My review of the underrated war drama,
Bat*21(
1988) starring
Gene Hackman,
Danny Glover,
Jerry Reed,
Clayton Rohner,
David Marshall Grant,
Erich Anderson, Joe
Dorsey, and
Alan King.
Directed by
Peter Markle.
Trivia
The true story's ending was quite different.
Navy SEAL LT
Tom Norris and
Vietnamese SEAL
Petty Officer Nguyen Van Kiet took a sampan in to pick up Col.
Hambleton after repeated attempts failed with major losses of helicopters and men. LT Norris was awarded the
Medal of Honor for his actions.
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As a
U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, "
Gene" Hambleton commanded the 57first
Missile Squadron at
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base from
1965 to
1971. He is better known as by his tactical radio call-sign, "
Bat 21", he used in
Vietnam when he was shot down in
1972 while jamming enemy radar, and parachuted behind enemy lines. When on the ground Col Hambleton found himself in the midst of an invasion force of over 30,
000 North Vietnamese troops. While evading capture for eleven days he used his survival radio to call in air strikes against the invasion force.
Rescue crews gave him coded instructions for where to go to be rescued based on golf course that he had played at different air force bases. Hambleton's harrowing ordeal was recounted in the book Bat 21 (
1980), which was made into a movie of the same name in 1988. He died from cancer on
September 19 2004 at age 85.
The true events surrounding this story were still classified at the time of production. Ltc Hambleton was rescued by Navy SEAL LT Tom Norris and Vietnamese SEAL Petty Officer Nguyen Van Kiet using a canoe to infiltrate to Hambleton's position and rescue him. LT Norris was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
This movie's opening prologue states: "
Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton was a missile intelligence expert in the
United States Air Force during the
Vietnam War. As such, he was privy to certain highly classified information. The film you are about to see is based on a true story."
This movie's closing epilogue states: "
Lt. Colonel Iceal Hambleton is now retired and resides in
Arizona, near a golf course."
This movie was made about five years after
Uncommon Valor which also starred Gene Hackman who in that movie was responsible for recruiting a band of brothers to bring home a number of their buddy soldiers who were still missing in action from the Vietnam War that they had fought in. This movie, Bat*21, represents the opposite of this. In this movie, Gene Hackman is trapped behind enemy lines in the Vietnam War and it is he who needs to be rescued.
The transceiver used by Vietnamese
operator to listen
American traffic is a
Hungarian version of originally
Soviet R-108D
VHF radio.
The warning is clearly readable: "Vigyázz! Az ellenség lehallgat" (The enemy is listening.) Uti figura docet.
- published: 15 Nov 2013
- views: 5797