''Bat*21'' is a 1988 American

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

directed by

Peter Markle Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, and adapted from the book by William C. Anderson, novelist and retired

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

. Set during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, the film is a dramatization based upon the rescue of a U.S. air navigator shot down behind enemy lines in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. The film stars

Gene Hackman Eugene Allen Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an American retired actor and former novelist. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Hackman has won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs ...

and

Danny Glover Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...

with

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", " U.S. Male", "A Thi ...

David Marshall Grant David Marshall Grant (born June 21, 1955) is an American actor, singer and writer. Life and career Grant was born in Westport, Connecticut, to physician parents. Immediately after graduating from Connecticut College with an M.F.A. and receivin ...

Clayton Rohner Clayton Montague Rohner (born August 5, 1957) is an American actor. He made his film debut in the comedy ''Just One of the Guys'' (1985), and had subsequent roles in the horror films ''April Fool's Day (1986 film), April Fool's Day'' (1986), ''B ...

Erich Anderson Erich Anderson (born Edward Eric Anderson; 1957) is an actor, sometimes credited as E. Erich Anderson, and is married to actress Saxon Trainor. He has starred in film and on television, and is best known for his first film role in the 1984 hor ...

and Joe Dorsey in supporting roles.

Plot

During the last days of the Vietnam War,

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

Lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Iceal E. "Gene" Hambleton (

) call sign BAT-21 Bravo, is flying on board an EB-66C electronic warfare aircraft, engaged in electronic countermeasures preparatory to a major bombing strike. Without warning, a number of

SA-2 Guideline The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...

SAMs are launched from North Vietnam, targeting their aircraft. A massive SAM explosion tears off the tail and Hambleton, in the navigator's position, ejects as the sole survivor of the six-man crew. While still coming down by parachute, Hambleton makes radio contact with Captain Bartholomew "Birddog" Clark (

), the pilot of a

Cessna O-2 Skymaster The Cessna O-2 Skymaster (nicknamed "Oscar Deuce") is a military version of the Cessna 337 Super Skymaster, used for forward air control (FAC) and psychological operations (PSYOPS) by the US military between 1967 and 2010. Design and developm ...

, flying a

forward air control Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...

mission near where the EB-66 was destroyed. Birddog becomes Hambleton's link to rescue. Hambleton, an expert on electronic weapons systems and who holds valuable information, is known to the North Vietnamese, who begin an all-out search, attempting to capture him. An effort to steal supplies from Vietnamese villagers is not successful, as Hambleton is discovered and kills an aggressive peasant farmer, apologizing to his grieving family as he escapes. Knowing that his current location is too dangerous for rescue aircraft, Hambleton devises a plan to reach safer territory. He plots a course to the river which is the boundary of the target area, then communicates his intended path to Clark in a code composed of various golf courses he knows well. This will allow the rescuers to keep track of his progress, making it easier for them to pick him up. Several attempts are made to recover Hambleton. Two helicopters are lost and members of its crews are killed or captured. Clark ultimately flies a "Huey" helicopter rescue mission, but as he retrieves Hambleton, the pair are shot down by ground fire, with Clark being wounded. An

F-100 F-100 or F100 may refer to: Aerospace and defense * North American F-100 Super Sabre, a fighter aircraft formerly in the service of the United States Air Force * Fokker 100, a regional jet * Pratt & Whitney F100, afterburning turbofan engine * ' ...

bombing raid both assists and hinders their progress through the jungle, as North Vietnamese irregulars are trailing them. In the end, Hambleton and Clark are rescued by a US

river boat A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury un ...

patrolling nearby on the

Cam Lo River Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bind ...

Historical accuracy

Portions of ''Bat*21'' were highly dramatized, including the climactic battle. Some characters were composites of real people, while others were created for the film. However, some other details were accurate, including that rescuer Captain Larry Potts was

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. The actual rescue took over 11 days, during which a major attack was delayed, resulting in numerous

South Vietnamese South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

soldiers being killed and wounded. A Forward Air Observer aircraft was shot down and USAF 1Lt Bruce Walker and USMC 1Lt Larry Potts parachuted to the ground safely, eluding capture. In an ensuing attack, six more Americans lost their lives attempting to rescue him. The North Vietnamese, alerted by the intense efforts to find the flyer, increased their efforts to find Hambleton. Walker was discovered and killed by the Vietnamese forces. During a covert nighttime operation more than behind enemy lines, Hambleton was finally rescued in a land operation by

U.S. Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy, U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Special Wa ...

Lt. j.g.

Thomas R. Norris Thomas Rolland Norris (born January 14, 1944) is a retired United States Navy SEAL and Distinguished Eagle Scout who received the Medal of Honor for his ground rescue with the assistance of Petty Officer Third Class Nguyen Van Kiet of two downed ...

and VNN Petty Officer Third Class

Nguyen Van Kiet Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese name, Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. wiktionary:nguyên, Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 perc ...

Cast

as Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton *

as Captain Bartholomew Clark (Call sign: "Birddog") *

as Colonel George Walker *

as WO1 Ross Carver (' Jolly Green' Pilot) *

as Sergeant Harley Rumbaugh *

as Major Jake Scott *Joe Dorsey as Colonel Douglass *Reverend Michael Ng as Vietnamese Man *Theodore Chan Woei-Shyong as Boy on Bridge *Don Ruffin as Helicopter Crew Member *Scott A. Howell as Helicopter Crew Member *Michael Raden as Helicopter Crew Member *Timothy Fitzgerald as EB-66 Officer *Stuart Hagen as EB-66 Officer *

Jeff Baxter Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s. More recently, he has worked as a defense consu ...

as Helicopter Gunner *Alan King as Helicopter Gunner *Bonnie Yong as NVA/VC Officer *Willie Lai as NVA/VC Officer *Martin Yong as NVA/VC Soldier *Jim Aman as NVA/VC Soldier *Freddie Chin as NVA/VC Soldier *Dennis Chong as NVA/VC Soldier *Liow Hui Chun as NVA/VC Soldier *Fung Yun Khiong as NVA/VC Soldier *Henry Lee as NVA/VC Soldier *Michael Lee as NVA/VC Soldier *Jeffrey Liew as NVA/VC Soldier *Fredolin Leong as NVA/VC Soldier *Benedict Lojingkau as NVA/VC Soldier *Johnny Michael as NVA/VC Soldier *Clarence Mojikon as NVA/VC Soldier *Wilod Nuin as NVA/VC Soldier *Harold Sinpang as NVA/VC Soldier *Paul Yong as NVA/VC Soldier *Conidon Wong as NVA VC Soldier

Production

''Bat*21'' was filmed entirely on location in

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, with the assistance of the Malaysian government. Resources, locations and other assistance were supplied by the

Malaysian Army The Malaysian Army ( ms, Tentera Darat Malaysia; Jawi: تنترا دارت مليسيا) is the land component of the Malaysian Armed Forces. Steeped in British Army traditions, the Malaysian Army does not carry the title ‘royal’ () as do th ...

and the

Royal Malaysian Air Force The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF, ms, Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia; TUDM; Jawi: ) was formed on 2 June 1958 as the Royal Federation of Malaya Air Force (; ). However, its roots can be traced back to the Malayan Auxiliary Air Force format ...

, which also supplied aircraft and pilots, including the services of Captain V. Thiagarajah, who flew both on- and off-camera. Helicopters used for the filming included

Bell UH-1N The Bell UH-1N Twin Huey is a medium military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Bell Helicopter. It is a member of the extensive Huey family, the initial version was the CUH-1N Twin Huey (later CH-135 Twi ...

‘Huey’s’, and Sea King helicopters of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. Fighter jets used were F-5 Tigersharks.

Release

The film premiered in the Philippines on September 8, 1988, a month before it premiered in the United States on October 21.

Reception

Film historian Alun Evans in ''Brassey's Guide to War Films'', considered the production an unusual look at "... the perspective of a service non-combatant."Evans 2000, p. 18. In a contemporary review,

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

noted: "'BAT*21' is the kind of lean, no-nonsense war film Hollywood used to make back before the subject became burdened with metaphysical insights." Listed in the "best" category of "The Best (and Worst) War Movies of All Time", ''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

'', characterized ''Bat*21'' as the "Best Vietnam War Movie."Pappalardo, Joe
"Best Vietnam War Movie: Bat 21 (1988)"
''Popular Mechanics'', January 2014. Retrieved: December 23, 2104.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

*Anderson, William C. ''BAT-21: Based on the true story of Lieutenant Colonel Iceal E. Hambleton, USAF''. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1980. . *Evans, Alun. ''Brassey's Guide to War Films''. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2000. .

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bat21 1988 films 1980s war films American war adventure films American aviation films 1980s English-language films Films about shot-down aviators Films about the United States Air Force Films directed by Peter Markle Films scored by Christopher Young TriStar Pictures films Vietnam War aviation films Vietnam War films War films based on actual events 1980s American films