Bat 21
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Movie Reviews of Bat 21
Movie Review: Gene Hackman on the Golf Course in Viet Nam
Summary: 4 Stars
Gene Hackman is Lt. Colonel Iceal Hambleton. In real life Lt. Col. Hambleton was flying as a navigator on an EB-66 electronic countermeasures plane, call sign Bat-21. When a surface-to-air missile hits the plane, Col. Hambleton is the only man able to eject from the aircraft, landing in the northern portion of South Viet Nam. For the next eleven and a half days Col. Hambleton evaded capture by the North Vietnamese Army until he was rescued in one of the largest and most complex rescue missions of the Viet Nam War. These true events, for which 234 medals were awarded, inspired this movie.
In the movie Col. Hambleton is nearing possible rescue by a Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopter when Viet Cong destroy the helicopter. The Viet Cong, who are using the people of a nearby village to protect themselves from American attack since the Viet Cong know that Americans typically attempt to protect non-combatants, kill all the crew. However, this time the rage of Col. George Walker (Jerry Reed, in one of his best roles) causes the village to be destroyed by napalm bombs.
Col. Hambleton is on the run for his life, both from the North Vietnamese Army and from an impending air strike by B-52 bombers. Using the call sign Bat-21 and his URC-64 survival radio, Hambleton follows directions from forward air controller Captain Bartholomew Clark along a path based on golf courses that Col. Hambleton has played.
What I find amazing about this movie is that while there are events that illustrate the tragedy and inhumanity of the combat in Viet Nam, much of the movie focuses on the people in the movie. There is a touching moment where Col. Hambleton passes a boy on a bridge, and the two exchange gifts, forgetting for a moment the ideologically generated conflict going on around them. It is also apparent to me that Col. Hambleton had nothing against the Vietnamese people; he was just a soldier with a job to do.
Movies typically do a poor job portraying any war or combat, with few exceptions. Similarly, this movie misses much with respect to the true story. This movie also invents things that never happened, or misrepresents other events, likely all for the sake of pace and action. However, this movie does catch the spirit of one man surviving incredible odds in war to not only do his job, which was to fight an enemy, but to get himself rescued in the process. From that viewpoint this movie is a winner.
Movie Review: Not an excellent VN war flick, but still one you should see
Summary: 4 Stars
High octane action and the perseverance of some of the leads elevate "Bat-21" to that higher level of Vietnam movie. Basically the story of how a high-level intelligence officer eludes capture after being shot down behind enemy lines in Vietnam, "Bat-21" is relentless and never exploitative. Hackman is Iceal Hambleton, a USAF colonel who fights the war in Vietnam from the offices and golf courses of Saigon. Tasked to identify communist missile sites, he boldly (and unwisely) tags along on an EB-66, an unarmed electronic warfare bird loaded with intelligence equipment. The sole survivor after being shot down, Hambleton finds himself pursued by the enemy who apparently appreciate his value as a prisoner. While the enemy (was it the NVA or the Cong? I could never tell) is unable to find Hambleton, they prove more than capable of making life hell for the rescue choppers sent to rescue him - including the crew of a "Jolly Green" cut to pieces over an enemy-held village. While on the ground, Hambleton stays in contact with Bart Clark (Danny Glover), a USAF captain who flies spotter missions for more heavily armed bombers. (Clark flies FAC - from his slow-moving Cessna, he finds targets for the strike fighters, marking them with white-phosphorous rockets). Knowing that the enemy is monitoring them, Hambleton and Clark work out a code that posits the map of Vietnam as a big golf course. As rescue attempts become more dangerous, Clark finds himself drawn ever deeper into the rescue, climaxing in his going rogue when his superiors throw in the towel."Bat-21" isn't really a classic. There's plenty of thrilling action, and the script even manages to find room for irony (as when Clark pauses during a radio conversation with Hambleton while he zaps a few communist troops). Still, nothing really convincingly explains how Hackman manages to elude capture...by anybody (the script makes clear that he is definitely no Rambo). The film also breezes over the biggest irony - that Hackman's code is based on his smarts on the golf course rather than the battlefield. If the film excels over cheap action flicks, it's in the determination and exhaustion of its leads and persistent refusal to avoid Hollywood glory. Also, unless anybody knows of another film, this is the only one I've seen that captures the critical role played by Forward Air Controllers in both prosecuting the air war in Vietnam, and rescuing those airmen nearly lost.
Movie Review: Great Gene Hackman Raises This Film to Minor Classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Perhaps, like me, you've come here after watching "Behind Enemy Lines" featuring Owen Wilson and, of course, Gene Hackman, who happens to star in this underrated film. Okay, the plot is almost the same as that action filck made with the technology of the year 2001, but, let me tell you, "BAT*21" gives its stress on a different matter than "Behind," and that is the characters played by the two leads.As the film claims in the opening, the story about Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton whose airplane is shot down behind enemy lines in Vietnam is based on truth. Now becoming "BAT*21," his code name, he has to rely on a radio by which he maintains a contact with a pilot Captain Bartholomew Clerk (Danny Glover), who instructs and encourages him to overcome all the barriers waiting for him on the ground. But Lieutenant Colonel has no previous combat experience in his career, and the time for massive air raid that is certain to kill him is coming closer.
Frankly, some of the scenes are too incredible (especially when Captain tries to fly the helicopter, which he has not done for a long time). And you cannot expect the high-octaine action sequences, because the film's real focus is set in other places; that is, the bond between the two leading characters, which develops gradually through the unreliable radio contact. Precisely this human part is the greatest asset of "BAT*21" of which quality is raised by the extremely superb acting by Gene Hackman. He is, as usual with any first-rate actor you name, the real energy with his depiction of toughness and frailty, and his powerhouse performance lifts this sometimes clithed film to the above-average level among many other ones about this war.
Movie Review: Exciting Rescue
Summary: 4 Stars
Gene Hackman plays a career Air Force intelligence officer with a passion for golf. He looks for the day when he can retire and try to join the pro tour. In the meantime, however, he is still a serving officer in Vietnam.
Retirement is fairly close when he gets shot out of the sky while riding on a B-52 mission. He is the only survivor and he is someone that the Viet Cong would very much like to capture. He has to run for his life. In his running, he is aided by a forward air controller played by Danny Glover.
Hackman knows that the area he is in is due to be carpet bombed in a few days and he has to get out of there. The problem is that the VC are listening in on the radio and that makes planning problematical until golf proves to be a useful escape tool. Hackman knows the layouts of the world's military golf courses like the back of his hand and comes up with a code using golf terms and the layout of well known military courses to let the rescuers know how to keep up with him. Its still tough going, though, and the VC don't give up easily.
This is a rather good movie and one could almost be fooled into thinking that Danny Glover really does love his country...almost.
Movie Review: Bat 21 & the Air Force
Summary: 4 Stars
As an Air Force retiree, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I first viewed it back in 1992 and have seen it once since then. The story line is cool, brings in the viewer quickly, doesn't clutter it up with all those introductions and is well packed with suspense, action, and comaradarie. My only negative for this flick is it's too short. I would've preferred more scenes where Gene Hackman was performing ground-controller duties against the VC or NVA, and more aerial footage of the environment in which he and his crew members got shot down.
Overall, it's a great flick that helps promote the Air Force and the circumstances our flight crews can go thru during combat, especially when they are shot down.