Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down is a 2001 war film directed by Ridley Scott, who is co-producing the film with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, based on a screenplay by Ken Nolan. It is a co-production between Columbia Pictures, Revolution Studios, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Scott Free Productions, and is the 521st installment in the theatrical Disney Movieverse canon (also the 447th Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures feature film).
Based on a 1999 non-fiction book of the same name by journalist Mark Bowden, about the 1993 US military raid on Mogadishu. The film features the cast of Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs, Sam Shepard, Jeremy Piven, Ioan Gruffudd, Ewen Bremner, Hugh Dancy, and Tom Hardy.
Originally released on a limited basis on December 28, 2001, Black Hawk Down was released theatrically by Sony Pictures Releasing in the United States on January 18, 2002, to generally mixed-to-positive reviews, grossing $33,626,211 domestically (then worldwide) on a production budget, while being later released in varying Calexico theatres the following week on January 25. It is the most anticipated war movie in the Disneyverse. An 152-minute extended cut was released on DVD in 2006, and later on Blu-Ray and 4K on May 7, 2019. A titular video game was released by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows on January 22, 2002. Black Hawk Down is rated R by the MPAA for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language.
==Plot Summary==
The film begins with the quote "Only the dead have seen the end of war.", which is misattributed to Plato. Research shows this quote first appeared in the works of George Santayana.
In 1992, amidst the Somali Civil War and the dissolution of the central government, the United Nations Security Council authorizes a military operation with a peacekeeping mandate. However, conflict ensues between the UN and the Mogadishu-based militia loyal to Mohamed Farrah Aidid. In response, U.S. President Clinton deploys Task Force Ranger - consisting of 3rd Battalion/75th Ranger Regiment, Delta Force operators, and flight crew of the 160th SOAR – to Mogadishu to capture Aidid, who has proclaimed himself president and steals Red Cross food shipments.
Outside Mogadishu, Rangers and Delta Force capture Osman Ali Atto, a faction leader selling arms to Aidid's militia. The US plans a mission to capture Omar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid, two of Aidid's top advisers.
Prior to the mission, Staff Sergeant Matthew Eversmann receives his first command, of Ranger Chalk Four, after his lieutenant has a seizure. Members of his chalk include fresh 18-year-old Private First Class Todd Blackburn and Specialist John Grimes, a former desk clerk.
The operation begins, and Delta Force operators capture Aidid's advisers inside the target building while the Rangers and helicopters escorting the ground convoy take heavy fire from the rallying militia. Blackburn is severely injured when he falls from one of the Black Hawk helicopters, so three Humvees led by Staff Sergeant Jeff Struecker are detached from the convoy to return Blackburn to the UN-held Mogadishu Airport. Grimes is separated from the rest of Eversmann's chalk after surviving an RPG explosion.
Just after Struecker's column departs, Black Hawk Super Six-One, piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Clifton "Elvis" Wolcott, is shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. Wolcott and his co-pilot are killed, two crew chiefs are wounded, and two Delta Force snipers on board escape in an MH-6 Little Bird helicopter though one dies later from his wounds.
The ground forces are rerouted to converge on the crash site. The militia erects roadblocks, preventing Lieutenant Colonel Danny McKnight's Humvee column from reaching the area and forcing them to sustain heavy casualties. Meanwhile, two Ranger chalks, including Eversmann's unit, reach the crash site and set up a defensive perimeter. However, another helicopter, Super Six-Four piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, is also shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashes several blocks away.
With the primary Ranger forced led by Captain Mike Steele pinned down and sustaining heavy casualties, no ground forces can reach Super Six-Four or reinforce the Rangers defending Super Six-One. Two Delta Force snipers, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, are inserted by helicopter to secure Super Six-Four's crash site, where they find Durant still alive. Despite their heroic actions, the site is eventually overrun, Gordon and Shughart are killed, and Durant is captured.
McKnight's column relinquishes their attempt to reach Six-One's crash site, and returns to base with their prisoners and the casualties. The men prepare to go back to extract the Rangers and the fallen pilots and Major General Garrison asks for reinforcements from the 10th Mountain Division, including Malaysian and Pakistani armored units from the UN coalition.
As night falls, Aidid's militia launches a sustained assault on the trapped Americans at Super Six-One's crash site. The militants are held off throughout the night by strafing runs and rocket attacks from AH-6J Little Bird helicopter gunships until the 10th Mountain Division's relief column is able to reach the American soldiers. The wounded and casualties are evacuated in the vehicles, but a few Rangers and Delta Force soldiers are forced to run on foot from the crash site to reach the Safe Zone at the soccer stadium.
===End Titles===
The end titles recount the immediate aftermath of the mission and the end of US military operations in Somalia: Michael Durant was released after 11 days of captivity, after which President Bill Clinton withdrew all US forces from Somalia. During the raid, 19 American soldiers and more than 1,000 Somalis died. The names of the 19 soldiers who died are listed by name, including Gordon and Shughart, the first soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor posthumously since the Vietnam War. Mohamed Farah Aidid was killed in 1996; General Garrison retired the following day.
==Cast==
===75th Ranger Regiment===
*Josh Hartnett as SSG Matt Eversmann
*Ewan McGregor as SPC John "Grimesey" Grimes (based on SPC John Stebbins)
*Tom Sizemore as LTC Danny McKnight
*Ewen Bremner as SPC Shawn Nelson
*Gabriel Casseus as SPC Mike Kurth
*Hugh Dancy as SFC Kurt "Doc" Schmid
*Ioan Gruffudd as LT John Beales
*Tom Guiry as SGT Ed Yurek
*Charlie Hofheimer as CPL Jamie Smith
*Danny Hoch as SGT Dominick Pilla
*Jason Isaacs as CPT Mike Steele
*Brendan Sexton III as PVT Richard "Alphabet" Kowalewski
*Brian Van Holt as SSG Jeff Struecker
*Ian Virgo as PFC John Waddell
*Tom Hardy as SPC Lance Twombly
*Gregory Sporleder as SGT Scott Galentine
*Carmine Giovinazzo as SGT Mike Goodale
*Chris Beetem as SGT Casey Joyce
*Tac Fitzgerald as SPC Brad Thomas
*Matthew Marsden as SPC Dale Sizemore
*Orlando Bloom as PFC Todd Blackburn
*Enrique Murciano as SGT Lorenzo Ruiz
*Michael Roof as PVT John Maddox
*Kent Linville as PFC Clay Othic
*Norman Campbell Rees as LT Tom DiTomasso
*Corey Johnson as US Army medic in Pakistan stadium
===Delta Force===
*Sam Shepard as MG William F. Garrison
*Eric Bana as SFC Norm "Hoot" Gibson (based on SFC John Macejunas, SFC Norm Hooten, USMC Cpl Thanh Nguyen, and SFC Matthew Rierson)
*William Fichtner as SFC Jeff Sanderson (based on SFC Paul R. Howe)
*Kim Coates as MSG Chris Wex (based on MSG Tim "Griz" Martin)
*Steven Ford as LTC Joe Cribbs (based on LTC Lee Van Arsdale)
*Željko Ivanek as LTC Gary L. Harrell
*Johnny Strong as SFC Randy Shughart
*Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as MSG Gary Gordon
*Richard Tyson as SSG Daniel Busch
===160th SOAR (Night Stalkers)===
*Ron Eldard as CW4 Michael Durant, pilot of Super 64
*Glenn Morshower as COL Thomas Matthews, commander of 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR
*Jeremy Piven as CW4 Clifton Wolcott, pilot of Super 61
*Boyd Kestner as CW3 Mike Goffena, pilot of Super 62
*Pavel Vokoun as CW3 Bull Briley, co-pilot of Super 61
*Jason Hildebrandt as CW3 Dan Jollota, pilot of Super 68
*Keith Jones as himself, co-pilot of Star 41
===Miscellaneous===
*George Harris as Osman Atto
*Razaaq Adoti as Yousuf Dahir Mo'alim, the main commander of Aidid's militia in the film
*Treva Etienne as Firimbi, propaganda minister for Aidid and Durant's caretaker
*Ty Burrell as United States Air Force Pararescue TSgt Timothy A. Wilkinson
*Dan Woods as United States Air Force Pararescue MSG Scott C. Fales
*Giannina Facio as Stephanie Shughart
==Production==
Adapting Black Hawk Down: a Story of Modern War (1999) by Mark Bowden was the idea of director Simon West, who suggested to Jerry Bruckheimer that he should buy the film rights and let West direct. West felt too tired after working on Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), so he decided to drop out (West later said that he regretted the decision).
Ken Nolan was credited as screenwriter, and others contributed uncredited: Mark Bowden wrote an adaptation of his own book, Stephen Gaghan was hired to do a rewrite, Steven Zaillian and Ezna Sands rewrote the majority of Gaghan and Nolan's work, actor Sam Shepard (MGen. Garrison) rewrote some of his own dialogue, and Eric Roth wrote Josh Hartnett and Eric Bana's concluding speeches. Ken Nolan was on set for four months rewriting his script and the previous work by Gaghan, Zaillian, and Bowden. He was given sole screenwriting credit by a WGA committee.
The book relied on a dramatization of participant accounts, which were the basis of the movie. SPC John Stebbins was renamed as fictional "John Grimes." Stebbins had been convicted by court martial in 1999 for the rape and forcible sodomy of his six-year-old daughter. Mark Bowden said the Pentagon, ever sensitive about public image, decided to alter factual history by requesting the change. Bowden wrote early screenplay drafts, before Bruckheimer gave it to screenwriter Nolan. The POW-captor conversation, between pilot Mike Durant and militiaman Firimbi, is from a Bowden script draft.
To keep the film at a manageable length, 100 key figures in the book were condensed to 39. The movie also does not feature any Somali actors. Additionally, no Somali consultants were hired for accuracy, according to writer Bowden.
For military verisimilitude, the Ranger actors took a one-week Ranger familiarization course at Fort Benning, the Delta Force actors took a two-week commando course from the 1st Special Warfare Training Group at Fort Bragg, and Ron Eldard and the actors playing 160th SOAR helicopter pilots were lectured by captured aviator Michael Durant at Fort Campbell.
The U.S. Army supplied the materiel and the helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Most pilots (e.g., Keith Jones, who speaks some dialogue) had participated in the historic battle on October 3–4, 1993.
On the last day of their week-long Army Ranger orientation at Fort Benning, the actors who portrayed the Rangers received letters slipped under their doors. It thanked them for their hard work, and asked them to "tell our story true", signed with the names of the men who died in the Mogadishu firefight. A platoon of Rangers from B-3/75 did the fast-roping scenes and appeared as extras; John Collette, a Ranger Specialist during the battle, served as a stunt performer.
Many of the actors bonded with the soldiers who trained them for their roles. Actor Tom Sizemore said, "What really got me at training camp was the Ranger Creed. I don't think most of us can understand that kind of mutual devotion. It's like having 200 best friends and every single one of them would die for you".
Filming began in March 2001 in Salé, Morocco, and concluded in late June.
Although the filmmakers considered filming in Jordan, they found the city of Amman too built up and landlocked. Scott and production designer Arthur Max subsequently turned to Morocco, where they had previously worked on Gladiator. Scott preferred that urban setting for authenticity. Most of the film was photographed in the cities of Rabat and Salé; the Task Force Ranger base sequences were filmed at Kénitra and Mehdya.
==Release==
Black Hawk Down had a limited release in four theaters on December 28, 2001, to be eligible for the 2001 Oscars. It earned $10,823 in its opening weekend, averaging $44,956 per theater, until January 11, 2002, the release expanded to 16 theaters and continued to do well with a weekly gross of $33,513,769 and an average daily theatrical gross of $2,243. 
Black Hawk Down opened in 2,243 theatres in the United States on Friday, January 18, 2002, grossing over $33,626,211. Only Titanic had previously raised more money during the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Black Hawk Down finished first at the box office during its first three weeks of wide release. Black Hawk Down concluded its 90-day theatrical run on May 19, 2002.
==Video game==
A titular video game was released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows by Electronics Arts on January 22, 2002, to positive reviews. The titular video game follows a first-person shooter gameplay.
==Critical reception==
Black Hawk Down received mixed to positive reviews.
Bill Trenne of Star-Banner gave the film a negative review, saying "Thinking about war, it was a shame with the film's lineup. It's like crazy enough war." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, saying that films like this "help audiences understand and sympathize with the real experiences of combat troops, rather than trivialize them as entertainment." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on a scale of A+ to F.
Mike Clark of USA Today wrote that the film "extols the sheer professionalism of America's elite Delta Force, even in the unforeseen disaster that was the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu", praising Scott's direction: "in chronicling the conflict, in which 18 Americans were killed and more than 70 wounded, standard war movie characterizations are downplayed to get to know you. While some may consider this a shortcoming, it is, in fact, a virtue."
Bob Faribault gave the film five stars out of five, stating that "it was a really generic view that has varied the American war." Ben Davis of the Waseca County News wrote, "Hypertonic, resolute and fantastical, Black Hawk Down has been rife with all-out battles and war scenes."
==Accolades==
Award 	Category 	Nominee 	Result 	 	
Buena Vista Awards 	Best Director 	Ridley Scott 	Won 	 	
Buena Vista Awards 	Best Producers 	Ridley ScottJerry Bruckheimer 	Won 	 	
Buena Vista Awards 	Best Cinematography 	Slawomir Idziak 	Won 	 	
Buena Vista Awards 	Best Film Editing 	Pietro Scalia 	Won 	 	
Buena Vista Awards 	Best Screenplay by 	Ken Nolan 	 	 	
Buena Vista Awards 	Best Sound 	Michael MinklerMyron NettingaChris Munro	 	 	
Buena Vista Awards 	Phoenix Film Critics Society Award 	Best Acting Ensemble 	Eric BanaEwen BremnerWilliam FichtnerJosh HartnettJason IsaacsEwan McGregorSam ShepardTom Sizemore	Nominated	
Best Cinematography 	Phoenix Film Critics Society Award 	Slawomir Idziak 	 	Nominated	
Best Film Editing 	Phoenix Film Critics Society Award 	Pietro Scalia 	 	Nominated	
Teen Choice Award 	Choice Movie Actor: Action/Drama 	Josh Hartnett 	 	Nominated	
Teen Choice Award 	Choice Movie: Action/Drama 	 	 	Nominated	
Score Award 	Best Original Soundtrack of the Year 	Hans Zimmer 	 	Nominated	
Score Award 	Soundtrack Composer of the Year 	Hans Zimmer 	 	Nominated	
Writers Guild of America Award	Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published	Ken Nolan 	 	Nominated	
ASCAP Award 	Top Box Office Films 	Hans Zimmer 	 	Nominated	
DVD Awards 	Best Overall DVD, New Movie (Including All Extra Features) 	Charles de Lauzirika (Deluxe Edition) 	 	Nominated	
==Trivia==
*Black Hawk Down is the third most anticipated feature film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, after Armageddon (1998) and Pearl Harbor (2001).
*Rangers and Delta Force soldiers weren't the only members of the US military operation to walk the Mogadishu Mile; they included two CSO Marines who were also joined by soldiers from the US 10th Mountain Division.
*The premiere referred to "Calexico Movie Center Presents."
==References==
Category:2001 Films
Category:Domestic Films
Category:American Films
Category:Columbia Pictures Films
Category:Revolution Studios Films
Category:Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Category:Scott Free Productions Films
Category:2002 Films
Category:War Films
Category:Action Films
Category:Drama Films
Category:Historical Films
Category:R-Rated Films
Category:Disney Movieverse Films