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:

Leave No Man Behind.

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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

Tom Hardy and Tom Guiry would appear together 14 years later in The Revenant (2015).

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Goofs

As with any "based on a true story" movie, especially one involving complex military operations, there are many ways in which the plot of the movie differs from the actual events. The exigencies of dramatic storytelling also require that certain practices and procedures are not accurately portrayed. Though, technically, these might be thought of as goofs, it's a movie, not a documentary.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

All of the credits, including the main title, the dedication of director Ridley Scott's mother Elizabeth Jean Scott and the studio logos, is shown at the end.

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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

Featured in The 74th Annual Academy Awards (2002)

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Soundtracks

Gortoz a ran - J'Attends
Written by Denez Prigent
Performed by Denez Prigent & Lisa Gerrard
Courtesy of Barclay (France)
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

One of the best, and most brutal, war films yet.

It's an action packed movie with great detailing and difficult direction. I have watched many war movies and their original footage. Black Hawk Down still remains the best for me. And hats off to Hans Zimmer

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:

Color Black and White (opening scene)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1