Bat*21 is a 1988 film directed by Peter Markle, and adapted from the book by William Charles Anderson. Set during the Vietnam War, the film is a dramatization based on the true, costly, and controversial rescue of a U.S. navigator officer from North Vietnam. The film stars Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, and Jerry Reed. During the last days of the Vietnam War, Lieutenant Colonel Iceal E. "Gene" Hambleton, United States Air Force, is the sole survivor of the crew of an EB-66 electronic warfare aircraft, which is downed by a surface to air missile over enemy territory. The plane, callsign Bat... Two-One, was doing electronic scans preparatory to a major bombing strike. Hambleton makes radio contact with Birddog , the pilot of a Cessna Skymaster, flying a Forward Air Control mission near where the EB-66 was destroyed. Birddog becomes Hambleton's link to rescue. Hambleton, an expert on electronic weapons systems, is known to the North Vietnamese, who begin an all-out search, attempting to capture him. Meanwhile, American forces begin an all-out attempt to rescue him.
more
| Release date: | 1988 |
| Directed by: | Peter Markle |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 105 Minutes |
| Producer: | Jerry Reed, Mark Damon, David Saunders |
| Editor: | Stephen E. Rivkin |
| Music by: | Christopher Young |
| Cinematography: | Mark Irwin |
| Screenplay by: | William Coleman Anderson, George Gordon |
| Genre: | Action |