Uncommon Valor
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" (MIA) since 1972. After 10 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 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 blown up with a grenade in Vietnam and listed as MIA.
With the financial backing of rich oil businessman McGregor (Robert Stack), whose son served in Frank's platoon and is also listed among the missing, the men train near Galveston, Texas, before embarking on their trip to the Laos camp in an attempt to bring back the POWs. However, the CIA, fearing an international crisis from Rhodes' actions, intercepts him in Bangkok and confiscates his weapons and equipment. Still determined to rescue their comrades, the team members put together their expense money given to them by McGregor, and Rhodes contacts an acquaintance of his, deposed local drug baron Jiang (Kwan Hi Lim), who joins the expedition with his two daughters Lai Fun and Mai Lin and manages to supply them with outdated but capable World War II weapons. In the course of the expedition, Charts gradually forms a relationship with Lai Fun.
Near the Laotian border, the group is attacked by a border patrol and Mai Lin is killed. Later, the group divides: Rhodes leads Charts, Sailor, Johnson, and Lai Fun to a helicopter compound to secure escape transportation, while the rest of the team scouts out the prison camp. They find four Americans among the prisoners, but are unable to ascertain Frank's presence among them.
The teams spend the night with preparations, and the next morning they commence the attack. In a heated battle, they manage to spring the prisoners, among them McGregor's son, but Frank is not among them, and Blaster, Sailor, and Jiang are killed in the process. From McGregor, Rhodes has to learn that his son became ill soon after his capture and died, despite McGregor's best efforts. The returners are joyously welcomed by their families, and Rhodes finds that in learning the fate of his son, he has gained some closure for his wife and himself.
comedy, murder, anti war, cult, violence, insanity, tragedy