# Black Hawk Down (film)

Black Hawk Down is a 2001 film about the U.S. military operation against warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid in Mogadishu, Somalia that began as a quick raid and escalated into a one-day battle in October, 1993.
    Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Ken Nolan, based on the book Black Hawk Down: A Story Of Modern War by Mark Bowden.

## Sergeant Matt Eversmann

* Look, these people... they have no jobs, no food, no education, no future. I just figure that you know, I mean, we have two things we can do. We can help, or we can sit back and watch a country destroy itself on CNN. Right?

## Sergeant First Class Norm "Hoot" Gibson

* Y'know what I think? Don't really matter what I think. Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all that shit just goes right out the window.
* When I go home, people ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do you do it, man? Why? You some kind of war junkie?" I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand it's about the men next to you... and that's it. That's all it is.

## Dialogue

    Osman Ali Atto: I see not catching Aidid is becoming routine.
    General William Garrison: We're not leaving Somalia until we find him. And we will find him.
    Atto: (scoffing) You've been here, what, six weeks. Six weeks, you tried to catch the General. You put up reward posters. $25,000. What's this, gunfight at K.O. Corral?
    Garrison: It's O.K. Corral.
    Atto: Don't make the mistake of thinking because I grew up without running water I am simple, General. I do know something about history. See all this? It's simply shaping tomorrow. A tomorrow without a lot of Arkansas white-boys' ideas in it.
    Garrison: Well, I wouldn't know about that. I'm from Texas.
    Atto: Mr. Garrison, I think you should not have come here. This is civil war. This is our war, not yours.
    Garrison: Three hundred thousand dead and counting. That's not a war, Mr. Atto. That's genocide.
    [Troops are having an impromptu barbecue with a wild boar killed by Hoot.]
    Captain Steele: Sergeant, what's going on here?
    Hoot: Oh, just some aerial target practice, sir. Didn't want to leave it behind.
    Steele: I'm talking about your weapon. [points to Hoot's slung M4] Delta or no Delta, that's a hot weapon. You know better than that. Your safety should be on at all times on base.
    Hoot: [holding up his index finger] Well, this is my safety, sir. [bends finger and walks away]
    Sanderson: Let it go, sir. The guy hasn't eaten in a couple of days.
    Steele: [visibly annoyed] You Delta boys are a bunch of undisciplined cowboys. Let me tell you something, Sergeant. We get on the five-yard line, you're going to need my Rangers. So you all better learn to be team players. We're done here.
    Sanderson: [stares at him] Enjoy your meal, Captain. [walks away]
    [The Rangers make last-minute preparations for the mission; Grimes is filling a canteen.]
    Nelson: You're not gonna need that, dude. We're not out there long enough. [Grimes sets aside the canteen and starts to pack his NOD night vision goggles.]
    Twombly: You're not gonna need that, either. Might as well take dope and beer instead.
    Grimes: What?
    Twombly: Ammo, dude. Take ammo.
    Nelson: The Humvees ain't coming back, dude.
    Twombly: What? Were we supposed to go to them?
    Nelson: I thought they were supposed to come to us.
    Twombly: I think we're supposed to go to them.
    Nelson: Shit.
    Twombly: Okay, let's go to the crash site.
    Nelson: Okay. Just don't fire that thing so close to my head. I can barely hear as it is.
    Twombly: [sees a group of Somali militiamen closing in on them.] Shit! Get down! [fires a long burst inches above Nelson's head.]
    Nelson: What did I just tell you? I swear to God if you do that again - [Twombly fires on another group of armed Somalis] AAAAHHH!
    Twombly: You okay? Nelson, you all right?
    Nelson: WHAT?
    [Goffena is over the second crash site; ground support keeps getting delayed.]
    CWO Goffena: There's a large crowd advancing six, seven blocks from the crash. Shughart and Gordon again request permission to secure until convoy arrives. Over.
    Col. Harrell: General, the crowd's in the hundreds now. From where they are they can see things clearer than any of us. They know what they're asking.
    Gen. Garrison: Let me talk to them. This is Garrison. I want to make sure y'all know what you're asking for, so say it out loud and clear.
    MSG. Gary Gordon: We're asking to go in and set up a perimeter until ground support arrives.
    Garrison: And you realize I cannot tell you when that will be? It could take quite a while.
    SFC. Randy Shughart: Roger that.
    Garrison: You still want to go in there?
    Gordon: Yes, sir.
    Garrison: Colonel Harrell, it's your call.
    Harrell: Roger that. Goffena, put them in.
    SFC. Shughart: [on radio] C-2, we're at the Six-Four crash site. Securing a perimeter. [to Durant] You all right?
    CWO Durant: Yeah, I'm good.
    Shughart: [handing him a weapon] You're locked and loaded. Any Skinnies come around these corners, you watch our backs. [He turns and starts outside]
    Durant: Hey - where's the rescue squad?
    Shughart: We're it. [exits]
    [CWO Durant has been taken prisoner.]
    Somali Militiaman: You are the Ranger who kills my people?
    CWO Durant: I'm not a Ranger. I'm a pilot. [Durant declines a cigarette]
    Militiaman: That's right. None of you Americans smoke anymore. You live long, dull, uninteresting lives.
    Durant: What do you want with me?
    Militiaman: You have taken hostages. We... have you.
    Durant: My government will never negotiate for me.
    Militiaman: Then perhaps you and I can negotiate, huh? Soldier to soldier.
    Durant: I'm not in charge.
    Militiaman: Course not. You have the power to kill, but not negotiate. In Somalia, killing is negotiation. Do you really think if you get General Aidid, we will simply put down our weapons and adopt American democracy? That the killing will stop? We know this: without victory, there can be no peace. There will always be killing, you see? This is how things are, in our world.
    [Hoot removes magazine from the dead Cpl. Smith's rifle.]
    Sgt. Eversmann: What are you doing?
    Hoot: We need the ammo. You did all you could here.
    Eversmann: They should've sent a medevac.
    Hoot: Well, right now we'd be out there defending another crashed chopper, and more men would get torn up.
    Eversmann: Maybe.
    Hoot: See, you're thinking. Don't. Because, Sergeant, you can't control who gets hit or who doesn't. Who falls out of a chopper, or why. It ain't up to you. It's just war.
    Eversmann: Yeah, well, Smith's still dead. If Blackburn hadn't fallen, none of this would've happened.
    Hoot: Would have, could have, should have - it don't matter. You'll have plenty of time to think about that later. Believe me.
    [Sgt. Eversmann finds Hoot gearing up for a mission.]
    Eversmann: [in disbelief] You're going back in?
    Hoot: There are still men out there.

## Taglines

* Leave No Man Behind

## Cast

    Josh Hartnett - Sergeant Matt Eversmann, Rangers
    Ewan McGregor - Specialist Grimes, Rangers
    Eric Bana - Sergeant Norm "Hoot" Gibson, Delta Force
    William Fichtner - Sergeant Sanderson, Delta Force
    Tom Sizemore - Lieutenant Colonel Danny McKnight, Rangers
    Jason Isaacs - Captain Mike Steele, Rangers
    Sam Shepard - General William Garrison
    Ron Eldard - Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant, 160th SOAR
    Jeremy Piven - Chief Warrant Officer Cliff "Elvis" Wolcott, 160th SOAR
    Johnny Strong - SFC Randy Shughart
    Nikolaj Coster-Waldau - MSG Gary Gordon

## See also

* List of films

## External links

* Official Movie Website
* Black Hawk Down quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Black Hawk Down at Rotten Tomatoes