Uncommon Valor
There’s no doubt that the Vietnam War tore the heart out of the American military establishment, leaving forever unhealed scars for both the mentally damaged soldiers that returned and worse, for those brave men that were literally left behind and later hung out to dry by a government that didn’t seem to care if they were worth saving. That sentiment resulted in an unusual phenomena in the 80s film industry: a number of “Bring The Boys Back Home” themed films that dealt with the subject matter of going back into Nam with the express purpose of rescuing American POWs. These included Missing In Action, Rambo 2, and of course Let’s Get Harry. This entry from 1983 is one of the more sobering of the subgenre, stark and poignant at key times but ultimately undone by bland directing and an even blander script. Gene Hackman stars as a Colonel forced into retirement by his insistence that the U.S. Government do something, ANYTHING to bring his missing son back home, and failing that (despite being told that the politicians are in ongoing “negotiations” that have dragged on for ten years), assembles his own team, most of whom had served with his son prior, to get in shape and launch a small mission on a prisoner camp in Laos that Hackman is convinced his son is being held at. Naturally, since most of the ex-Nam vets are themselves misfits in our society, they all sign on to do the right thing, all while being financed by a millionaire (Robert Stack) whose own son is also being held as well. So what we get is a legendary Oscar winner like Hackman teaming up with mostly b-level actors in an action film where the action is usually pretty leaden and only redeemed partially by the motley crew we have here, which includes Fred Ward as a recon guy racked by P.T.S.D.; Reb (Yor, The Hunter From The Future) Brown as a happy go lucky explosives expert; Randall “Tex” Cobb as a guy so crazy he carries a grenade around his neck “just in case”; Harold (Griff) Sylvester and Tim (Dollman) Thomerson as the chopper pilots; and a very young Patrick Swayze as the only one with no combat experience, trying to fit in because his own father is a POW as well. In the end, if it’s anyone’s movie, it’s Cobb’s, and the former Heavyweight Boxing Contender (and arguably one of the toughest men to ever live) makes the most out of his role as Sailor, whether it be dancing in the moonlight or beating the crap out of the rookie cherry Swayze, he at least sums up the spirit of what the movie should have been like. Alas, Hackman is one note and strident in his leadership role, for when anyone questions what they are doing, his go-to strategy is ALWAYS to throw up his son’s name in their face, and the script and directing by journeyman Ted Kotcheff are extremely plodding as the restless viewer comes to realize that the first 90 minutes are little more than filler leading up to the big battle at the end, with the siege on the POW camp being the best part of the film, and Hackman’s acting finally turns powerful in the last few minutes, but alas, it’s too little too late. It is a slog of a story up to that point, especially with the script’s insistence to have everything that can go wrong actually happen, and while there are some moments (especially from Cobb) that succeed in making the viewer chuckle, there’s nothing really noteworthy in the character development department that makes us care for these guys too much, and certainly the unrealistic approach of the story adds to that as well. Overall, while a noble patriotic effort, something that could have used a better director and a couple of touch-ups on the script…
5/10