SnoopyStyle In 1972, Frank Rhodes got left behind in Vietnam and taken prisoner. His father retired Col Jason Rhodes (Gene Hackman) keeps pushing for years to get him back. He's gathered up intel and a target. Then he gathers up Frank's brothers-in-arms to go into Laos for a rescue. He has even built a replica of the camp in Texas and hired Kevin Scott (Patrick Swayze) to get them into shape. All the plans are thrown out the window when the government takes away all of the weapons.The story is bad unrealistic 80s fare. It tries to be better than the various Chuck Norris or Rambo movies. That's why they bought in Hackman. However this exists somewhere in between. It's far too unrealistic to be compelling drama. There's even a sweaty white guy with a parrot. It's also not action oriented enough to be good mindless popcorn fun. It doesn't work either way.

AaronCapenBanner Ted Kotcheff directed this exciting adventure film that stars Gene Hackman as Marine Col. Jason Rhodes, who has become frustrated with his own(U.S.) governments refusal to launch a rescue mission into Vietnam to rescue P.O.W.s he believes are still there, including his own son. He is approached by a rich businessman named McGregor(played by Robert Stack) who agrees to finance his own rescue mission which he wants Rhodes to command, since he too has a son who is a P.O.W. Rhodes then recruits some marines(now civilians) to help him on the mission(played by Patrick Swayze, Tim Thomerson, Randal 'Tex' Cobb, Fred Ward, & Reb Brown) First they must train and prepare, then launch the rescue mission, which is quite dangerous for many reasons... Rousing film with a good cast and interesting premise(which would be re-used many times later!) A bit far-fetched perhaps, but good fun.

dighambara Comments:In my opinion, this is an excellent movie, primarily because it shows the camaraderie and exactly why such teams are so close knit. The scenes in Thailand (Laos) are excellent. Very reminiscent of the back country anywhere in South East Asia. The cast was well selected and worked very well together. I particularly enjoy the part where Sailor is asked about his money, as there are many, manydistractions in places like Saigon, Phnom Penh and Bangkok, as any veteran can tell you...LOLCorrections: Gene Hackman plays the part of a Marine Colonel, not an Army Colonel.In many Armies, a Full Colonel is considered equivalent to a General. Meaning that a civilian calling a Colonel a General may be a mistake and may not.For example, in the Thai Army & Air Force, there are Colonels and there are Senior Colonels. The Senior Colonel is considered the equivalent of a General 'select', but may hold that position for years until there is an opening. To treat him as less than a General would be an affront of great magnitude...

gcd70 Ted Kotcheff's post-Vietnam film tells the story of a father. Determined his son is still alive and imprisoned in enemy territory, he endeavours to gather together a small band of ex-commandos in order to conduct a suicidal search and rescue.Gene Hackman is convincing, and the supporting cast work very well together. Kotcheff tackles his subject well, and while the movie is never incredibly moving, it is very effective."Uncommon Valour" was one of the first in what turned out to be a spate of 'Vietnam War films', some better and some worse than this one. Perhaps the inspiration for Stallone's "Rambo" came from this particular work. Worthwhile viewing.Tuesday, February 25, 1992 - Video