Bat 21

Overview

"Gene Hackman and Danny Glover star in this hard-hitting true story from the Vietnam war, which has been given a sturdy presentation on DVD. Bat 21 has been given two transfers to disc for this release -- one in letterboxed format at the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (with the images enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16 x 9 monitors) and a pan-and-scan version at the full-frame ratio of 1.33:1. The audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Surround; the dialogue is in English, with optional subtitles in French and Spanish. The movie's original trailer is included as a bonus."

Product Details

Release Date:	12/05/2000
UPC:	0027616855527
Original Release:	1988
Rating:	R
Source:	Mgm (Video & Dvd)
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Full Frame, Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	10,284

Special Features

Closed Caption; Original theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gene Hackman	Lt. Colonel Iceal Hambleton
Danny Glover	Captain Bartholomew Clark
Jerry Reed	Col. Walker
David Marshall Grant	Carver
Clayton Rohner	Sgt. Rumbaugh
Erich Anderson	Maj. Scott
Joe Dorsey	Col. Douglass
Michael Ng	Actor
Theodore Chan Woei-Shyong	Boy on Bridge
Don Ruffin	Helicopter Crew Member
Scott Howell	Helicopter Crew Member
Michael Raden	Helicopter Crew Member
Tim Fitzgerald	EB-66 Officer,oficer EB-66
Stuart Hagen	EB-66 Officer
Jeff Baxter	Helicopter Gunner,Actor
Alan King	Helicopter Gunner
Bonnie Yong	Viet Cong Officer,Viet Cong Officer,Viet Cong Officer
Willie Lai	Viet Cong Officer
Jim Aman	Viet Cong Officer
Freddie Chin	Viet Cong Officer
Dennis Chong	Viet Cong Officer
Liow Hui Chun	Viet Cong Officer
Fung Yun Khiong	Viet Cong Officer
Henry Lee	Viet Cong Officer,Viet Cong Officer
Jeffrey Liew	Viet Cong Officer
Fredolin Leong	Viet Cong Officer
Benedict Lojingkau	Viet Cong Officer,Viet Cong Officer
Johnny Michael	Viet Cong Officer
Clarence Mojikon	Viet Cong Officer
Wilod Nuin	Viet Cong Officer
Harold Sinpang	Viet Cong Officer
Conidon Wong	Viet Cong Officer
Rev. Michael Ng	Vietnamese Man
Christopher Young	Composer

Technical Credits

Peter Markle

George Gordon

William C. Anderson

Marc Norman

Peter Markle	Director,Screenwriter
Michael Balson	Producer
Everett Creach	Stunts
David Fisher	Producer
Richard E. Johnson	Special Effects
Gary A. Neill	Producer
Jerry Reed	Executive Producer
Gary Douris	Stunts
Muhandes Mohamed	Stunts
David Saunders	Producer
Bruce A. Block	Special Effects
Mickey Alzola	Stunts
Jerry Rees	Executive Producer
George Gordon	Screenwriter
Evzen Kolar	Producer
William C. Anderson	Screenwriter
Marc Norman	Screenwriter
Ike Magal	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Bat 21 is based on the real-life exploits of Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton, a high-level desk jockey who's never seen the war upfront -- until he's shot down and forced to see it far closer than he ever wanted. In this way the film, shot on location in Malaysia, is unique among war movies, particularly Vietnam films. We see the horrors of war, not through the jaded eyes of a combat veteran or the innocent view of a trembling young recruit, but through the eyes of an older man who's been part of war for years, but has never really known what that meant. He has managed to be both intimately involved in the war and to have kept his hands free of blood, if only physically. Like him, we start the movie alienated from the dark events that often constituted the war, and through him, we come to know better. Due to the extensive and sensitive nature of his knowledge, Hambleton's real-life retrieval became the largest one-man rescue effort of the Vietnam war -- and highly controversial, given the real and potential losses involved in his safe return. Though Bat 21 packs a real punch, it does not set out to chronicle the violence of Vietnam with the same honest brutality of films like Platoon. Instead, it is a personal movie, a film that tells the story of two men whose fates have become intertwined, Gene Hackman's Hambleton and Danny Glover as the pilot who won't abandon him, and both men excel in their roles. Compared to more expansive, more traditional war films, the personal focus of Bat 21 is unique. The end result is a taut, suspenseful story of two atypical cinematic warriors, a combat story whose relative "smallness" is refreshing.