Black Hawk Down (film)

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Black Hawk Down
Image:Black hawk down ver1.jpg Movie Poster from Black Hawk Down
Directed by	Ridley Scott
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer Ridley Scott
Written by	Mark Bowden Ken Nolan
Starring	Josh Hartnett Ewan McGregor Tom Hardy Tom Sizemore William Fichtner Eric Bana Sam Shepard Orlando Bloom Ioan Gruffudd
Music by	Hans Zimmer, Denez Prigent
Cinematography	Slawomir Idziak
Editing by	Pietro Scalia
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	December 28, 2001
Running time	144 min.
Language	English, Somali
Budget	$92 million
IMDb profile

Black Hawk Down is a 2001 film by Ridley Scott, based on the book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden. It depicts the Battle of Mogadishu, which was part of the U.S. military's 1993 campaign to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The movie stars an ensemble cast, including Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewen Bremner, William Fichtner and Kim Coates, who had all previously worked together with producer Jerry Bruckheimer in Pearl Harbor^[1], as well as Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor and Sam Shepherd. It won two Academy Awards, for Film Editing and Sound, in 2002.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Background and production 3 Cast 4 Reception 4.1 Box office performance 4.2 Awards 5 Soundtrack 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

The film follows a mixed assault force of Delta operators, Army Rangers and Special Operations Aviation Regiment as they attempt to capture two of Mohammed Farrah Aidid's senior lieutenants from deep in Mogadishu's notorious Bakaara Market. The mission was led by Maj Gen William Garrison, and was supposed to take no more than 30 minutes. The extraction by the Delta team is successful, but the Somali militia, armed with RPGs, shot down two Black Hawk helicopters, and the resulting rescue extends the mission to over 15 hours.

The film follows many characters through build-up, the assault and rescue. It shows how Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann was placed in charge of Ranger Chalk 4, before portraying the raid and successful extraction of the wanted persons, and shows the first injury, as PFC Todd Blackburn falls from a helicopter as it maneuvers to avoid an RPG. This is the beginning of the indication that the troops are overwhelmed by the volume of enemy militia, and builds up to the two helicopter crashes: Super 6-1 piloted by Cliff “Elvis” Wolcott, and Super 6-4 piloted by Mike Durant. Durant is taken prisoner and the two Delta snipers who requested to be inserted near the crash site of Super 6-4 are killed.

The film also follows two Chalk 4 machine gunners who are supposed to return with the extraction team, but miss the humvees as they leave, and get lost. One of them is deafened by machine-gun fire, but they eventually make their way back to Eversmann. Cpl Jamie Smith attempts to rescue one of them, whose radio has been shot, but Smith gets shot too, and would eventually bleed to death.

The film begins to reach its conclusion as the U.S. forces regain control with strafing runs by Little Bird helicopters, and a convoy of Pakistani troops arrive to extract the wounded. Back at the base, Norman "Hoot" Hooten begins to restock on ammunition, preparing to go back out on the next mission, and Eversmann tells a dead Jamie Smith that he will fulfill his dying wish.

The film ends with text informing the viewer that 19 Americans and approximately 1000 Somalis died in the conflict, and about the death of Mohammed Farrah Aided in 1996.

[edit] Background and production

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This project was originally the idea of director Simon West who urged producer Jerry Bruckheimer to obtain the rights of the book with a view to directing it himself. However, West abandoned the project to direct Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).

Despite the fact that Ken Nolan is the only credited writer, there were others that contributed uncredited. Sam Shepard wrote most of his own dialogue as Major General William F. Garrison; Eric Roth wrote crucial speeches for Josh Hartnett and Eric Bana to deliver in the closing minutes; Steven Zaillian made a dialogue-driven rewrite; and Stephen Gaghan contributed to the writing of the screenplay. Although built largely from the accounts of the soldiers who participated in the operation, Spc. John Stebbins was replaced by the fictional character John Grimes, as Stebbins was convicted by court martial in 1999 for sexually assaulting his daughter.^[2] Bowden himself claimed that the Pentagon requested this change.^[3] Author Mark Bowden wrote early drafts of the screenplay, before Jerry Bruckheimer turned it over. The scene between Mike Durant and Firimbi is a portion from one of Bowden's early drafts.

About forty of the actors who were portraying Rangers were sent to Fort Benning to attend a two week crash course in becoming Rangers, three of the actors portraying Delta Operators were sent to Fort Bragg and were given a two week Commando Course by members of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group. Ron Eldard and the several of the actors who portrayed the pilots of the 160th SOAR went to Fort Campbell and were given a lecture by Michael Durant, portrayed by Ron Eldard in the movie, and by several Little Bird and Black Hawk pilots.

The directors enlisted the help of the US Army, and all Black Hawks and Little Birds used during the filming were from the 160th SOAR, (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) and most of the pilots (such as Keith Jones who delivers a small amount of dialogue during the movie) were involved in the actual battle on 3-4 October 1993. The US Army also supplied the ground vehicles and weapons. Additionally, a platoon of Rangers from Bravo Company, 3/75 Ranger Regiment (the same company that was involved in the events of the movie) were employed to do the fast-roping scenes and act as extras.

Much of the film was shot in the twin cities Rabat and Salé, Morocco because the film-makers had decided that filming in Somalia would have been too dangerous. In addition the film characters were not of Somali descent. Scenes taking place at the Task Force Ranger base were filmed at Kénitra Airbase.

[edit] Cast

Josh Hartnett - Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann, U.S. Army Ranger Eric Bana - Sergeant First Class Norm 'Hoot' Gibson, Delta Force operator Ewan McGregor - Specialist John Grimes, U.S. Army Ranger Tom Sizemore - Lt. Col. Danny McKnight, commander of the 3rd Ranger Battalion William Fichtner - Sergeant First Class Jeff Sanderson, Delta Force operator Ewen Bremner - Specialist Shawn Nelson, U.S. Army Ranger Sam Shepard - Major General William F. Garrison, Task Force Ranger commander Kim Coates - Sergeant Tim Griz, Delta Force operator Hugh Dancy - Sergeant First Class Kurt Schmid, U.S. Army Ranger Ron Eldard - Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, 160th SOAR pilot Ioan Gruffudd - Lieutenant John Beales, U.S. Army Ranger Tom Guiry - Staff Sergeant Ed Yurek, U.S. Army Ranger Charlie Hofheimer - Corporal James 'Jamie' Smith, U.S. Army Ranger Danny Hoch - Sergeant Dominick Pilla, U.S. Army Ranger Jason Isaacs - Captain Mike Steele, commander of Company B, 3rd Ranger Battalion Zeljko Ivanek- Lt. Col. Gary Harrell, Delta Force component commander

Glenn Morshower - Lt. Col. Tom Matthews, commander of the 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR Jeremy Piven - Chief Warrant Officer Clifton 'Elvis' Wolcott, 160th SOAR pilot Brendan Sexton III - Specialist Richard 'Alphabet' Kowalewski, U.S. Army Ranger Johnny Strong - Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, Delta Force sniper Nikolaj Coster Waldau - Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, Delta Force sniper Richard Tyson - Staff Sergeant Daniel Busch, Delta Force operator Brian Van Holt - Staff Sergeant Jeff Struecker, U.S. Army Ranger Steven Ford - Lieutenant Colonel Joe Cribbs Tom Hardy - Specialist Lance Twombly, U.S. Army Ranger Carmine Giovinazzo - Sergeant Mike Goodale, U.S. Army Ranger Chris Beetem - Sergeant James 'Casey' Joyce, U.S. Army Ranger Matthew Marsden - Specialist Dale Sizemore, U.S. Army Ranger Orlando Bloom - Private First Class Todd Blackburn, U.S. Army Ranger Enrique Murciano - Sergeant Lorenzo Ruiz, U.S. Army Ranger George Harris - Osman Ali Atto, lieutenant of general Aidid

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office performance

When Black Hawk Down was first released on December 28, 2001, it had a limited release, opening at only 4 theatres. As a result, it earned only $179,823 in its first weekend. However, on January 18, 2002, the film had its wide release, opening at 3,101 theatres and earning $28,611,736 in its first wide release weekend to finish first at the box office. As it opened on the Martin Lurther King holiday, the film earned an additional $5,014,475 from the extra day of the long weekend. Black Hawk Down would go on to finish first at the box office for the next two weekends. When the film was pulled from theatres on April 14, 2002, it had grossed $108,638,745 domestically and $64,350,906 internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $172,989,651.^[4] Black Hawk Down currently holds the record as the top grossing Martin Lurther King weekend opener, with its gross revenue of $33,628,211.^[5]

[edit] Awards

The film won the following awards:

• the 2002 Academy Award for Best Editing (Pietro Scalia)
• the 2002 Academy Award for Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, Chris Munro)
• the 2002 Golden Reel Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA for Best Sound Editing - Effects and Foley, Domestic Feature Film
• the 2002 Harry Award

It was also nominated for the following awards:

• the 2002 Academy Award for Best Director (Ridley Scott)
• the 2002 Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Slawomir Idziak)
• the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Cinematographer of the Year (Slawomir Idziak)
• the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Director of the Year (Ridley Scott)
• the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Editor of the Year (Pietro Scalia)
• the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Movie of the Year (Jerry Bruckheimer, Ridley Scott)
• the 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Production Designer of the Year (Arthur Max)
• the 2002 MTV Movie Award for MTV Movie Award Best Action Sequence (First helicopter crash)
• the 2002 MTV Movie Award for MTV Movie Award Best Movie
• the 2002 WGA Award (Screen) for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published (Ken Nolan)
• the 2002 Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Actor, Drama/Action Adventure (Rowan Mortensen)
• the 2002 Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Movie, Drama/Action Adventure
• the 2002 Golden Reel Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA for Best Sound Editing - Dialogue and A.D.R., Domestic Feature Film
• the 2002 Golden Trailer for Best Drama
• the 2002 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (Ridley Scott)

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Black Hawk Down (soundtrack)

[edit] References