Uncommon Valor (1983)

Director:

Ted Kotcheff

Writer:

Joe Gayton (written by)

Release Date:

16 December 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

"C'mon... we're going home."

Plot:

A group of Vietnam War veterans re-unite to rescue one of their own left behind and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese...

Plot Keywords:

Rescue | Military | Vietnam | Claustrophobia | Prisoner Of War

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Col. Cal Rhodes
Robert Stack	...	MacGregor
Fred Ward	...	Wilkes
Reb Brown	...	Blaster
Randall 'Tex' Cobb	...	Sailor
Patrick Swayze	...	Kevin Scott
Harold Sylvester	...	Johnson
Tim Thomerson	...	Charts
Alice Lau	...	Lai Fun (as Lau Nga Lai)
Kwan Hi Lim	...	Jiang
Kelly Junkerman	...	Paul MacGregor
Todd Allen	...	Frank Rhodes
Gail Strickland	...	Helen Rhodes
Jane Kaczmarek	...	Mrs. Wilkes
Gloria Stroock	...	Mrs. MacGregor

Also Known As:

Last River to Cross (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M | Iceland:16 | South Korea:12 (2002) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1984) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

AT&T Building - 611 W. Sixth Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

During Col Rhode's (Gene Hackman) first conversation with Major Johnson (Harold Sylvester), the Major relays a story on how he won the Distinguished Flying Cross in Vietnam. The story closely resembles a similar real life rescue from the book and movie Bat*21 (1988), which Gene Hackman starred in 5 years later.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: While in the destroyed village, Johnson explains that Ypres is a town in France where mustard gas was used for the first time by the Germans. Ypres is actually in neighboring Belgium.

Quotes:

Mrs. Wilkes: It's taken me TEN YEARS to get that damn war out of his head!
Rhodes: Oh yeah? Well it looks like it's still in there strong.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Body for Hire: Bodyguard Training Videos (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

BADMAN

It's really worth a watch. Really.

This is probably one of the best movies I have watched. Period. I'm not gonna dwell into the plot (a bunch of other guys here already did). So what I will say is that it is indeed as realistic - in terms of the actors who played the veterans called upon to settle some "unfinished business", the fears that viet vets harbor even after all these years, and the realistic nature of the POWs (who I must say performed really well, one not being able to speak English, another can't leave the garden he is forced to tend to). Even to the point of the senator not wanting to see "that old MIA colonel again." From what I have read on the issue over the last 20 years, the film (to me at least) hits it "right on the nail." And who can forget French restaurant owner with his parrot. The directors made it look to seem that he has been around since the French were in Vietnam, and who managed to crave a little business for himself, gun dealing. And the introduction! Awesome! Awesome! (Marines under fire dashing across the field being pursued by NVA as choppers hover overhead; all in slow motion with haunting music). It's a great movie.

None of that nonsense like what was featured in Missing in Action and Rambo II; now those are bad comedies. They are just an example of a good story that's mishandled to turn into complete garbage.

My thanks to all who were involved in the research and making of the film. You've done a great job, Ted, Gene, Reb, and all you others.