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 Ranges, 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

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:

$274,347, 30 December 2001, Limited Release

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)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Disney passed on distributing this film because of its violent R rating. Its eventual distributor, Revolution, is run by ex-Disney studios chairman Joe Roth.

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Goofs

The uniforms worn are 3-color desert combat uniforms (DCU) with 6-color "chocolate chip" desert Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) helmet covers. This is correct. The new DCUs adopted in 1992 (after Desert Storm) had entered the supply chain by 1993 and had begun to be issued before the Somalia incident. Elite formations like the Rangers and Special Forces are usually the first to receive new equipment, and were so equipped in Mogadishu in October 1993. The reason they still wore the older camouflaged helmet covers was due to the fact that the covers had not been issued yet. It is has been historically quite common for US helmet covers and other camouflage accessories to lag behind in the distribution of new patterned uniforms.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

There are no studio logos at the beginning and the only opening credit is the 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 At the Movies: We Were Soldiers/40 Days and 40 Nights/Queen of the Damned (2002)

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Soundtracks

Ul Iyo Dirkeed
Written and Performed by Omar Sharif

User Reviews

Excellent War Movie (very realistic and true account of War)

I have seen many War movies and I am myself a very die hard Military Technology Enthusiast but I have hardly seen any movie which is as correct as this one. This movie simply gives you the feel of the actual action which went on during this battle.

Everything from the way the soldiers moved, took their position, fired from covered positions, gave covering fire to each other, the use of Explosives including grenade and the way they captured strategic places even without much help from Air Force gave a true and absolutely realistic view of Real Time Urban Combat. It shows that Humvees are not impenetrable and the Soldier manning the machine gun post is extremely vulnerable from Roof Top Fire. Again the way Small Arms like the LMG & UMG were used were impressive and the tactics used by Special Forces to fend off attackers and secure the perimeter was true to all my knowledge.

I appreciate the Director and actors to carry out this War Movie with such accuracy. If you are a Defence Enthusist this movie is must watch and if not then too one must watch it to understand is WAR is nothing less then HELL.

Since this based on true incident let's pay respect to those who sacrificed their lives and salute those who have lived another day to fight.