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| Randall Tex Cobb & Kelly Junkerman in UNCOMMON VALOR Year: 1983 Rating: **** |
Recently, three important people connected to 1983's UNCOMMON VALOR have died: the most significant being the legendary Gene Hackman, who stars as Colonel Jason Rhodes, gathering a group of Vietnam veterans who served with his captured son — training them to bring his boy back home a decade later...
Then there's director Ted Kotcheff, who had already tackled a similar subject in FIRST BLOOD (also featuring a kind of lonesome French horn soundtrack albeit by different composers); and actor Wings Hauser, who hasn't a part here, and isn't credited as writer, but his original screenplay (formerly titled Youth in Asia) became what's now a somewhat forgotten, equally cult-and-mainstream post-war action/thriller...
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| Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR |
Providing Hackman one of his most solid performances, either during tough/experienced action or urgent monologues. particularly during the superior first-half after the usual gathering of eclectic characters, now existing in their various relationships and occupations...
From muscular Reb Brown, who previously worked for producer/co-writer John Milius in BIG WEDNESDAY; Fred Ward, former tunneler now a PTSD-suffering sculptor; and fan-favorite/scene-stealing Randall Tex Cobb as Sailor, a bearded, smart-alleck biker providing both comic relief and the coolest heroic moments (also featuring glib helicopter pilots Tim Thomerson and Harold Sylvester)...
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| Reb Brown in UNCOMMON VALOR |
Training together in the second-act boot-camp sequence that could have been its own feature, showcasing the various personalities and specialties (with only Ward still credibly agile)... and, intensely clashing with Cobb's feisty Sailor and geared for younger viewers is idealistic ex-military Patrick Swayze...
The last-act all rescuing POW's in Vietnam, remaining suspenseful and entertaining and, while sometimes feeling like a random jigsaw of military tropes, VALOR still capably bridges the energetic build-up into what's both adventurously action-packed and uniquely character-driven, suited for those either supporting or questioning the All-American 1980's — overall best described as cynically patriotic.
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Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR with Reb Brown, Randall Tex Cobb and Fred Ward
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| Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR with Reb Brown and Fred Ward |
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| Randall Tex Cobb in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Patrick Swayze in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Gene Hackman in Uncommon Valor with Reb Brown, Randall Tex Cobb, Patrick Swayze and Fred Ward |
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| Tim Thomerson in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR with Fred Ward
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| From Ted Kotcheff's UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Randall Tex Cobb, Reb Brown and Todd Allan in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Reb Brown and Barrett Oliver in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Reb Brown and Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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Constance Forslund and Tim Thomerson in UNCOMMON VALOR
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| William Sylvester and Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Randall Tex Cobb and Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Patrick Swayze in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Reb Brown in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Reb Brown in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Gene Hackman in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Patrick Swayze in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Fred Ward in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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| Randall Tex Cobb in UNCOMMON VALOR |
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