Black Hawk Down (2001)

160 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Mark Bowden (book), Ken Nolan (screenplay)

Stars:

Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore

Won 2 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 37 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Josh Hartnett	...	Eversmann
Ewan McGregor	...	Grimes
Tom Sizemore	...	McKnight
Eric Bana	...	Hoot
William Fichtner	...	Sanderson
Ewen Bremner	...	Nelson
Sam Shepard	...	Garrison
Gabriel Casseus	...	Kurth
Kim Coates	...	Wex
Hugh Dancy	...	Schmid
Ron Eldard	...	Durant
Ioan Gruffudd	...	Beales
Tom Guiry	...	Yurek (as Thomas Guiry)
Charlie Hofheimer	...	Smith
Danny Hoch	...	Pilla

Storyline

Action/war drama based on the best-selling book detailing a near-disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993. On this date nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers, commanded by Capt. Mike Steele, were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord. This led to a large and drawn-out firefight between the Army Rangers, US Special Forces, and hundreds of Somali gunmen; resulting in the destruction of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters. The film focuses on the heroic efforts of various Rangers to get to the downed black hawks, centering on SSG Eversmann, leading the Ranger unit Chalk Four to the first black hawk crash site, Chief Warrant Officer Durant who was captured after being the only survivor of the second black hawk crash, as well as many others who were involved.

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Plot Keywords:

somalia | u.s. soldier | u.s. army | gunfight | street shootout | 

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Taglines:

Reporting for Duty Christmas 2001

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite the seemingly chaotic action, Ridley Scott kept to his method of storyboarding each shot in the film in advance.

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Goofs

When a Ranger throws out a frag grenade, Sgt. Eversman warns his men by yelling "Grenade!" Proper designation would be to yell "Frag out!" as yelling "Grenade!" warns the men of an incoming grenade, not an outgoing one.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dan Busch: There. Technicals, nine o'clock.

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Crazy Credits

The film begins with the words "Based on an Actual Event", followed by the quote from Plato, which leads into the informative prologue with the scenes set in Somalia, East Africa, 1992. The prologue ends with the opening title.

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Alternate Versions

A longer version of the scene where Sanderson inspects Grime's foot was filmed, but cut. Sanderson finds a piece of shrapnel lodged in Grime's foot, but he didn't feel it cause it cauterized on impact.

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Connections

Referenced in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Josh Hartnett/Mika Brzezinski & Joe Scarborough/Benjamin Booker (2015)

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Soundtracks

Jump Around
Written by Erik Schrody and Deejay Muggs (as Larry Muggerud)
Performed by House of Pain
Courtesy of Tommy Boy Music

User Reviews

It`s An Account , Not A Statement

I vividly remembered the news reports in October 1993 of the body of an American serviceman being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu following the battle there . A couple of years later my interest of the battle was rekindled by an edition of the BBC`s excellent history show TIMEWATCH that spoke to the survivors of " The biggest firefight involving American troops since Vietnam " , so when Mark Bowden released his book BLACK HAWK DOWN I opened the first page and found myself unable to put it down , and when I heard Ridley Scott was going to bring Bowden`s book to the big screen I was looking forward to seeing it

I did enjoy the movie and have to take issue with some of the comments raised . First of all people complain about events and incidents being changed , I know how you feel but with any adaptation there`s bound to be bits condensed , the only real criticisms that can justified is that this film version totally negates the Somali point of view ( For those of you who haven`t read the book Mark Bowden writes his account in a similar subjective manner Corneilus Ryan wrote his trilogy - two of which THE LONGEST DAY and A BRIDGE TOO FAR were made into blockbuster movies - dealing with the last months of the war in Europe ) but Bowden`s book is an account of the battle of Mogadishu , that`s what it is - An account that doesn`t really concern itself with wider issues like politics or anti-war sentiment , so it seems churlish to complain about concepts like character development because that`s not what the story is about . I`ve also heard teenage girls complain that Orlando Bloom doesn`t get enough screen time and that they found it too violent . I`m sorry to hear that girls , hopefully next time you go to the cinema you might like to find out what you`re letting yourself in for . As for the rest of the screenplay it is accurate right down to the friction between the Deltas and the Rangers and the fact the Americans were actually rescued by a UN force composed of Malaysians and Pakistanis

Ridley Scott rightly deserved an Oscar nomination with BHD . It`s his movie and he surpasses anything Spielberg achieved with the overrated SAVING PRIVATE RYAN . War is hell and this is a film of stark and haunting imagery of victims of famine , of mutilated soldiers and civilians . Both editing and cinematography are superb with many great scenes like the small stream of American soldiers walking up the street while on the other side of the houses a massive torrent of armed militiamen are walking in the same direction . My only real complaints of what`s on screen is Ewan McGregor`s awful American accent ( It`s especially so when you stop to consider that most of the cast aren`t played by American actors )and Hans Zimmer score resembles that of most of his other movies , but I shouldn`t nitpick because I found this Scott`s best film alongside GLADIATOR

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Somali Arabic

Release Date:

18 January 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Black Hawk Down

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$92,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$179,823, 30 December 2001

Gross USA:

$108,638,745

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$172,989,651

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revolution Studios, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Scott Free Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min 152 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS (8 channels) Dolby Atmos

Color:

Black and White (opening scene) Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1