Bat*21 (1988)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Peter Markle

Writers (WGA):

William C. Anderson (book)
William C. Anderson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 October 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Trapped behind enemy lines. A whole army after him... And only one man can save him.

Plot:

Lt. Col. Iceal "Ham" Hambleton is a weapons countermeasures expert and when his aircraft is shot over...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Vietnam | Punctuation In Title | Asterisk In Title | Digit In Title

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton
Danny Glover	...	Capt. Bartholomew Clark
Jerry Reed	...	Col. George Walker
David Marshall Grant	...	Ross Carver
Clayton Rohner	...	Sgt. Harley Rumbaugh
Erich Anderson	...	Maj. Jake Scott
Joe Dorsey	...	Col. Douglass
Reverend Michael Ng	...	Vietnamese Man (as Rev. Michael Ng)
Theodore Chan Woei-Shyong	...	Boy on Bridge
Don Ruffin	...	Helicopter Crew
Scott Howell	...	Helicopter Crew
Michael Raden	...	Helicopter Crew
Timothy Fitzgerald	...	EB-66 Officer
Stuart B. Hagen	...	EB-66 Officer
Jeffrey Baxter	...	Helicopter Gunner (as Jeff Baxter)

Also Known As:

Bat 21 (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

New Zealand:R13 | Australia:M | UK:15 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Company:

Bat 21 Limited L.P.

Trivia:

As a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, "Gene" Hambleton commanded the 57first Missile Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base from 1965 to 1971. He is better known as by his tactical radio call-sign, "Bat 21", he used in Vietnam when he was shot down in 1972 while jamming enemy radar, and parachuted behind enemy lines. When on the ground Col Hambleton found himself in the midst of an invasion force of over 30,000 North Vietnamese troops. While evading capture for eleven days he used his survival radio to call in air strikes against the invasion force. Rescue crews gave him coded instructions for where to go to be rescued based on golf course that he had played at different air force bases. Hambleton's harrowing ordeal was recounted in the book Bat 21 (1980), which was made into a movie of the same name in 1988. He died from cancer on September 19 2004 at age 85.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Capt. Clark falls after been shot in the shoulder, the M-16 he is carrying doesn't have a sling and is a stunt rubber replica as the stock flexes when caught between the two men, the M-16 is then picked up by Col. Hambleton and has a sling fixed to it.

Quotes:

Col. George Walker: You know anything about golf, Clark?
Capt. Bartholomew Clark: No, sir. Golf wasn't big in my neighborhood.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Stealth Fighter (1999)

A well-made Vietnam movie but ...

.... this was supposed to be a "true" story, so why not tell it as it really happened? Of course, there are always budget restraints and other considerations that come into play. But I can never quite work out why Hollywood changes crucial facts of a real story when making "true-life" movies of this type. Don't get me wrong - I saw this movie for the first time just last week, a full 13 years after it first appeared, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It didn't glorify war at all, and some of the scenes were quite shocking and moving. However, having read the TRUE story of BAT 21 some years ago, I couldn't help thinking "hang on a minute - it didn't happen like that!!!" In reality, the actual 1972 mission to rescue Lt. Col. Hambleton was a very complex affair that lasted for 12 days, the downed airman finally being rescued by a two-man team consisting of a US Navy SEAL lieutenant (who won the Medal Of Honour in the process) and a South Vietnamese Army Ranger. Why not include this in the movie if you're out to tell anything like the true story? Also, several US aircraft and choppers were shot down in the process, with 10 American airmen killed and two more captured. But apart from the superbly done abortive helicopter rescue attempt and the shooting of the captured crewmen, the movie led us to believe that the rescue mission merely consisted of Hambleton (Hackman) escaping & evading on the ground with Clark (Danny Glover) circling above and talking to him on the radio. In reality, Clark was himself shot down early in the mission and had to be rescued, and his role in the actual Hambleton rescue was therefore nothing like that depicted in the film.

But, that said, why let the truth get in the way of a good story? And despite its shortcomings on the historical accuracy front, this was a thoroughly enjoyable film that didn't gloss over or sanitize the horrors of war. Despite my nit-picking, I'd definitely recommend it.