Black Hawk Down
Short description
Black Hawk Down is a war film set in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993. American special forces, including Delta Force operators and Army Rangers, are sent into the city as part of a United Nations peacekeeping effort, with orders to capture two lieutenants of the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The operation is meant to be brief, but when two Black Hawk helicopters are brought down, the soldiers on the ground find themselves trapped in hostile streets, and what began as a short raid turns into an extended fight to reach the survivors and get everyone out.
Ridley Scott directed the film, working from a screenplay by Ken Nolan and producing alongside Jerry Bruckheimer. It was Scott's twelfth film as director, following Gladiator and preceding Hannibal. The large ensemble includes Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana, William Fichtner and Ewen Bremner, with 56 credited cast members and 275 credited crew. Made for about 92 million dollars, it took roughly 173 million dollars worldwide.
The film holds a 7.6 out of 10 critics' rating from 172 reviews, and audiences rate it slightly lower, at 7.7 on IMDb from 453,000 votes and 7.4 on TMDB from 6,600 votes, so critical and viewer assessments are close.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on Mark Bowden's book "Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War" (1999).
- Producers Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna offered Ridley Scott the direction of "Terminator 3," but he chose to film this movie instead.
- The full version of the film has a runtime of 152 minutes.
- The character of John Grimes, played by Ewan McGregor, was based on Staff Sergeant John Stebbins. Unlike the other characters whose names were retained, Stebbins was renamed Grimes because in 2000 he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for multiple rapes of his own daughter.
- Some of the helicopters in the film and most of the pilots operating them were participants in the actual battle of October 3-4, 1993.
- "Black Hawk" is the name of the American military transport helicopter UH-60. During the Battle of Mogadishu, two such helicopters were shot down.
- The end credits state that Mohamed Farah Aidid was killed on August 2, 1996, although he actually died on the operating table on August 1, 1996, from wounds sustained a week earlier.
- The photograph of a wife and child that one of the dying soldiers looks at is actually a photograph of the wife and child of Eric Bana, one of the main actors. The props department forgot to bring the card to the set, so the film company asked the actor's wife to use her photograph.
- The film featured real participants in the battle – for example, Kit Jones did in the film what he did in the actual battle: evacuated the crew members of Super 61.
- The end credits list the names of 19 American soldiers who died, which is an error, as Delta Sergeant Matt Rierson did not die in battle, but was killed by mortar fire on October 6th.
- When the first 3 vehicles from Lieutenant Colonel McKnight's convoy head to base, they come under fire. When Sergeant Hut operates the machine gun in the first of the 3 vehicles, one shot shows the buildings (the city) literally ending in front of the vehicles, while subsequent shots still show them driving along the street with tall buildings also present.
- When an injured soldier crawls out of the crashed helicopter, special goggles are visible on his helmet, which then disappear and reappear with each frame change.
- After the first helicopter crashes, a small helicopter is sent to the crash site. When it departs for the crash site, machine guns are visible on it, but when they show it arriving at the crash site, the machine guns are gone.
- The original slogan of the film, “Leave no man behind,” translates to “Don't leave anyone behind.”
- At the end of the film, some soldiers have to run after the convoy because there was no more room. In the real operation, there were also soldiers who ran after the convoy, but they were covering the perimeter and didn't immediately notice the convoy had started to leave, so they had to run. This march was later called the “Magadish Mile” or “the last mile.”
- When the pilot of the second downed helicopter fires back from the shelter where the Delta Force soldiers put him, he only has an SMG. In the following shots, another rifle inexplicably appears at his feet, and later it disappears, only to be brought to him.
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