscates his weapons and equipment. Still determined to rescue their comrades, the team members put together their expense money given to them by McGregor, and Rhodes contacts an acquaintance of his, deposed local drug baron Jiang (Kwan Hi Lim), who joins the expedition with his two daughters Lai Fun (Alice Lau Nga Lai) and Mai Lin (Debi Parker) and manages to supply them with outdated but capable World War II weapons. In the course of the expedition, Charts gradually forms a relationship with Lai Fun.

Near the Laotian border, the group is attacked by a border patrol and Mai Lin is killed. Later, the group divides: Rhodes leads Charts, Sailor, Johnson, and Lai Fun to a helicopter compound to secure escape transportation, while the rest of the team scouts out the prison camp. They find four Americans among the prisoners, but are unable to ascertain Frank's presence among them.

The teams spend the night with preparations, and the next morning they commence the attack. In a heated battle, they manage to spring the prisoners, among them McGregor's son, but Frank is not among them, and Blaster, Sailor, and Jiang are killed in the process. From McGregor, Rhodes has to learn that his son became ill soon after his capture and died, despite McGregor's best efforts. The returners are joyously welcomed by their families, and Rhodes finds that in learning the fate of his son, he has gained some closure for his wife and himself.

Cast

Production

The film began with a screenplay by actor Wings Hauser. He and a friend developed it and solt it to Paramount. The film had at least five title changes.[1]

was one of a number revisionist looks at the Vietnam War.

The helicopters used in the film were purchased (as opposed to rented) and repainted, since the United States Department of Defense was unwilling to rent the production military-spec Bell UH-1N Huey or Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopters due to the antigovernment nature of the film. The Laotian POW camp was built in the Lumahai Valley on the island of Kauai, with scenes filmed in early August 1983.

Milius hired a composer without Paramount's consent and Jeffrey Katzenberg over-ruled Milius.[2]

Reception

The film was a box-office hit, one of the top-earning films of 1983.[3] Critical reception of the film was mixed to negative, with Rotten Tomatoes declaring Uncommon Valor "rotten" with only 56% positive.[4] Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert of This Week at the Movies: The Movie Review Program both gave the film a thumbs down.[5] In his Chicago Sun-Times review of Uncommon Valor, Ebert gave the film a mixed 2-out-of-4 star review that described the squandering of "first-rate talent" like Kotcheff and Hackman in a film that was little more than "two hours of clichés" delivered with "lead-footed predictability".[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Valor not common but highly unlikely". The Courier. 23 December 1983.
  2. ↑ Harmetz, Aljean (7 Feb 1988). "Who Makes Disney Run?". New York Times. p. A.29.
  3. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19840215&id=ZroeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vGgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4384,5249915
  4. ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1022314-uncommon_valor/
  5. ↑ Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert (1985). "This Time We Win - Vietnam Movie Special (ATM 1985)". This Week at the Movies: The Movie Review Program.
  6. ↑ "http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/uncommon-valor-1983

External links

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