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.
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.Written by
matt-282 and Corbin L.
Some of the radio chatter in the movie was taken from actual radio transmissions made during the battle. See more »
Goofs
When Yurek gets separated from chalk 4 and runs into a school for cover a father and a son are seen firing into the door he just went through, which Yurek subsequently locks, then he walks across the room to the opposite side, opens the door and slips, the same son and father are there and the son unintentionally shoots the father. However the father and son would have had to go all the way around the building in the time Yurek crosses the room to be there. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Dan Busch:
There. Technicals, nine o'clock.
See more »
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. See more »
Alternate Versions
The Extended Cut has about 7 minutes and 30 seconds of added footage:
Some rangers on the beach
The scene with Blackburn and Grimes is longer
The shooting range scene is extended
During the chess game with Randy and Gordy the line "Stranded and condemned, Gordy" is added after he moves his piece
The short scene after the meeting is edited different and as some lines added at the end
A ranger gets his arm looked at
Scene with Eversmann and Hoot is longer
On the way to target they added: Grimes adding his name to his helmet, two-min warning, and some lines
Chalk 3 shooting at delta in target building
Yurek sees a guy stealing a TV
Eversmann hearing about the second hawk on the radio
Short scene with Nelson and Twombly and the scene when Galantine tries to call them on the radio is moved to before they meet Yurek
A shot of crash site two before Durant grabs his gun
Steel asking about the convoy
Garrison looking at the monitor after Grody gets killed
Yurek, Nelson, and Twombly hear the praying
Steel asks again about the convoy
The little birds turn around and makes another run before going back to rearm
McKnight asks how much longer it takes to get the body out of the chopper
A lot added at the stadium: McKight yelling, "Don't let that man crawl!", Garrison walking around med area, Steel walking around med area, Sanderson talking to Grimes is moved
After Eversmann talks to Jamie he sees Garrison out side
Tall King Dub
Written by Raz Mesinai
Performed by Badawi
Courtesy of Reachout International Records, Inc. (R.O.I.R.)
By arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group See more »
Unlike most of the war movies of our time, Black Hawk Down sticks to the facts about what happened in Mogadishu and doesn't romanticize the story. To support this observation, the viewer will notice that there is not really one main character. This shows that the film focuses more on what happened in Somalia instead of on the characters personality and/or struggles. Another important aspect of the film that makes it so great is the cinematography. Not only was the setting of the film accurate to the real thing, but the way that the movie was filmed is great because it seems like someone is running along the battle scene getting everything on tape. In addition, the film contains small aspects that one may not notice that are important to the situation in Mogadishu. For instance, the bullet shells that fell from the firing helicopter fell into one of the soldiers' vests, and he scrambled to get it out because of how hot it was. This small detail makes the movie that much more realistic. To conclude, Black Hawk Down is a great movie that is both an eye opener that sticks to the facts as well as a quality film. I recommend this movie to any war-film fan, as well as anyone that likes watching movies in general.
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Unlike most of the war movies of our time, Black Hawk Down sticks to the facts about what happened in Mogadishu and doesn't romanticize the story. To support this observation, the viewer will notice that there is not really one main character. This shows that the film focuses more on what happened in Somalia instead of on the characters personality and/or struggles. Another important aspect of the film that makes it so great is the cinematography. Not only was the setting of the film accurate to the real thing, but the way that the movie was filmed is great because it seems like someone is running along the battle scene getting everything on tape. In addition, the film contains small aspects that one may not notice that are important to the situation in Mogadishu. For instance, the bullet shells that fell from the firing helicopter fell into one of the soldiers' vests, and he scrambled to get it out because of how hot it was. This small detail makes the movie that much more realistic. To conclude, Black Hawk Down is a great movie that is both an eye opener that sticks to the facts as well as a quality film. I recommend this movie to any war-film fan, as well as anyone that likes watching movies in general.