Uncommon Valor

Uncommon Valor is a 1983 action/war film written by Joe Gayton and directed by Ted Kotcheff, about a Marine officer who puts together a team to try to rescue his son, who he believes is a prisoner of war being held in Laos after the Vietnam War. The film stars Gene Hackman, Reb Brown, Robert Stack, and in an early screen appearance, Patrick Swayze.

Plot summary

Taking place in the early 1980s and set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, retired Marine Colonel Jason Rhodes (Gene Hackman) is obsessed with finding his son Frank, listed as "Missing In Action" since 1972. After ten years of searching Southeast Asia and turning up several leads, Rhodes believes that Frank is still alive and being kept in Laos as a prisoner of war.

After petitioning the United States government for help, but receiving none, Colonel Rhodes brings together a disparate group of Vietnam War veterans, including some who were a part of Frank's platoon: Wilkes (Fred Ward), a "tunnel rat" who suffers from PTSD; "Blaster," a demolitions expert (Reb Brown); and "Sailor," a mental case with a heart of gold (Randall "Tex" Cobb). Additionally, two helicopter pilots, Distinguished Flying Cross recipient Johnson (Harold Sylvester) and Charts (Tim Thomerson) join the group. Former Force Recon Marine Kevin Scott (Patrick Swayze) joins the team and later turns out to be the son of a pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and listed as "MIA."

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