Pretty good Vietnam (anti-)war movie, with Hackman trapped behind enemy lines and Glover standing by on the radio for moral support. Occasionally, this brought to mind Bruce Willis and Reginald VelJohnson, but this doesn't maintain Die Hard's tension levels. The middle really sags while the third act lays on the violence and the savagery. It's the acting that makes this stand out, particularly with the camaraderie between the two leads, and a solid Jerry Reed as supporting.7/10

Lt Col Iceal Hambleton (Gene Hackman) is a high value target when his aircraft is shot over enemy territory. The Air Force is desperate to get him back and prevent him from falling into enemy hands. Capt Bartholomew Clark (Danny Glover) is the Air Force reconnaissance pilot who guide the down man to safety.Gene Hackman and Danny Glover are top actors able to project a relationship even if they don't have the face to face interaction. This is based on a true story, but there is still some action. It's not Rambo action, but it's compelling.The only problem is its predictability. There really isn't any surprises here. It's a functional Vietnam war movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first 3/4 of this film, and was disappointed by the "action- comedy" ending.The story begins true to the feeling if not the details of the actual incident, and revolves around the relationship between Ham, who discovers what war is really about, and Clark, the Forward Air Controller responsible for coordinating his rescue. Ham's confrontation with what happens on the other end of the bombing, his own foolishness that results in his killing a civilian (a bit unbelievable, but dramatically useful), and the ugliness of war, is well portrayed by Hackman. Danny Glover is excellent and sympathetic, in a film that probably boosted his track to stardom.The special effects were not where the money was spent; seems like they had gas to burn, but no explosives, and the F-5s did not really fit, but these details did not detract from a story well told, until...SPOILER AHEAD -- the last 20 minutes could have been from a cheesy Golan-Globus action movie. Did they change the director? He did well for 90 minutes or so.Instead of the true ending -- more narrow escapes from passing VC, lots of bugs, mud, cuts, anxiety and disappointment, until a SEAL in face paint and an ARVN Ranger appear out of nowhere to lead him to an under-fire rescue LZ, we get a lot of silliness. No way would the Green Giant pilot attempt the pickup under fire against orders when no one else is with him. And he should have been taken for proper interrogation. But that could have been just another disappointing detail.But to have a fixed wing pilot even attempt to fly a helicopter alone was just ridiculous. Stealing an aircraft is not only a career-ender, he would never be able to land (twice) without a Class-A mishap. The whole sequence was stupidly unnecessary. And the pitiful pyrotechnics (little Molotov cocktails) of the final "bombing" sequence looked silly. Having the whole forest go up in a huge bloom of flame (Apocalypse Now) would have been believable, or ripples of plain old explosives throwing mountains of earth in the air. Air strikes are sudden, and incredibly destructive. And the idea of a PBR heading upriver for extraction through a couple of divisions of VC and NVA was just too much.If this movie had finished like it started, it would of honored the memory of the heroes far better.

Here is a movie that had they stuck to the actual fact s would have been so exciting and completely engrossing. Instead they used two great actors and got a piece of schlock not worthy of the film its printed on. The only parts that were close to accurate were the actual shoot down and the loss of the H-3 crew (who were not returned until 1995? for burial at Arlington). The Danny Glover character was a back seater in a OV-10 Bronco and was shot down the day after Hambleton and needed rescue too.Subsequently after 2 plus weeks several downed aircraft a Navy SEAL and SVN Navy PO stole a peasants fishing skiff paddled up river passing enemy machine gun nest and had a running gun battle on the way back. The SEAL was given the MEDAL OF HONOR and the PO the USN Navy Cross the only NC given to a South Vietnamese sailor ever.There's a book by the same name as the movie written by a Air Force vet and current airline captain that is very good and I'd recommend it highly.Aa sad postscript when Hambelton was asked how he could act as technical adviser on a movie that dishonored so many men who died trying to save him he replied "When they offer you that kind of money you can't turn it down". Get the book, you won't regret it and you'll read about real heroes.Here's a movie that if remade true to actual events would full theaters with everyone on the edge of their seats. One final tid bit he was only 2 miles behind the "lines".