Cheap Uncommon Valor (Video) (Gene Hackman, Patrick Swayze) (Ted Kotcheff) Price

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Uncommon Valor: Uncommon Vietnam War movie
This was one of the first movies I saw as a kid about the Vietnam War and it had a profound impact on me. The movie never delves into the political arguments against the war. From the movie's standpoint, we were there, and we left men there. Regardless of whether the war was right or wrong, the only right thing to do now, is get our men back. This was also one of the first Gene Hackman movies I ever saw, and I have been a diehard fan ever since. No other actor can disappear into a role the way Hackman does, and here is a great example of the movie's leading character doing just that, leading. Hackman gives a great performance, balancing the tough Army Colonel with the soft, gentle side of being a father. The cast is exceptional, Fred Ward, Reb Brown and Randall "Tex" Cobb being the standouts. Tim Thomerson has never been better (really). And what better role for a young, up and coming Swayze, who delivers an emotionally deep role. True the plot turns formulaic toward the end, but the superb cast pulls you in and you don't even realize it. But this movie gets it's point across: There are still US Servicemen over there, and whether or not you agreed with the Vietnam War, the only right thing to do is to go back and get them. I highly recommend this movie, if not for the theme of the movie, at least for the superb acting that it contains within. I've seen really bad movies with Gene Hackman, but he was still good, now see him in a really good movie, where he shines.

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Above and Beyond most other Vietnam movies
Colonel Cal Rhodes (Gene Hackman), US Army (ret) is the last of a long line of dedicated, if doomed, military officers. Haunted by visions that his son, a Vietnam War MIA, might still be alive in some camp in SE Asia, and with the backing of a Perot-ish entrepreneur (Robert Stack), he assembles a motley crew of former special forces officers for an ad-hoc search-and-rescue mission into Laos. The vets, who've settled into civilian life (all walks) are reluctant, but Hackman manages to sell them - we lost, and in America, that's like going bankrupt, he tells them. That's unacceptable (this movie came out, what, 1985?) The film has two phases, preparing the vets for their return to combat readiness, and the final mission itself.

I didn't want to see this flick when it came out, thinking it would be some screed right out of Soldier of Fortune, with Hollywood trying to bring its make-believe to a war that didn't want it. Instead, "Uncommon Valor" excels - mostly because it eschews most of what would soon become normal for the Rambo movies. The troops here aren't cold-calculating super-warriors who speak in hushed-Sly Stallone tones, and the Vietnamese aren't sidekicks who speak pidgin. Instead, the vets are rusty and reluctant. As Sailor, Randal "Tex" Cobb (who appears barechested thruought, wears a hand grenade and sleeps through Co. Rhodes' chinese firedrills) plays the least adjusted, and most combat ready of the vets, and it isn't clear how much he's there for comic relief or just there to remind how many vets hadn't readjusted to civilian life. His opposite is Pat Swayze, an ex-marine (4th Recon Division, Rhodes tells us) who was too young to have served, but has his own reasons for having to go. Also on board are Fred Ward, and Reb Brown - the latter playing a prodigy on the subject of mines and other explosives who doesn't let the incendiary nature of his craft keep him from bringing a Mr. Rogers bent to the show. ("Today boys and girls...") Though quickly getting up to speed, they remain rusty through the film, unsure of themselves and completely mortal. When the CIA intercepts the crew (the vanguard for the complacent politicians who lost no sons or brothers to the war) and seizes their weapons, the vets must go on with 2nd hand guns - cast-offs from earlier wars, and face a war that they've never really left. The action scenes are sketched well and keep away from being exploitative, while the script manages to verge from serious to light when it matters, and never panders to any jingoism. This is not a Rambo movie. This is not about stamping "victory" where history shows defeat - but rather about grown men facing the consequences of their defeat when their nation would rather they just forget about it.

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Good, but not great
The plot for this movie was something that could result in a war-movie masterpiece. But everything is too jam-packed and fast-moving. Dramatic tensions aren't as strong as they could have been because he haven't been given enough time to get into the story, and at 107 minutes, they could have easily taken longer. But I liked it nontheless. Hackman is a good actor who plays the role well as a father rescuing his son, a Vietnam POW. He gathers up other troops in his son's old regime who've escaped capture, trains them in a replica of the camp, and they infiltrate in a well-filmed action squence. And I liked how the final scene show Hackman embracing a rescued POD who tells him that his so scrificed his life for that man's survuval. But all in all it was good, but not great, my main complaint is that we don't know enough about Hackman's character's realtionship with his son in the first place