In the 1980s, Hollywood went through a “rescue the
Vietnam War POWs” phase. Some
outstanding cinema resulted – according to fourteen year old boys. The standard bearers were “Rambo: First Blood
II” and “Uncommon Valor”. I was
surprised to find that “Uncommon Valor” came out first. In fact, we were also blessed with “Missing
in Action” before “Rambo: First Blood”.
“Uncommon Valor” was directed by Ted Kotcheff (whose previous film was
the original Rambo). It was a box office
hit, but got mixed reviews. RFBII was a
sequel to the movie where a PTSD-sodden vet destroys an entire city police
department in anti-heroic righteousness.
The body count was deemed to be wimpy, so the sequel was demanded. Plus it contributed greatly to the trope of the unstable Vietnam veteran, so that instability needed to be channeled into positive mission. It was directed by the one and only George
Cosmatos (who redeemed himself a bit with “Tombstone”). Believe it or not, James Cameron wrote the
first draft of the screenplay, but Stallone insisted on more politics and got
co-writer credit. Stallone wrote all the
dialogue for his character, I assume.
He has about twenty lines. Stallone
nixed the addition of a side-kick to be played by John Travolta. The movie was a humongous hit, making $300
million.
"Yo, Adrienne - I got another franchise!"
RFBII begins with Rambo in prison (what lame-ass jury
convicted him?). Col. Trautman (Richard
Crenna) proposes a pardon in exchange for a mission to see if there really are American
POWs still being held in Vietnam after the war. Rambo asks “Do we get to win the war this time?” However, the mission is strictly recon. A slimy politician named Murdock (Charles
Napier) is using Rambo to prove there are no POWs being held. Only a Neanderthal like Rambo would not be
aware that he is being set up. He is
also not bothered by the fact that there is no training or preparation for the
mission. Not even a montage. When Rambo parachutes in (losing all his high
tech equipment and his shirt in the process), he hooks up with a female agent named Co-Bao
(Julia Nickson) who speaks better English than Rambo, of course. When Rambo observes the camp he finds that
there are Americans being held and mistreated to boot. The movie tells the ignorant American
moviegoers that the Vietnamese held Americans because we reneged on reparations
payments! He defies his mission
parameters to rescue one of them. Let
the killing begin. In Stallonesque
irony, Rambo ends up back in the camp so he can be tortured by Russians. Oscar please!
(Razzie instead.) Co-Bao helps
him escape and then something happens to her that breaks Rambo’s usual
self-composure. He is so angry, ordinary
arrows will not express his feelings. He
has to have explosive tipped arrows.
There is some chopper on chopper action and enough gratuitous violence
to sate any middle school boy. He
rescues all the prisoners and then confronts Murdock on behalf of all the
veterans who were dissed when they returned home. And through the power of film, America was
able to feel better about the Vietnam War.
don't they know you don't want to make him angry?
“Uncommon Valor” deals with a father’s quest to
rescue his missing in action son from a Laos prison camp. Col. Rhodes (Gene Hackman), with bankrolling
from a millionaire who also is searching for his son, assembles a motle crew
of the assorted types. They include a PTSD "tunnel rat" (Fred Willard), a mentally unstable hulk (Randall Cobb playing himself), and a black guy who is an explosives expert called "Dead Meat". (Actually, "Blaster".) Their trainer
Scott (Patrick Swayze) has never been in the shit, but eventually is accepted by the grunts. Unlike RFBII, they go through
extensive training, including a dress rehearsal in a mock-up of the camp. It goes swimmingly so Hollywood can once more
put the FUBAR doctrine into effect. The
first example of this trope is when their weapons are confiscated by the CIA in
Thailand. It seems the government is in
cover-up mode when it comes to MIAs in Laos.
Since these mercenaries are at heart cuddly, they pool their money to
buy some WWII surplus weapons. At least it will now be a fair fight with the
enemy. General Mayhem takes command at
the camp and let the whittling begin.
The good guy mortality rate ends up at 40%. The rescued sons’ rate is 50%.
Stallone got a lot of acting tips by watching Randall Cobb's performance
Naturally there are some similarities between the two
movies besides the obvious "going behind enemy lines to rescue prisoners" plot. Both blame the continued captivity
of the Americans on a cynical government and shame the American public for its
treatment of Vietnam veterans. Each
believes we could have and should have won the war. They both have a schmaltzy song over
credits. When will war movies learn to
avoid original songs? Both have a very
implausible romance thrown in to placate the women being dragged to the
theater. “Valor” spends more time on
character development since it is not a one man show. It has some
humor, whereas “Rambo” is bereft of it.
The parodies have made up for that.
totally natural group shot
Surprisingly, “Rambo” has the better acting,
which is pretty damning for “Valor”.
Stallone may not be much of a thespian, but he does have charisma. Nickson is not bad as his girlfriend. The villains do a good job not overshadowing
Stallone’s acting. Cartoonish would be
the best description of their performances.
“Valor” has a better cast, but is a disappointment. If it had not been for the casting of
Hackman, the movie would be complete crap.
“Valor” does have the advantage in dialogue because it is painful to
listen to what comes out of the mouths in “Rambo”. Especially the closing speech by Rambo.
maybe I should be more selective and not make ten movies a year
Cutting
to the chase, the big comparison has to be in quality and quantity of
action. “Rambo” wins on both
counts. Hell, it does not even bother
with the usual training scene. Nobody
cares. Let’s get to Rambo being Rambo as
soon as possible. Before he’s done, he
has killed 57 bad guys. This is done
with a variety of weapons. All of them
cool. There are also the requisite
explosions that the audience demands.
“Valor” can’t match the body count but is competitive in
explosions. The unit even withstands
real explosions during training! It also
has a blown up bridge. Got to love
that. Literally, because it’s the law.
the last sight of many an extra
I
had not seen RFBII since I was a young adult.
At the time I took umbrage at its ridiculous right wing propaganda and
attempt to rewrite the ending of the war.
I was appalled at how the movie had given my students a false impression
of the war. When I rewatched it, I
discovered that it is no longer provocative.
If you have the right frame of mind (and lots of alcohol), it can be
seen for what it now is – macho bull shit as entertainment for the masses. Even though it has no humor, it is still a
deeply hilarious movie. “Uncommon Valor”
is not nearly as much fun. It takes
itself more seriously, but the implementation of the predictable plot is
underwhelming.
