Main Cast: Gene Hackman, Robert Stack, Fred Ward, Reb Brown, Randall "Tex" Cobb
Release Year: 1983
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Ted Kotcheff continues his First Blood fervor with Uncommon Valor. Gene Hackman stars as Cal Rhodes, a former Marine Colonel who has been getting the run-around for ten years from the government concerning the disappearance of his son and his buddies - all Marines who enlisted years prior and served in Vietnam. Rhodes' son was last seen in Laos, where he was fighting in the war and captured as a POW. When word gets back to Rhodes that the men may still be alive and held in prison camps, but the government still has the men listed as missing in action, Rhodes decides to take matters into his own hands. Contacting an old friend, oil baron MacGregor (Robert Stack), Rhodes is granted financial backing to form his own incursion force. He assembles a crack team of men, puts them through an intensive period of training. and heads back with them into the Laotian jungles to search for the MIAs. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Patrick Swayze - Scott; Harold Sylvester - Johnson; Tim Thomerson - Charts; Kwan Hi Lim - Jiang; Charles Aidman - Sen. Hastings; Todd Allen - Frank Rhodes; Bruce Barbour - Helicopter Pilot; Darwyn Carson - Secretary; Julie Cobb; Michael Dudikoff - Blaster's Assistant; Ken Farmer - Jail Guard; Juan Fernandez - Orderly; Constance Forslund - Mrs. Charts; Tad Horino - Mr. Ky; Sherry Hursey; Brett Johnson; Jane Kaczmarek - Mrs. Wilkes; Jeremy Kemp - Ferryman; Lau Nga Lai - LaiFun; Barret Oliver; Gail Strickland - Mrs. Helen Rhodes; Gloria Stroock - Mrs. MacGregor; Jan Triska - Gericault; Le Tuan - Guard; Kelly Yunkermann - Paul MacGregor; Kevin Brando; David Austin - GI; Steven Solberg; Larry Charles White - Soldier; John Reilly
Credit
Wings Hauser - Associate Producer, Craig Huston - First Assistant Director, Ted Kotcheff - Director, Mark Melnick - Editor, Ted Kotcheff - Executive Producer, James Horner - Composer (Music Score), James L. Schoppe - Production Designer, Stephen H. Burum - Cinematographer, Ric Waite - Cinematographer, Buzz Feitshans - Producer, John Milius - Producer, George P. Gaines - Set Designer, John H. Anderson - Set Designer, Joe Kenworthy - Sound/Sound Designer, Joe Gayton - Screenwriter, Ted Kotcheff - Screenwriter
Uncommon Valor is a 1983war film written by Joe Gayton and directed by Ted Kotcheff, about a Marine officer who tries to put together a team to rescue his son, who he believes is a prisoner of war being held in Laos after the Vietnam War.
Taking place in the early 1980s and set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, former 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 Warveterans, 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 Marine Kevin Scott (Patrick Swayze) joins the team as the son of a pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and listed as "MIA."
With the financial backing of a rich oil businessman (whose son served in Frank's platoon and is also listed as "MIA") (Robert Stack), the men secretly train near Galveston, Texas before embarking on their trip to the Laos camp in an attempt to bring back the POWs.
The machine guns in the Huey helicopters were German World War IIMG-42's, or a derivative, such as the M52 or MG3, rather than the M60 common to American and South Vietnamese helicopters which saw service in the Vietnam War. The 'standard' of armaments for such helicopters will vary, dependent on the service weapon employed by the state or entity which owns and/or operates the helicopters.
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.
