History Film / UncommonValor

''Uncommon Valor'', made in 1983 and starring Creator/GeneHackman, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Robert Stack (yes [[UnsolvedMysteries that]] [[{{Transformers}} Robert]] [[HeyItsThatVoice Stack]]), Creator/RebBrown (yes [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica that]] Reb Brown), and a post-''Film/{{The Outsiders}}'', pre-{{Dirty Dancing}} Patrick Swayze.

''Uncommon Valor'', made in 1983 and starring Creator/GeneHackman, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Robert Stack (yes [[UnsolvedMysteries that]] [[{{Transformers}} Robert]] [[HeyItsThatVoice Stack]]), Creator/RebBrown (yes [[CaptainAmerica that]] Reb Brown), and a post-''Film/{{The Outsiders}}'', pre-{{Dirty Dancing}} Patrick Swayze.

''Uncommon Valor'', made in 1983 and starring Creator/GeneHackman, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Robert Stack (yes [[UnsolvedMysteries that]] [[{{Transformers}} Robert]] [[HeyItsThatVoice Stack]]), Creator/RebBrown (yes [[CaptainAmerica that]] Reb Brown), and a post-{{The Outsiders}}, pre-{{Dirty Dancing}} Patrick Swayze.

''Uncommon Valor'', made in 1983 and starring Gene Hackman, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Robert Stack (yes [[UnsolvedMysteries that]] [[{{Transformers}} Robert]] [[HeyItsThatVoice Stack]]), Creator/RebBrown (yes [[CaptainAmerica that]] Reb Brown), and a post-{{The Outsiders}}, pre-{{Dirty Dancing}} Patrick Swayze.

''Uncommon Valor'' came out before ''RamboFirstBloodPartII'', which [[DuelingMovies dealt with the same issue]]. ''Uncommon Valor'' was directed by Ted Kotcheff, who previously made the original ''FirstBlood''.

It is {{The Eighties}}, and Col. Jason Rhodes (Hackman), a [[TheKoreanWar Korean war]] veteran, is haunted by the loss of his son, Frank, who has been Missing In Action [[TheVietnamWar since 1972]]. After a [[AdultFear particularly disturbing]] [[BadDreams nightmare]], he decided to take action. He [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections petitions the government and all of his military contacts]] to no avail, eventually being [[ReluctantRetiree forceably retired for being a nuisance]]. What's a PapaWolf to do? Team up with the father of another MIA, now an oil magnate (Stack) for finances and recruit your son's former squadmates, drill them into a precise military unit with the help of a young Marine Kevin Scott (Swayze), and send them back to the war they've been trying to escape for the last 10 years.

* TheKoreanWar[=/=]TheVietnamWar: Rhodes and Macgregor are veterans of the former, and the rest of the team are veterans of the latter.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[TagLine In the most important mission of their lives, they're going back to get their buddies who ere left behind.]]"]]

** Macgregor, even in his noncombatant role, is told that there were serious threats against his company if he went through with the mission, such as IRS audits. His response? ''[[PrecisionFStrike "Fuck you."]]''

* {{Expy}}: Robert Stack's character, [=MacGregor=], is a millionaire oil tycoon from Texas who bankrolls the operation to retrieve the [=POWs=]. He is based on Ross Perot, a real-life millionaire oil tycoon from Texas who in the early 1980s financed private investigations into possible American prisoners still being held in Vietnam.

* TheKoreanWar / TheVietnamWar: Rhodes and Macgregor are veterans of the former, and the rest of the team are veterans of the latter.

''Uncommon Valor'', made in 1983 and starring Gene Hackman, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Robert Stack (yes [[UnsolvedMysteries that]] [[{{Transformers}} Robert]] [[HeyItsThatVoice Stack]]), RebBrown (yes [[CaptainAmerica that]] Reb Brown), and a post-{{The Outsiders}}, pre-{{Dirty Dancing}} Patrick Swayze.

* {{Badass}}: The whole crew, but Sailor and Wilkes specifically..
** Not to mention that Sailor's actor, Randall "Tex" Cobb, is a ''RealLife'' badass who was a professional boxer in the 1970s and 1980s (famous both for his hitting power as well as his ability to take a hit) in addition to being a black belt in karate.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Rhodes's son died of illness several years before in the very camp they found. He was too late to save his son, but found Macgregor's son and three others for whom the war is now over.]]
* BoisterousBruiser: SAILOR.
* CallingTheOldManOut: inverted, as it's the veteran Sailor who calls out the much younger Scott. Scott is [[BringIt confident]] and leaps at the chance to show off his Kung Fu, [[PunchPunchPunchUhOh but it doesn't]] [[CurbStompBattle go well]] [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass for him]].
* CasanovaWannabe Charts hits on anything that moves. He even tries to sneak up and, erm, snuggle with ActionGirl Lai Fun. It [[GirlWithPsychoWeapon doesn't]] [[KnifeNut go]] [[MexicanStandoff well]].
* ChainsawGood: Sailor manages to find a CHAINSAW on their practice run through the mock-up village. He even takes out a cardboard cut-out guard with it.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Sailor's Grenade]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Sailor again, of the drug-addled variety, at least when we first meet him. He pulls himself together once it's explained why Rhodes is doing this, but only to a given value of together.
** ''"Man, I'm so far beyond that shit, man... I can pull energy from the AIR. I can talk to polar bears, I converse with paramecium, man, I '''FUCKED''' NUCLEAR WASTE."''
* CoolOldGuy / BadassGrandpa: Xiang, the drug dealer who supplied the mission, and then came along to man the recoilless rifle and be awesome.
** Rhodes himself qualifies, both as a capable leader, and as an anti-personnel sniper.
* DeadpanSnarker: Charts
** during one of the exercises, the team must make it through the forest to the tower, without being tagged by Wilkes. Wilkes not only systematically takes them apart, using traps, positioning and tactics, but ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome hangs a customised sign on each of them to make them look stupid]]''. Can you be a snarker without speaking?

** ''"You come in low under his line of sight. You leap... taking him down, placing your hand over his nose, pulling his face away from you. At the base of his skull, to the right of the spine, into what the Chinese call the Wind Gate. You insert, scramble the brains. What you have is instant rag doll."''
* DesolationShot: The team travel through the remains of a village whose every inhabitant was killed by mustard gas.

* HeroicBSOD: One of these lead to Wilkes' claustrophobia and disconnection from life.
** also Scott after [[spoiler:Blaster is killed and Chart's helicopter is shot down. It sends him berserk and screaming out of cover [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome charging a gunboat by himself to save Charts.]]]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Blaster, Sailor.]]
** [[spoiler:Rhodes' son Frank was captured after stopping to retreive Macgregor's son and carrying the injured man to the helicopter.]]

Far better than it sounds, mostly due to the interactions between the characters, excellent performances (with some exceptions), and realistic handling of PTSD. Surprisingly, came out before ''RamboFirstBloodPartII'', which [[DuelingMovies dealt with the same issue]]. ''Uncommon Valor'' was directed by Ted Kotcheff, who previously made the original ''FirstBlood''.

* WheresTheKaboom: The explosives planted to destroy the bridge, in order to cut off enemy reinforcements, misfire, forcing Blaster to [[spoiler:make a HeroicSacrifice to manually detonate them]].

* DrillSergeantNasty: Scott tries to be this early in the veteran's re-training. It doesn't work, as the men see him as The Neidermeyer, when the situation is actually [[spoiler:that his father was a pilot shot down in Vietnam, and this is Kevin's way of coming to terms with his loss.]]

* Desolation Shot: The team travel through the remains of a village whose every inhabitant was killed by mustard gas.

* {{Expy}}: Robert Stack's character, MacGregor, is a millionaire oil tycoon from Texas who bankrolls the operation to retrieve the [=POWs=]. He is based on Ross Perot, a real-life millionaire oil tycoon from Texas who in the early 1980s financed private investigations into possible American prisoners still being held in Vietnam.

* Expy: Robert Stack's character, MacGregor, is a millionaire oil tycoon from Texas who bankrolls the operation to retrieve the [=POWs=]. He is based on Ross Perot, a real-life millionaire oil tycoon from Texas who in the early 1980s financed private investigations into possible American prisoners still being held in Vietnam.

Far better than it sounds, mostly due to the interactions between the characters, excellent performances (with some exceptions), and realistic handling of PTSD. Surprisingly, came out before ''RamboFirstBloodPartII'', which [[DuelingMovies dealt with the same issue]].

[[BetterThanItSounds Far better than it sounds]], mostly due to the interactions between the characters, excellent performances (with some exceptions), and realistic handling of PTSD. Surprisingly, came out before ''RamboFirstBloodPartII'', which [[DuelingMovies dealt with the same issue]].

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Blaster, while a MadBomber in war, was a slacker in peacetime who never cared about anything, and spent his time racing BMXs and goofing around. When the bombs on the bridge failed to detonate, he sacrificed himself to make sure his part of the plan went through.]]