Load of rubbish!!

Expected more

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This movie is a bit of an oddity to me. On the one hand it feels like very mediocre handling of a serious subject. On the other hand, it has some compelling scenes sprinkled, sparingly, over it. I feel for the soldiers and their perdicerment but the movie just gets bogged down in itself. Like it had no real direction to follow and just throws everything on the screen in a desperate hope that something will stick. If the filmmakers had spent more time on story development and less time on tired war clichés this would have been a much better film. Still, I keep going back to watch it because there is potential in this film. Here is my list of things that this movie could have done better.1). War Clichés: This movie was RIFE with every tired war cliché in the book. From the Evil Camp Comendant that acts like a petty dictator who plays mind games with the prisoners. To senior ranking officer who taps his monologue of inspiration via Morse code. You try not to groan but just cant help it.2). Focus! Focus! Focus!: This movie was all over the place. One minute the prisoners are in isolation the next they are being tortured the next they are being paraded and ridiculed the next they meet up with American anti war protesters! Come on! Too much on the plate! If they had zeroed in on one, or at most, two themes they might have developed a more grounded story.Hopefully, somebody someday will attempt another movie about this subject. When they do, I recommend that they watch this movie very carefully and beware of the pitfalls and mistakes it made.

I worked as an extra on the film. I was looking for work and a neighbor told me about a casting agency that was looking for extras. The scenes in the prison were filmed in a closed VA hospital in Westwood Los Angeles. The site was chosen because of the architectural similarity to the prison in Hanoi.One of the perks of working on the film was a POW haircut.We non union extras were told in no uncertain terms not to bother the actors. One time in the commissary line I was behind Michael Moriarty and another extra I was friendly with struck up a conversation with him. He told Michael that he had been an extra serving as a juror on a courtroom drama that Michael had filmed. Michael remembered him and chatted with him amiably. Later that day that extra got a 'bump' arranged by Moriarty. He was given a speaking line which gave him the right to get a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card which is required to work as an actor. That extra had an ambition to be an actor so it was a huge step forward to get the SAG card. I always liked Moriarty as an actor but since that day I've liked him as a human being.The scene of the prisoners being run through Hanoi was filmed in an industrial area south of downtown LA.The scene of the prisoners waiting for the plane to take them home was filmed at an air base east of LA. Leo K. Thorsness, a retired air force colonel, who was a consultant on the film was present for the filming at the air base and much of the filming in Westwood. Thorsness had been shot down over North Vietnam in April 1967. He was released in March of 1973. He was tortured in captivity.The plane landing to take the prisoners home was provided by the air force. The plane touched down and taxied on the runway long enough to be filmed then took off to return to its own base. We were told it was the same kind of plane that picked up the first batch of prisoners to be released. I got a kick out of the arid Southern California mountains in the background devoid of vegetation. In Southeast Asia every inch of every hill is covered with vegetation.We filmed in the fall of 1983. I believe the film was played in sneak previews in several locations around the country and was wildly cheered by the audiences. The left wing press stepped up a campaign to trash the film. If I'm correct it was never released to theaters and was eventually released to video.

It is always refreshing to see Col Jim Thompson receiving the recognition he so rightly deserves. I was honored to have known Col Thompson following his return from the hells of 9 years of imprisonment. My father was an officer stationed at Valley Forge General Hospital after his own stint in Viet Nam. He was chosen to be Col Thompson's personal escort upon his return.When finally determined to be "healthy" enough to travel, he spent many evenings with us. Even though I was a very young man at the time, 3rd grade, I will never forget the scenes that played out around our dining room table and in our living room.As far as I am concerned, Col Thompson was then and is now in death a true American hero. I wish others would hear of his story to understand what he and the other POWs went through.It is because of their determination, and all those who serve, that have guaranteed our freedoms for over 200 years.

The Hanoi Hilton (1987) was an film that took a rare look at the brutal treatment many of the P.O.W. pilots went through whilst they were held captive in North Viet-Nam. What could have been a good movie is ruined by the right-wing rhetoric, soap boxing and grand standing that is so blatant that even a child could easily read through the lines. Maybe someday a film-maker will take this story and make a more balanced and straight forward view on the subject instead of swinging either to the left or the right. I like my movies to keep politics on the side (unless they can do it without hitting the viewer over the head like Brunuel or Watkins). A rare film on such an interesting subject.Worth a view but not a keeper.Fair.C