True Action: Bat*21

I don’t believe I am an exaggerating when I say that Gene Hackman is one of the finest actors to ever live. Hackman displayed tremendous range over the course of his six decade plus career, playing everything from a grizzled cop, comic book villain, Old West sheriff and submarine captain.

Hackman could also portray real life characters when called upon, like in 1988’s Bat*21. The film was based on William C. Anderson’s book, Bat-21. Anderson himself had served in the United States Air Force during World War II and through Vietnam. Anderson’s writing career began with a series of magazine articles for Mats Flyer before he started writing novels.

• The Movie: The film takes place in the latter stages of the Vietnam War. Gene Hackman played Lt. Colonel Iceal Hambleton of the United States Air Force. It is quickly established that Hambleton is a golf enthusiast. Hambleton is so enthusiastic about the game, he is actually late to a high level briefing on a major offensive that is being planned. Hambleton convinces his superiors to let him take a team up and gather some electronic intelligence before the bombings take place. Hambleton is given the green light and that’s when we get into the meat of the movie, the EB-66C that Hambleton and crew were on is shot down, with only Hambleton being able to eject before the plane crashed… before he even lands in the war zone below, Hambleton makes radio contact, using the call sign Bat-21, with pilot Colonel Bartholomew Clark (Danny Glover), who was flying a forward air control mission close by when Hambleton’s EB-66C was shot down. Clark, who uses the call sign Birddog, Glover’s “Birddog” will soon be Hambleton’s only friend in the world as the career military man finds himself facing actual war for the first time in his life.

• The Golf: Jerry Reed plays Clark’s commanding officer Colonel George Walker. Walker briefs Clark on the importance of rescuing Hambleton, since the Lt. Colonel knows a lot of sensitive information that the North Vietnamese would be very interested in knowing. Hambleton himself knows how value he would be to the enemy forces, which is why he starts communicating in a unique way… his first night in the jungle, Hambleton “converted” his map into one of his favorite golf courses, this allows Hambleton to let the rescue team know where he is, but if the North Vietnamese are listening they will have no idea what Hambleton is talking about… Walker is instrumental in helping Clark crack Hambleton’s golf code and getting everyone on the same page.

• The Action: One of the big action pieces of the film, comes when Lt. Colonel Hambleton helps coordinate a “too close for comfort” air strike on a North Vietnamese convoy… later, Hambleton gets into an altercation with a Vietnamese peasant, resulting in Hambleton having to kill the innocent man, who was instinctively protecting his home… After a failed helicopter rescue mission that sees its share of casualties, Cessna pilot Clark, risking a court martial, ends up taking a “Huey” up in a last ditch effort to get Lt. Colonel Hambleton out before he becomes a casualty in the very air strike he helped plan.

• The True Story: As is often the case in film, the timeline is often abbreviated. The actual rescue of Lt. Colonel Hambleton took more than 11 days, while in the movie the events play out over a fraction of that time… Colonel Bartholomew Clark (or “Birddog” for those in the know) was not an actual person and was a character created for the film… In the movie, after Hambleton and Clark were shot down in the Huey, they are picked up by a patrol boat on the Cam Lo River, but in actuality Hambleton was rescued in a land operation by Navy S.E.A.L. Lieutenant Tom Norris, and Vietnamese S.E.A.L. Petty Officer Nguyen Van Kiet… At the time of the film’s release, the real life Iceal Hambleton was retired and living in Tucson, Arizona, not surprisingly near a golf course… Hambleton passed away at the age of 85 on September 19, 2004.