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:

Col. Cal Rhodes: Ground team, you're up that trail, you've got the grid coordinates. Air team you follow me down this creek. We'll that's it...it's game time. I had a speech prepared, but I guess I forgot it. There are some lines from Julius Caesar.. 'If a man were to know the end of this day's business ere it come; But it suffice that the day will end, and then the end is known. If we meet again, well then we'll smile, and if not then this parting was well made.'

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE

One of the best Vietnam flicks

Nothing sticks out more than the opening sequence: The chopper extraction, all those men left behind. The view from the chopper as the handful left behind are captured. That has to be one of the most memorable scenes of any film I've seen.

I think this movie is terrific. A band of Vietnam vets organized and trained to rescue the POW's our government left behind. It's not a perfect film, in places it's just horribly directed. But the chemistry of these brothers in arms works well. The film is as humanistic as much as it is an action flick. The topicality is rooted in an emotionally charged, contemporary issue which still resonates to this day. What happened to all those MIAs? Why has the US government refused to find them? Well, the film isn't really about answering those difficult questions. But it also doesn't let you forget them, either.

There is nothing revolutionary here. This topic has been handled before by less than memorable flicks like Rambo, and Missing in Action. This is much better written and acted. Gene Hackman makes the film what it is; human. You can imagine this rescue mission as a dream come true for every father who received that MIA telegram from that military. But, for me, there are some very moving moments that just stick with you. "it's really good to see you." stutters one of the POWs on the chopper. You know, every time I see that shot, I get a little misty. Because I think he speaks for every man who finally made it back from that hell on earth we call the Vietnam War.