BAT-21 - In the middle of the fire

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Movie
German title BAT-21 - In the middle of the fire
Original title Bat * 21
Bat 21
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1988
length 105 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Peter Markle
script William Charles Anderson , George Gordon
production Michael Balson , David Fisher , Gary A. Neill , Jerry Reed
music Christopher Young
camera Mark Irwin
cut Stephen E. Rivkin
occupation

BAT-21 - In the Middle of Fire ( Bat * 21 or Bat 21 ) is a 1988 American war film directed by Peter Markle . William Charles Anderson and George Gordon wrote the screenplay based on a book by William C. Anderson, The True Events portrays.

action

Lt. Colonel Iceal Hambleton takes part as navigator of a reconnaissance aircraft in a mission over Vietnam in order to better plan an area bombing. His plane was shot down by a Soviet SA-2 anti-aircraft missile , but he was the only one able to save himself in time with the ejector seat .

Hambleton lands behind enemy lines and is immediately hunted by the Viet Cong for being an expert on missiles and having access to classified documents. By radio he can establish contact with the pilot of an O-2A Skymaster , Captain Bartholomew Clark (nickname: "Birddog"), while the military organizes the rescue. However, this seems impossible, since the Viet Cong tries with all means to capture this "big fish". An attempt to rescue a small village fails when one of the helicopters is ambushed. During this mission, the helicopter had to make an emergency landing due to a hit. The two pilots and two crew members are shot in front of Hambleton, whereupon the village is bombed with napalm. Although Hambleton over the radio indicates that civilians are living in the village as a living shield for the Viet Cong, the officers in the air cannot be dissuaded from the bombing.

Hambleton is developing a method of communicating its position and further action to its own troops without the enemy Viet Cong becoming aware of it through eavesdropping. He designs a map with all the golf courses in the US bases that he regularly plays. His current whereabouts can be determined on the basis of this distance information. At first it fails to save Hambleton. The bomb attack he helped to design is now imminent. He would also meet his current position. But the pilot Clark, in disregard of his orders, flies a Bell UH-1 Huey into the zone in which Hambleton is. He succeeds in getting Lt. Take Colonel under enemy fire. However, the helicopter is hit and Clark has to make an emergency landing. But both survive the heavy bombing and are picked up in the finale by a Fast Patrol Craft , a patrol boat.

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times of October 21, 1988 that the authentic-looking locations and the " energy of the representations " would have a pulling effect. The film is straightforward and does not contain any “ nonsense of metaphysical insights ” (“ lean, no-nonsense was film Hollywood used to make back before the subject became burdened with metaphysical insights ”). However, Ebert found it implausible that Hambleton freely used his radio, although he was afraid of being bugged by the enemy.

Rita Kempley wrote in the Washington Post on October 21, 1988 that the film glorified the American soldiers of the Vietnam War. It is a two-person drama that can be " enjoyed " because of the portrayals of Gene Hackman and Danny Glover . The film is " smart " - a film with Chuck Norris would have a similar effect if Norris were to do a doctorate.

background

The film was shot in Malaysia . It grossed approximately $ 3.97 million in US cinemas .

Historical context

The film only roughly corresponds to historical events. On April 2, 1972 the Douglas RB-66C , serial number 54-0466, of the United States Air Force , USAF code "BAT-21" was shot down south of the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam by a North Vietnamese SA-2 anti-aircraft missile (coordinates 16 ° 50 ′ 0 ″  N , 107 ° 1 ′ 0 ″  E ). Of the six-man crew, only Colonel Hambleton (code name BAT-21b) was able to save himself with the ejection seat and landed in an area occupied by North Vietnamese troops. So far the film is correct. Nearby was a US Army rescue team with five UH-1B / H and AH-1G helicopters trying to save Hambleton. Two helicopters were shot down, three of the six crew members died, one was captured and two were rescued. On April 3, a North American OV-10A (code "Nail-38") searching for Hambleton was shot down. One crew member was captured, one rescued after twelve days. These processes do not appear in the film. A Cessna 0-2 shown in the film was not directly involved in the rescue mission, but a machine of this type was in the vicinity at the time of the launch and was able to observe Hambleton's landing. The crew member of the OV-10 rescued after 12 days was Lt. Mark Clark (code "Nail-38b", a grandson of General Mark W. Clark ), who is also a helicopter pilot in the film, with a different first name. In reality, another rescue attempt failed on April 6, in which the USAF's Sikorsky HH-53C helicopter was shot down and all six crew members were killed. In the film, this is a Sikorsky SH-3 , but only used by the United States Navy . One day later, another USAF OV-10A was shot down and both crew members died. The "Film-Clark" finally tries to save Hambleton alone with a helicopter, but is shot down. Then both are rescued by a patrol boat. In reality, after ten days, Hambleton was finally rescued by two commandos (US Navy SEAL LT Tom Norris and South Vietnamese SEAL Petty Officer Nguyen Van Kiet) with a small stolen sampan . A total of eleven soldiers died and three were captured in the rescue of Col. Hambleton.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review by Roger Ebert, accessed on August 6, 2007
  2. ^ Review by Rita Kempley, accessed August 6, 2007
  3. ^ Filming locations for Bat * 21, accessed August 6, 2007
  4. ↑ Box office / business for Bat * 21, accessed on August 6, 2007
  5. ↑ http://www.masshome.com/powmia/avery.html
  6. ↑ RESCUE OF BAT 21 ( Memento from June 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive )