Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)

Director:

Lance Hool

Writers:

Steve Bing (written by)
Larry Levinson (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

1 March 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Chuck Norris is back! A one-man time bomb set to explode!

Plot:

Prequel to the first Missing In Action, set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of Colonel Braddock during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and his captivity with other American POWs in a brutal prison camp, and his plans to escape. |

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Vietnam War | Capture | Colonel | Prequel

Cast

Chuck Norris	...	Colonel James Braddock
Soon-Tek Oh	...	Colonel Yin (as Soon-Teck Oh)
Steven Williams	...	Captain David Nester
Bennett Ohta	...	Captain Ho
Cosie Costa	...	Mazilli
Joe Michael Terry	...	Opelka
John Wesley	...	Frankie
David Chung	...	Dou Chou
Professor Toru Tanaka	...	Lao
John Otrin	...	Soldier
Christopher Cary	...	Emerson
Joseph Hieu	...	Guard
Dean Raphael Ferrandini	...	Kirtle (as Dean Ferrandini)
Pierre Issot	...	François
Mischa Hausserman	...	Kelly
Randon Lo	...	Hooker
Michiyo Tanaka	...	Hooker
Andrea Lowe	...	Hooker
Nancy Martin	...	Hooker

Directed by
Lance Hool

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Steve Bing		written by
Larry Levinson		written by
Arthur Silver		written by

Produced by
Yoram Globus	....	producer
Menahem Golan	....	producer
Mark F. Hill	....	producer: location
Christopher Pearce	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Brian May

Cinematography by
Jorge Stahl Jr.

Film Editing by
Mark Conte
Marcus Manton

Production Design by
Michael Baugh

Set Decoration by
David Varod

Costume Design by
Poppy Cannon-Reese		(as Poppy Cannon)

Makeup Department
Lilly Benyair-Gart	....	assistant makeup artist (as Lily Benyair)
Billa Blyth	....	assistant makeup artist
Moni Mansano	....	makeup artist
Robert Sidell	....	key makeup artist (as Bob Sidelle)

Production Management
Tod Scott Brody	....	post-production supervisor
Conrad Hool	....	unit production manager
Alicia Rivera Frankl	....	executive in charge of production (as Alicia Alon)
Jon Stevens	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Terence D. Buchinsky	....	second assistant director (as Terry Buchinsky)
Steve Kossover	....	second assistant director (as Steven Kossover)
Joe Ochoa	....	first assistant director
Tal Ron	....	assistant director

Art Department
Gregg Fonseca	....	assistant art director (as Greg Fonseca)
Richard Lind	....	construction coordinator
John Krenz Reinhart Jr.	....	assistant art director (as John Reinhart Jr.)
Barbara S. Shelton	....	head scenic
David Varod	....	set dresser
Ladislav Wilheim	....	property master
Susan Inge Wood	....	painter (as Susan Wood)

Sound Department
George Berndt	....	adr editor
John Duvall	....	assistant sound editor
Dan Engstrom	....	assistant sound editor
Alfred T. Ferrante	....	sound recordist
Robert Fitzgerald	....	supervising sound editor (as Robert A. Fitzgerald Jr.)
Stanley B. Gill	....	sound recordist
Jacob Goldstein	....	production sound mixer
Yehuda Maayan	....	boom operator
Hari Ryatt	....	dialogue editor
Tracey Smith	....	sound effects editor
Justine Vacco	....	assistant sound editor
Amy Vincent	....	assistant sound editor

Special Effects by
Richard Parker	....	special effects supervisor
Joe Quinlivan	....	special effects

Stunts
John Barrett	....	stunts
Darwin Benjamin	....	stunt double (as Dar Benjamin)
Phil Chong	....	stunts
Tom Elliott	....	stunts
Jeff Imada	....	stunts
Aaron Norris	....	stunt coordinator
Rok Cvetkov	....	stunts (uncredited)
Aaron Norris	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Reuven Ajami	....	grip
Moshe Alon	....	gaffer
Avi Avrahami	....	gaffer
Iko Ben Dayan	....	grip (as Ecco Ben-Dayan)
Salvador de Anda	....	first assistant camera
Haim Flechter	....	best boy
Moshe Flechter	....	best boy grip
Ian Fox	....	second assistant camera
Yoni Hamenachem	....	still photographer
Chris Helcermanas-Benge	....	still photographer
Avraham Karpick	....	focus puller
Michael Leacock	....	generator operator
Shmuel Levy	....	key grip
Franco Naim	....	gaffer
Ernie Reed	....	camera operator
David Saranga	....	grip
Rami Siman-Tov	....	third assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Poppy Cannon-Reese	....	costume supervisor (as Poppy Cannon)
Natalie Werk	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Thierry J. Couturier	....	associate editor
Omneya 'Nini' Mazen	....	assistant post-production
Angelo Russo	....	color timer
Anne-Marie Vitello	....	negative cutter
Ron Vitello	....	negative cutter

Music Department
Eric Appelbaum	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Tony Sackmann	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Hanan Adaki	....	production assistant
Wenden K. Baldwin	....	title designer
Michael Di Pasquale	....	unit publicist
Mischa Hausserman	....	pilot
Alicia Rivera Frankl	....	production accountant
Joanne Small	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Cannon Group, The (as The Cannon Group, Inc.) (presents)
• Golan-Globus Productions (as Golan-Globus)

Distributors

• Cannon Film Distributors (1985) (USA) (theatrical)
• Scotia International Filmverleih (1985) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Pan-Canadian Film Distributors (198?) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Future Film (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• MTC Video (1986) (Greece) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1996) (Finland) (TV)
• Media Home Entertainment (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• Nelonen (2000) (Finland) (TV)
• Paramount Home Video (2001) (Philippines) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia-Hoyts Home Video (Australia) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Compact Video  sound re-recorded at
• Exceptional Opticals  opticals
• Intrada  score album released by (limited edition)
• Pacific Title  titles
• Panavision  camera and lenses

Also Known As:

Runtime:

USA:100 min | Norway:95 min (video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (TVC)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:(Banned) (cut) (1986) | France:-12 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 (heavily cut) (theatrical version) | West Germany:Not Rated (cut) (VHS version) | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (2006) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Portugal:M/16 | Germany:18 (re-rating) (2012) (uncut)

Filming Locations:

Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

Company:

Cannon Group, The

Trivia:

Filmed back to back with Missing in Action (1984), this film was supposed to be released first. However when the producers realized the second film was the better of the two, they released it first and named this film a prequel. This explains why screenwriter Steve Bing receives a credit for "characters" in what became the first Missing in Action.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Colonel Yin is going to have Opelca executed, he reads the charges and refers to him as "Sergeant Opelca". Opelca was a Corporal.

Quotes:

Harry:[Holds up a living snake] I'll bite its head off, for a pack of cigarettes!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Vamp (1986) (V)

This series gets better as it progresses

This movie has lot more story to it than the part 1.

Most of the scenes in this movie are beautiful. On the average, Golan-Globus made some of the best quality budget movies of the '80s. Many of them had compelling titles that made you want to go to the theaters and take a look regardless of the content.

Chuck Norris' chronic sour expression spoils the mood of this movie. He's supposed to be the hero, so lighten up Chuck, we don't want to be depressed watching you.

Soon Tak Oh was great as the villain. The inevitable duel in the end was one of the most memorable martial arts combat scene of the decade.

Good movie that could have been better if Chuck wasn't so down all the time, but part 3 answers to that.