Jump to content

Black Hawk Down (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Simon Shek (talk | contribs) at 02:41, 13 November 2007 (→Controversies and inaccuracies: repair link). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Black Hawk Down
Movie Poster from Black Hawk Down
Directed byRidley Scott
Written byMark Bowden
Ken Nolan
Produced byJerry Bruckheimer
Ridley Scott
StarringJosh Hartnett
Ewan McGregor
Tom Hardy
Tom Sizemore
William Fichtner
Eric Bana
Sam Shepard
Orlando Bloom
Ioan Gruffudd
CinematographySlawomir Idziak
Edited byPietro Scalia
Music byHans Zimmer, Denez Prigent
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
December 28, 2001
Running time
144 min.
LanguagesEnglish, Somali
Budget$92 million

Black Hawk Down is a 2001 film by Ridley Scott, based on the book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden. It depicts the Battle of Mogadishu, which was part of the U.S. military's 1993 campaign to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The movie stars an ensemble cast. It won awards for Film Editing and Sound at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002.

Plot

A mixed assault force of Delta operators, Army Rangers, and Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) under the command of Maj. Gen. William Garrison was dropped by helicopters of the US Army's Special Operations Air Regiment (SOAR) deep into the capital city of Mogadishu's Bakaara Market, a stronghold of local warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid to capture two of his senior lieutenants, Omar Salad and Abdi Hasan Awale. The raid by the Delta operators was successful and the wanted persons were captured and taken into American custody. However, when Somali militia armed with RPGs downed two Black Hawk helicopters, a 30 minute mission became a pitched battle between the American forces and Somali militia lasting almost 15 hours.


The code word to launch was "Irene." They were a formidable armada. The helicopter assault force included about 75 Rangers and 16 Delta troops in 17 helicopters. Idling at the airport was a convoy of 12 vehicles with soldiers who would ride three miles to the target building and escort the Somali prisoners and the assault team back to base. Most soldiers deduced that that battle would only take 30 minutes, and some neglected to bring canteens, and NVG, others opting to take out the ballistic ceramic plate in their body armor to reduced the weight carried around.

This movie follows the story of many soldiers during that fateful day. Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann , who is commanding Ranger Chalk 4 for the first time as his platoon lieutenant was sent home due to illness and the guy who replaced him had suffered an epileptic seizure. However, minutes into the Operation, PFC Todd Blackburn slips and misses the rope as the Black Hawk banks to avoid an incoming RPG. Eversman is dismayed at a casualty this early into the Operation and frantically ropes down and administers first aid with the help of his Chalk's medic, Doc. Schmidt.

Meanwhile, Delta Operators storm the target building and capture all of the prisoners. Norm Hoot radios for extraction via the convoy, Uniform 64, led by Danny McKnight. Eversman and half of his Chalk carry Blackburn on a compact litter. Blackburn was eventually loaded into a humvee, with Sgt. Streuker driving the lead humvee. However, on their way back to base, the first fatality is claimed in the form of Sgt. Dominick Pilla as he is shot while manning the 50. cal of Streuker's humvee. He falls on the lap of SP4 Thomas, who is later badly shaken up and nearly ends up not joining them going back into the city.

Back in Mogadishu, Cliff Wolcott's Black Hawk, Super 6-1 is shot in the tail rotor by an RPG. It crash lands, killing both Wolcott and his co-pilot, Briley. One wounded Delta operator Staff Sergeant Daniel Busch crawls out of the chopper and defends it valiantly with his CAR-15, wounded several times but holding back militia until help arrives. Star 4-1, "a little bird" lands next to the crashed Black Hawk. The pilot defends the Little Bird with a submachine gun while his co-pilot Chief Warrant Officer Keith Jones escorts the wounded Delta operator back onto the Little Bird for immediate medivac.

Chalk 4, led by Eversman arrives on scene having witnessed the Black Hawk go down and proceed towards it on foot, leaving behind Twombly and Nelson to hold the defensive perimeter they were supposed to do initially. On the way there, they encounter several obstacles such as technicals and bullet wounds, namely Scott Galentine having his thumb blown off. Eversman's chalk and First Lt. Tom DiTomasso's chalk set up a defensive perimeter around Super 6-1 and wait for the SAR Bird to arrive and drop medics on scene.

Super 6-8 arrived with medics aboard, but took heavy small arms fire. Despite that, the medics are successfully inserted and the bird flies away.

The prisoners are loaded up into the convoy, which eventually moves out towards the crash site. Captain Steele led a force of Rangers and Delta Operatives towards the crash site on foot. Along the way, they encounter heavy enemy resistance, during which several soldiers were wounded, some badly. Eventually, after taking many casualties, they decide to stronghold an empty building and wait for the convoy, which is lost, bullet ridden and beleaguered making its way through the streets of Mogadishu. Sergeant First Class Paul Howe (Sanderson) argues with Captain Steele that there are still men pinned down at the crash site and wants to take a small contingent on foot. After a heated argument, Steele agrees to let Sanderson take his Delta men, and Grimes, who is a member of Chalk 4 and was separated during the start.

The convoy moving through the streets of Mogadishu is under heavy fire, with unreliable directions which leads to them around in circles. They suffer many casaulties, including one where a Delta operative (Tim Griz) has his legs blown off by an RPG and a driver of a truck (SPC Richard 'Alphabet' Kowalewski) has an unexploded RPG lodged inside his body. Eventually, the battered convoy is given the go-ahead to return to base.

Super 6-4, piloted by Mike Durant is ordered to take up the holding pattern formerly taken up by Super 6-1. After getting into positions, his Black Hawk is also struck by an RPG. Initially, all systems look good, but then the tail rotor gives out and Super 6-4 goes down as well. Since most of the force is dealing with Super 6-1, and there was only one SAR bird as no one expected two Black Hawks to be shot down, no medivac was available for Super 6-4. Streuker's Humvees are ordered to go back to assist Super 6-4. However, they cannot get there in time and Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, two Delta snipers aboard Super 6-2 request to be inserted and provide defense for the fallen crew until a larger rescue squad arrives. After having their request rejected several times, Command eventually agrees for the two of them to be inserted. Fighting their way to the downed chopper, they rescue an injured Mike Durant and then heroically defend the chopper against mighty odds, as both of them are mortally wounded. Gordon is killed first, as Shughart then hands Duran Gordon's carbine, telling him 'Gordy's gone man, I'll be outside. Good luck,' before leaving and subsequently being killed himself. The crash site is overrun and Durant is taken prisoner.

All is quiet for a while, with both sides reaching a stalemate. Streuker's Humvees are not able to find a way to the crash site due to roadblocks, so Hoot offers to take a small contingent to it on foot, much like Sanderson earlier. They arrive at the crash site and find it deserted, albeit some looters which are scared off by Hoot. They then set out to destroy the Black Hawk as it contains documents and equipment that is best kept out of Somali hands.

Meanwhile, Twombly and Nelson, the two Chalk 4 machine gunners, who were meant to return with the Humvees are lost, and as they desperately try to find the crash site they are reunited with Yurek. As they reach Eversman's position, Twombly's radio is shot and, in a bid to save his comrade, Cpl. Jamie Smith is shot and mortally wounded. He would bleed to death later, despite desperate attempts to save him.

Hoot and his men arrive at the scene and they regroup with Eversman while a rescue convoy is formed. After a while, the sounds of fighting can be heard in the distance and Hoot asks Eversman, 'Well, shall we?' Eversman, regaining his confidence, leads his team for valour and professionalism, even marking the target building with a strobe himself so the Little Birds can perform a minigun and rocket strafing run. Afterwards, someone shouts 'The convoy is here!' as indeed, a convoy of 10th Mountain Division soldiers in Malaysian and Pakistani vehicles, along with the remnants of the lost convoy. They arrive to assist the beleagued soldiers, but it is not until early next morning before they are able to leave as it takes several hours to cut through the kevlar of the Black Hawk cockpit to retrieve Cliff Wolcott's body, as 'no man is left behind.' The APCs are full, so several of the leading characters must run the last mile on foot, also known as the Mogadishu Mile. They return without encountering significant resistance.

Back at the base, the soldiers collapse and the wounded are taken care of, while Eversman sees Hoot stock up on ammunition, and asks him whether he's going back out there or not. Hoot delivers his monologue and takes off, remarking that it's Monday and they had started a whole new week. The movie ends with Eversman speaking to Jamie Smith, promising to fulfill his final requests.

18 American soldiers and 1 Malaysian soldier were killed on the day covered, with a Delta, Matthew Rierson killed during a mortar attack on the base 2 days later. It is estimated that over a thousand Somali civilians and militia lost their lives. Mohamed Farrah Aidid was killed on August 2, 1996 during a battle with the rival militia . Major General William F. Garrison retired the following day.

Controversies and inaccuracies

There is minor controversy over the fact that Spc. John Stebbins, a soldier who participated in the operation, was replaced by the fictional character, Spc. John Grimes, as Stebbins was convicted by court martial in 1999 for sexually assaulting his daughter.[1] Bowden himself claimed that the Pentagon requested this change.[2]

The film has been accused of glossing over alleged failures of leadership by Gen. Garrison and other commanders on the ground. AC-130 gunships had previously been deployed to Somalia and were sent back by Gen. Montgomery some time previously and were not, as the movie portrays, denied by the political leadership in Washington. Similarly, the Rangers did not decide on their own to only wear the front half of their body armor, as shown in the film, but rather were ordered to. [3]

In the interest of making the story easy to follow and keeping it at a reasonable length, the film is shot from the point of view of the American soldiers. Unlike Mark Bowden's book, the film does not present stories of individual civilian casualties of the Battle of Mogadishu; neither does it depict the use of non-combatants as human shields by the Somali militia. Bowden and Nolan advocate these are the kinds of things were needed changes in the conversion. [4]

Other omissions and inaccuracies are listed in articles such as the Slate article, "What Black Hawk Down Left Out",[5] which argues in part that the Somalis who engaged the American soldiers that day may have believed themselves to be responding to what they perceived as unjust American and international military tactics used against them. The Somalis were outraged by two UN attacks shortly before the Ranger raid, in which women, children and clan elders (i.e., political leaders) meeting with Somali warlords were killed.[6]

The Malaysian government criticized the movie for not giving recognition to the Malaysian soldiers involved in the rescue mission even though a Malaysian soldier died during the rescue attempt (although a request for assistance by MG Garrison from the Malaysians is presented in the movie). An American soldier wrote in a letter that he was grateful for the bravery and courage of the Malaysian soldiers, who helped prevent the deaths of 200 of his compatriots.[7]

General Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan also accused the filmmakers of not crediting the work done by the Pakistani soldiers in his autobiography In the Line of Fire: A Memoir. In his book he states:

The outstanding performance of the Pakistani troops under adverse conditions is very well known at the UN. Regrettably, the film Black Hawk Down ignores the role of Pakistan in Somalia. When U.S. troops were trapped in the thickly populated Madina Bazaar area of Mogadishu, it was the Seventh Frontier Force Regiment of the Pakistan Army that reached out and extricated them. The bravery of the U.S. troops notwithstanding, we deserved equal, if not more, credit; but the filmmakers depicted the incident as involving only Americans.

Background and production

This project was originally the idea of director Simon West who urged producer Jerry Bruckheimer to obtain the rights of the book with a view to directing it himself. However, West abandoned the project to direct Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).

Despite the fact that Ken Nolan is the only credited writer, there were others that contributed uncredited. Sam Shepard wrote most of his own dialogue as Major General William F. Garrison; Eric Roth wrote crucial speeches for Josh Hartnett and Eric Bana to deliver in the closing minutes; Steven Zaillian made a dialogue-driven rewrite; and Stephen Gaghan contributed to the writing of the screenplay. Author Mark Bowden wrote early drafts of the screenplay, before Jerry Bruckheimer turned it over. The scene between Mike Durant and Firimbi is a portion from one of Bowden's early drafts.

About forty of the actors who were portraying Rangers were sent to Fort Benning to attend a two week crash course in becoming Rangers, three of the actors portraying Delta Operators were sent to Fort Bragg and were given a two week Commando Course by members of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group. Ron Eldard and the several of the actors who portrayed the pilots of the 160th SOAR went to Fort Campbell and were given a lecture by Michael Durant (whom Ron Eldard portrays in the movie) and by several Little Bird and Black Hawk pilots.

The directors enlisted the help of the US Army, and all Black Hawks and Little Birds used during the filming were from the 160th SOAR, (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) and most of the pilots (such as Keith Jones who delivers a small amount of dialogue during the movie) were involved in the actual battle on 3-4 October 1993. The US Army also supplied the ground vehicles and weapons. Additionally, a platoon of Rangers from Bravo Company, 3/75 Ranger Regiment (the same company that was involved in the events of the movie) were employed to do the fast-roping scenes and act as extras.

Much of the film was shot in the twin cities Rabat and Salé, Morocco because the film-makers had decided that filming in Somalia would have been too dangerous. In addition the film characters were not of Somali descent. Scenes taking place at the Task Force Ranger base were filmed at Kénitra Airbase.

Cast

Awards

The film won the following awards:

  • the 2002 Academy Award for Best Editing (Pietro Scalia)
  • the 2002 Academy Award for Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, Chris Munro)
  • the 2002 Golden Reel Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA for Best Sound Editing - Effects and Foley, Domestic Feature Film
  • the 2002 Harry Award

It was also nominated for the following awards:

  • the 2002 Academy Award for Best Director (Ridley Scott)
  • the 2002 Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Slawomir Idziak)
  • the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Cinematographer of the Year (Slawomir Idziak)
  • the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Director of the Year (Ridley Scott)
  • the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Editor of the Year (Pietro Scalia)
  • the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Movie of the Year (Jerry Bruckheimer, Ridley Scott)
  • the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Production Designer of the Year (Arthur Max)
  • the 2002 MTV Movie Award for MTV Movie Award Best Action Sequence (First helicopter crash)
  • the 2002 MTV Movie Award for MTV Movie Award Best Movie
  • the 2002 WGA Award (Screen) for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published (Ken Nolan)
  • the 2002 Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Actor, Drama/Action Adventure (Rowan Mortensen)
  • the 2002 Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Movie, Drama/Action Adventure
  • the 2002 Golden Reel Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA for Best Sound Editing - Dialogue and A.D.R., Domestic Feature Film
  • the 2002 Golden Trailer for Best Drama
  • the 2002 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (Ridley Scott)

Other production information

  • The photo of Durant's wife and child he is looking at is actually a photo of Eric Bana's family. The props department forgot to take a photo of him with a woman and a kid, so they asked Bana's wife if they could use a picture of the three in the movie. She agreed.
  • The wife of Randy Shughart is played by Ridley Scott's girlfriend Giannina Facio who also appeared in Gladiator as Maximus' wife.
  • Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan Bremner, William Fichtner and Kim Coates all previously worked together in another war film: Pearl Harbor (2001).
  • Some of the scenes on the monitors behind Major General Garrison are actual images that were taken from the Orion reconnaissance aircraft that was orbiting over Mogadishu during the battle.
  • Eric Bana's character, Sergeant First Class Hoot, wears Oakley Juliet sunglasses in the film. This is anachronistic, as the Juliet was released in 1999.
  • Several Rangers are depicted using Emerson Production knives in the hangar scene, Emerson did not begin making production knives until 1998.
  • The Ranger who runs after SSG Strueker's HMMWV to join the rescue convoy is a real Ranger, named John Bamford. He was hastily given membership in the Screen Actor's Guild for him to perform the role.
  • On the last day of their week-long Army Ranger orientation at Fort Benning, the actors who portrayed the Rangers received a letter that had been anonymously slipped under their door. The letter thanked them for all their hard work, asked them to "tell our story true" and was signed with the names of the Rangers who died in the Mogadishu firefight.
  • One of the Black Hawk helicopters used in the film was named the Armageddon (also the title of a film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer) and another was named the Gladiator (also the title of a film directed by Ridley Scott). Producer Jerry Bruckheimer believed this to be a sign of good luck.
  • The scene where the helicopter follows the informant's car was an error as the helicopter on the screen in front of General Garrison is a Huey, but when the image cuts away, the chopper from the screen becomes a Black Hawk.
  • The scene where a U.S. soldier falls out of the truck in the convoy was an outtake, but director Ridley Scott felt that it was funny and should be left in the movie.
  • The scene in which Captain Steele and Sergeant Sanderson argue about "Hoot's" behavior at the cafeteria is biased towards Captain Steele's behalf. In the book, Captain Mike Steele had a problem with the Delta Force's behavior, feeling that they were a bad influence to his Army Rangers, as many of his young soldiers had begun to question his "robot-Ranger" protocols which Delta Force and later they viewed as procedures for procedure's sake. The incident did in fact occur in the mess-hall in which a Delta Operator, Norm Hooten, had walked into the mess-hall with his safety off. When Steele approached him, the operator pointed at his finger and said, "This is my safety." The real-life version of Sanderson, Paul Howe, on the other hand felt that the Ranger's strict training regimen was doing more harm than good when it came to actual combat situations.
  • The scene where Staff Sergeant Eversmann runs unprotected across a street under heavy fire to plant a targeting strobe did happen in the actual battle although it wasn't Eversman who did the act; SPC Twombley was ordered to plant a flat triangular marker (similar to a construction marker) out in the middle of the street so that pilots could identify their position. In another incident, Technical Sergeant Tim Wilkinson, an Air Force Pararescueman (PJ), repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to collect medical supplies and to treat a wounded Ranger named Carlos Rodriguez holed up near the first crash site. For his bravery, he was awarded the Air Force Cross, a medal second only to the Medal of Honor. Many of his fellow PJ buddies joked that he had run too slowly and thrown off all the Somalian's aim.
  • The film takes creative license on Staff Sergeant Eversmann's role in the battle. In the film, Eversmann became a compilation character based on his own experiences, and U.S. Army Rangers Tom Ditomasso and Larry Perino. In the movie, he is shown as a key member of the movement to the crash site, who essentially substituted for DiTomasso and Perino. In the actual operation given in truth and in the novel, Eversmann was actually a member of the lost convoy and returned to base with the prisoners. The only actual event depicted accurately on Eversmann's experiences in both sources was Blackburn's injury.
  • In the scene where Mike Durant runs out of ammunition shortly after Gordon and Shugart are killed, Durant is shown throwing down a carbine although the sound of the final gunshots were obviously from the MP5.
  • Like Eversmann, Sergeant Lorenzo Ruiz, played by Enrique Murciano, is shown as a key member of Steele's team. In actuality, Ruiz was also with the lost convoy, but he did suffer a severe wound to his abdomen and died on a transport on the way to Germany.
  • In the scene where Sgt. Busch crawls out of the first Black Hawk wreck and starts shooting at the Somalians taking potshots at him, the goggles on his Pro-Tech helmet disappear and reappear several times when the camera cuts to a different view.
  • When general William F. Garrison ordered a helicoper call sign Star 4-1 Littlebird to land at Super 6-1's crash site, the helicoper leaving the holding panel was a AH-6 Littlebird, but the helicoper landing at the crash site was changed to a MH-6 Littlebird.
  • In the scene where the 3 HMMWVs drive back to base with Private Blackburn, after Sergeant Pilla gets shot, Delta Sergeant Norm 'Hoot' Hooten takes over the .50 Browning Heavy Machine Gun (HMG). However, in the scenes where the camera shows Hoot from a 1st person view perspective, he has no gloves on. But when the camera shows him from a 3rd person perspective, you can clearly see he has on black coloured gloves which most, if not all of the Delta operatives were wearing , the only explanation for this that the 1st person view was for another Ranger gunner on the second or third HMMWV.
  • In the scene when Randy reached in and pulled Durant, he actually put him leaning against a tree behind Super 6-4, not in a building as shown in the film.
  • In the scene where the Super 6-4 crash site is overrun, Durant was actually hit in the face with a severed arm of one of the killed crewmembers instead of the rifle as is depicted in the movie. Durant did not admit this fact until he included it in his 2004 book In the Company of Heroes.
  • SFC Kurt Schmid played by Hugh Dancy was actually a Delta Force medic, not a U.S. Army Ranger medic. Although he started off as a Ranger, he became a Special Forces medic and served in the Delta Force during which time he was in Mogadishu. Kurt went on to become a Special Forces Warrant Officer and has since retired. Years later, with the publishing of Bowden's book, Schmid took leave from his post in Japan to talk with the father of Jamie Smith, the Ranger he had fought so desperately to save.
  • During the scene between Grimes (Ewan McGregor) and Sizemore (Matthew Marsden), Grimes asks Sizemore how he broke his arm. Sizemore says he broke his arm in a ping-pong accident. In reality, Sizemore broke his arm while in a scuffle with Lieutenant Colonel Harrell in the hangar (although saying that he broke it in ping-pong could be taken as a joke on his part).
  • In the last scene, SFC Sanderson was seen using a Colt M1911 after he ran out of ammo, but later is seen holding a Beretta M9. (This does not appear in the Revolution Studios demonstration Copy)
  • In the scene where the crash site was being overrun, crew chief Bill Cleveland was completely stripped of everything he had. This scene was not shown in the movie.
  • After Master Sgt Gordon is killed, SFC Shugart takes Gordon's Colt Commando carbine to give to Michael Durant. However, shortly before Shugart approaches him, Durant already has the carbine lying across his lap.
  • Mark Bowden's cousin, David Keane, produced and directed a documentary for The History Channel titled, The True Story of Black Hawk Down. The documentary was released in 2002 and is included in some of the actual movie's DVD releases.
  • In the scene where Blackburn fell from the Blackhawk, he actually fell on top of a car.
  • In the scene where Nelson, Twombley and Yurek finally find Eversmann's squad at the crash site we can see bullets hitting the ground while Yurek is running towards shelter, however we can't hear any gunfire as the Somalians are either praying, or resting at that time. They start shooting when the last of the soldiers (Twombley) makes his way towards the strong point.
  • Specialist Grimes was based on Specialist John Stebbins. The change in names made at the request of the Pentagon because he was convicted by court martial in 1999 for sexually assaulting his six-year old daughter.[8]
  • The scene where a severed hand appears was out of sequence because it belonged to SPC Richard Kowalewski and was severed later when a RPG went into the cab of the truck he was driving severing his hand, lodging in his torso and did not explode. Kowalewski later was covered by sandbags out side the base hospital because of the unexploded RPG and died of his injuries

Soundtrack

Main article: Black Hawk Down (soundtrack)

References

  • Scott, Ridley (2001). Black Hawk Down. Sony Pictures Entertainment. Culver City, California (USA).
  1. ^ Text of the decision from USCourts.gov
  2. ^ Turner, Megan (2001-12-18). "War-Film `Hero' Is A Rapist". New York Post. Retrieved 2006-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Day, Clifford E. "Critical Analysis on the Defeat of Task Force Ranger" (PDF). USAF Air Command and Staff College. Retrieved 2007-03-02.
  4. ^ BHD: Audio Commentary With Mark Bowden and Ken Nolan
  5. ^ What Black Hawk Down Left Out
  6. ^ Sites, Kevin (2006-09-26). "Black Hawk Ground". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 2006-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Manning, Scott (2002-01-25). "Movie Review: Black Hawk Down". Digital Survivors. Retrieved 2006-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/linkscopy/BlkHawkDown.html
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Black_Hawk_Down_(film)&oldid=171109958"