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| Director: Peter Markle
Actors: Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Jerry Reed, David Marshall Grant, Clayton Rohner
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Buy New: $14.95
New (2) Used (2) from $9.99
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 45620
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original Recording Reissued, Ntsc
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0792847385
UPC: 027616854261
EAN: 9780792847380
ASIN: B00004Y872
Theatrical Release Date: October 21, 1988
Release Date: November 7, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 21
 Outstanding Story, Even Hollywood couldn't screw up March 15, 2002
Fred Ostrom (Rochester, New York United States)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Outstanding, true story, even Hollywood couldn't add any of their Bravo Sierra and screw this one up. Gene Hackman and Danny Glover are number 1 in this
 Not an excellent VN war flick, but still one you should see November 19, 2003
Rottenberg's rotten book review (nyc)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
High octane action and the perseverance of some of the leads elevate "Bat-21" to that higher level of Vietnam movie. Basically the story of how a high-level intelligence officer eludes capture after being shot down behind enemy lines in Vietnam, "Bat-21" is relentless and never exploitative. Hackman is Iceal Hambleton, a USAF colonel who fights the war in Vietnam from the offices and golf courses of Saigon. Tasked to identify communist missile sites, he boldly (and unwisely) tags along on an EB-66, an unarmed electronic warfare bird loaded with intelligence equipment. The sole survivor after being shot down, Hambleton finds himself pursued by the enemy who apparently appreciate his value as a prisoner. While the enemy (was it the NVA or the Cong? I could never tell) is unable to find Hambleton, they prove more than capable of making life hell for the rescue choppers sent to rescue him - including the crew of a "Jolly Green" cut to pieces over an enemy-held village. While on the ground, Hambleton stays in contact with Bart Clark (Danny Glover), a USAF captain who flies spotter missions for more heavily armed bombers. (Clark flies FAC - from his slow-moving Cessna, he finds targets for the strike fighters, marking them with white-phosphorous rockets). Knowing that the enemy is monitoring them, Hambleton and Clark work out a code that posits the map of Vietnam as a big golf course. As rescue attempts become more dangerous, Clark finds himself drawn ever deeper into the rescue, climaxing in his going rogue when his superiors throw in the towel."Bat-21" isn't really a classic. There's plenty of thrilling action, and the script even manages to find room for irony (as when Clark pauses during a radio conversation with Hambleton while he zaps a few communist troops). Still, nothing really convincingly explains how Hackman manages to elude capture...by anybody (the script makes clear that he is definitely no Rambo). The film also breezes over the biggest irony - that Hackman's code is based on his smarts on the golf course rather than the battlefield. If the film excels over cheap action flicks, it's in the determination and exhaustion of its leads and persistent refusal to avoid Hollywood glory. Also, unless anybody knows of another film, this is the only one I've seen that captures the critical role played by Forward Air Controllers in both prosecuting the air war in Vietnam, and rescuing those airmen nearly lost.
BAT 21 November 9, 2002
Anthony Sanseverno (Mesa, AZ USA)
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
For a movie based on a true story, I found it be very fast paced with an excellent story line.Danny Glover and Gene Hackman really clicked in this one.
BAT 21 March 14, 2006
Steven R Ross (Edison, NJ USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Excellent. Shows true events that happen to pilots in Vietnam. Keeps you in suspense.
Steve101st Airborne (Vietnam)
 Bat 21 June 14, 2000
Julie VanTeslaar (North Carolina)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great suspenfull movie.... Gene Hackman and Danny Glover are great together in this movie that makes men as one..,. They go beyond race, religion, and creed to be as one and rescue someone.
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