Drama

Action

Uncommon Valor

Paramount Pictures

United States of America

English

Gene Hackman

Fred Ward

Robert Stack

Patrick Swayze

Harold Sylvester

Randall "Tex" Cobb

Tim Thomerson

Lau Nga-Lai

Kwan Hi Lim

Kelly Junkerman

Todd Allen

Gail Strickland

Reb Brown

Jane Kaczmarek

Gloria Stroock

Jeremy Kemp

Debi Parker

Charles Aidman

Constance Forslund

Jan Tříska

Michael Dudikoff

Emmett Dennis III

Charles Faust

Dave Austin

Le Tuan

James Edgcomb

Ken Farmer

Tad Horino

Bruce Paul Barbour

Steve Solberg

Laurence Neber

Don Mantooth

Jerry Supiran

Brett Johnson

Barret Oliver

Marcello Krakoff

Justin Bayly

Kevin Brando

Angela Lee Sloan

Juan Fernández

Darwyn Carson

Nancy Linari

David Dangler

Joseph Dypwick

William S. Hamilton

Napoleon Hendrix

Chip Lally

Michael P. May

Tom Randa

Larry Charles White

Michael Endoso

Sig Frohlich

Rorion Gracie

Scott Perry

Tom Willett

Stephen H. Burum

James L. Schoppe

John H. Anderson

John Milius

Ted Kotcheff

Lynn Stalmaster

James Horner

Mark Melnick

George Gaines

Jack G. Taylor Jr.

Buzz Feitshans

Kenny Endoso

Wings Hauser

Ric Waite

Thomas Laughridge

Pamela M. Eilerson

Lynda Gurasich

Douglas Ryan

Michael St. Hilaire

Michael Westmore

Violet N. Cane

Craig Huston

Dorothy Byrne

Monty Westmore

Dan Chichester

Joe R. Marquette Jr.

Burton Elias

Richard H. Prince

George L. Little

Michael Gershman

Baird Steptoe

Kim Guthrie

Douglas T. Madison

Michael G. Riba

Tony Garber

Fred Stafford

Frank M. Holgate

Bub Asman

Jack N. Green

Darren T. Holmes

Karl A. Wickman

Jerry D. Good

Joe Lombardi

Juno J. Ellis

Tim Griffith

Stan Siegel

Don MacDougall

James W. Gavin

Martin G. Beazell

Michael R. Marquette

Tom May

Michele Sharp

John Hennessey

Eric Myers

Christopher Koefoed

Joanie Blum

Conrad E. Palmisano

Joe Kenworthy

Bruce W. Talamon

Dan Curry

Richard Tyler

John L. Mack

Greig McRitchie

Eric Tomlinson

Dale Henry

Cal DiValerio

Kenneth Karman

Pat Romano

Mel Dellar

Thomas Rosales Jr.

Ross Reynolds

Joe Gayton

Lloyd

Overall, Uncommon Valor (UV) is a less-flashy atypical Hollywood movie of ex-soldiers being reunited to form a team to rescue Vietnam POWs, using good (but not Oscar quality) humor, and decent near-realistic (but not memorable) special effects to tell a 2-part story of forming a rescue team which then performs their mission.

Decades after UV was produced, one could say that it's just another run-of-the-mill movie about rescuing Vietnam POWs; however, this was one of the earlier movies of this genre so I don't think it can be fairly compared with the rest of this ilk.  (E.g. Missing In Action was 1985 and the 2nd Rambo movie was 1986.)  UV isn't a typical Hollywood attempt at making a blockbuster, yet it did very well in the theater.  UV is noteworthy for being more emotional than its brethren; it's not a tear-jerker, nor is it a masterpiece drama since it is a bit light-hearted in many places and uses humor liberally. (The humor isn't comedy per se, I felt that its purpose is to reminder us that the characters are misfits and has-beens, ex-soldiers but not ex-warriors, and they're transitioning from plain vanilla real lives to what's normally reserved for elite teams of soldiers like Delta Force.

UV has a charm about it that most others lack. The acting isn't superb, but it's still very good.  It doesn't have tons of eye-candy special effects, but it does use them fairly appropriately to enhance the story; I'd even go so far to say that, unlike typical Hollywood movies of today, instead of dialogue and story gluing together a bunch of CGI action scenes, UV takes the opposite approach of using action scenes and humor to glue together the story parts and demonstrate that the characters are a bunch of misfits, aging former soldiers brought together for a rescue mission.  Patrick Swayze's character is unique here, really gung ho, kind of a counterpoint to the aging ex-soldiers.

The 1st half of UV tells a story of ex-soldiers coming together, overcoming their unique prejudices, and re-learning how to work together as a team.  Eventually, they form a fairly effective team and the rescue mission is a Go. The action scenes weren't very realistic, but they were still OK, certainly good at demonstrating how the character steadily became a team.

The 2nd half of UV is the rescue mission itself, not really anything spectacular and more typical of a Hollywood film.  It's not bad at all, just fairly routine, but done well, nonetheless.  The action scenes, in particular, are decent but not eye-popping or noteworthy of realism, yet they're sufficient for the story. (Of course, there are scenes which are a bit over-the-top, maybe worth a half-star ding in the overall rating.)

PS  This review is based on my having seen UV in the theater when released, augmented by my just having watched it again over 30 years later.

Uncommon Valor (1983) - Trailer HD 1080p

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Uncommon Valor

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Cast

Gene Hackman

Fred Ward

Robert Stack

Patrick Swayze

Harold Sylvester

Randall "Tex" Cobb

Tim Thomerson

Lau Nga-Lai

Kwan Hi Lim

Kelly Junkerman

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