| Uncommon Valor | |
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DVD release cover |
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| Directed by | Ted Kotcheff |
| Produced by | David Brown Michael Tolkin Nick Wechsler |
| Written by | Joe Gayton Wings Hauser story (uncredited) |
| Starring | Gene Hackman Fred Ward Patrick Swayze Reb Brown Tim Thomerson Robert Stack Michael Dudikoff |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Stephen H. Burum |
| Editing by | Mark Melnick |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 16 December 1983 (premiere) |
| Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $30,503,151 (USA) |
Uncommon Valor is a 1983 action/war film written by Joe Gayton and directed by Ted Kotcheff, about a Marine officer who puts together a team to try to rescue his son, who he believes is among those still held in Laos after the Vietnam War. The film stars Gene Hackman, Fred Ward, Reb Brown, Robert Stack, Michael Dudikoff, and in an early screen appearance, Patrick Swayze.
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Taking place in the early 1980s and set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, retired Marine Colonel Jason Rhodes (Gene Hackman) is obsessed with finding his son Frank, listed as "Missing In Action" since 1972. After ten years of searching Southeast Asia and turning up several leads, Rhodes believes that Frank is still alive and being kept in Laos as a prisoner of war.
After petitioning the United States government for help, but receiving none, Colonel Rhodes brings together a disparate group of Vietnam War veterans, including some who were a part of Frank's platoon: Wilkes (Fred Ward), a "tunnel rat" who suffers from PTSD; "Blaster," a demolitions expert (Reb Brown); and "Sailor," a mental case with a heart of gold (Randall "Tex" Cobb). Additionally, two helicopter pilots, Distinguished Flying Cross recipient Johnson (Harold Sylvester) and Charts (Tim Thomerson) join the group. Former Force Recon Marine Kevin Scott (Patrick Swayze) joins the team and later turns out to be the son of a pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and listed as "MIA."
With the financial backing of rich oil businessman McGregor (whose son served in Frank's platoon and is also listed among the missing) (Robert Stack), the men train near Galveston, Texas before embarking on their trip to the Laos camp in an attempt to bring back the POWs. However, the CIA, fearing an international crisis from Rhodes' actions, intercepts him in Bangkok and confiscates his weapons and equipment. Still determined to rescue their comrades, the team members put together their expense money given to them by McGregor, and Rhodes contacts an acquaintance of his, deposed local drug baron Jiang (Kwan Hi Lim), who joins the expedition with his two daughters Lai Fun (Alice Lau Nga Lai) and Mai Lin (Debi Parker) and manages to supply them with outdated but capable World War II weapons. In the course of the expedition Charts gradually forms a relationship with Lai Fun.
Near the Laotian border, the group is attacked by a border patrol and Mai Lin is killed. Later the group divides: Rhodes leads Charts, Sailor, Johnson and Lai Fun to a helicopter compound to secure escape transportation, while the rest of the team scouts out the prison camp. They find four Americans among the prisoners but are unable to ascertain Frank's presence among them.
The teams spend the night with preparations, and the next morning they commence the attack. In a heated battle they manage to spring the prisoners, among them McGregor's son, but Frank is not among them and Blaster, Sailor and Jiang are killed in the process. From McGregor, Rhodes has to learn that his son went sick soon after his capture and died, despite McGregor's best efforts. The returners are joyously welcomed by their families, and Rhodes finds that in learning the fate of his son he has gained some closure for himself and his wife.
The helicopters used in the film were purchased (as opposed to rented) and repainted, since the United States Department of Defense was unwilling to rent the production military-spec Huey or JetRanger helicopters due to the perceived anti-government nature of the film. The Laotian POW camp was built in the Lumahai Valley on the island of Kauai, with scenes filmed in early-August, 1983.
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert of At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both gave the film a Thumbs down.
The film launched a small number of movies where Americans wage war on Vietnam and other third world countries during the 1980s, leading to a string of Rambo adventures starring Sylvester Stallone and films like Missing in Action, starring Chuck Norris.
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