Black Hawk Down

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Black Hawk Down
Movie Poster from Ridley Scott's 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
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 (also referred to as the "Battle of the Black Sea"), which was part of the U.S. military's 1993 campaign to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The movie stars Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs, and Orlando Bloom. It won awards for Film Editing and Sound at the 75th Academy Awards in 2002.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Background and production 3 Cast 4 Awards 5 Other production information 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

Based on the best-selling book detailing an ill-fated Special Operations Command mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993.

A mixed assault force of Delta Force operators, Army Rangers, and Navy SEALs (SEAL Team 6/DEVGROUP 2) under the command of Gen. William Garrison and Col. Lee Van Arsdale were dropped by helicopters of the US Army's Special Operations Air Regiment (SOAR) deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two senior lieutenants of Somali warlord Aidid, Osman Ali Atto and Abdi Hasan Awale Qeybdiid. The raid by the Delta operators was successful and the wanted persons were captured and taken into American custody. However, when Somali militia armed with RPGs downed two Black Hawk helicopters, a 30 minute mission became a pitched battle between the American forces and Somali militia lasting almost 18 hours.

The movie recounts the efforts by the American soldiers to get to the crash sites and recover their wounded personnel. Most of the action centers on a few soldiers, such as Staff Sergeant Eversmann who led Ranger Chalk Four. Other parts of the movie focus on Lt. Col. McKnight and his rescue convoy that gets ambushed throughout the hostile city. The story also chronicles the efforts of Cpt. Steele, who was in command of the four Ranger 'chalks' and the fictional character of SFC. Jeff Sanderson (a Delta operator based on Paul Howe), and the sole survivor of the second crash Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant, as well as the courageous defense made by Delta operators Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart to protect Durant's crash site. The comrades of Durant that flew above him also tried valiantly to save Durant. An RPG hit Goffena's MH-60 and he made a forced landing, although he landed in safe territory. Shughart and Gordon were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions at the crash site.

The soldiers were able to hold off the militia at the first crash site until dawn, when a convoy consisting of the 10th Mountain Division, Pakistani and Malaysian UN troops reached them and they were able to successfully exit the hostile area of the city to a Pakistani-occupied soccer stadium. During the battle, 18 American soldiers were killed, although another was killed two days later by a mortar (Matt Rierson) bringing the toll to 19:

CW3 Donovan Briley SSG Daniel Busch CPL James Cavacco SSG William Cleveland SSG Thomas Field SFC Earl Fillmore CW4 Raymond Frank MSG Gary Gordon SGT Cornell Houston SGT James Joyce

SPC Richard 'Alphabet' Kowalewski PFC James Martin MSG Timothy Martin SGT Dominick Pilla SFC Mathew Rierson SGT Lorenzo Ruiz SFC Randy Shughart CPL James 'Jamie' Smith CW4 Clifton Wolcott

It is estimated that over a thousand Somali civilians and militia lost their lives. Aidid (Mohammed Farah Aidid) was killed in 1995 during a battle with the militia of his rival Osman Ali Atto.

[edit] Background and production

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).^{[citation needed]}

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. 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 (whom Ron Eldard portrays 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 Salé and Rabat, Morocco.

[edit] Cast

• George Harris - Osman Ali Atto, lieutenant of general Aidid
• Josh Hartnett - Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann, U.S. Army Ranger
• Ewan McGregor - Specialist John Grimes, U.S. Army Ranger
• Jason Isaacs - Captain Mike Steele, U.S. Army Ranger
• Tom Sizemore - Lt. Colonel Danny McKnight, U.S. Army Ranger
• William Fichtner - Sergeant First Class Jeff Sanderson, Delta operator
• Eric Bana - Sergeant First Class Norm 'Hoot' Hooten, Delta operator
• Sam Shepard - Major General William F. Garrison, Task Force Ranger commander
• Ewen Bremner - Specialist Shawn Nelson, U.S. Army Ranger
• Tom Hardy (as Thomas Hardy) - Specialist Lance Twombly, U.S. Army Ranger
• Ron Eldard - Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, 160th SOAR
• Charlie Hofheimer - Corporal James 'Jamie' Smith, U.S. Army Ranger
• Hugh Dancy - Sergeant First Class Kurt Schmid, Delta medic (portrayed as a Ranger in the film)
• Tom Guiry (as Thomas Guiry) - Staff Sergeant Ed Yurek, U.S. Army Ranger
• Brian Van Holt - Staff Sergeant Jeff Struecker, U.S. Army Ranger
• Steven Ford - Lt. Colonel Joe Cribbs
• Ioan Gruffudd - Lt. John Beales
• Matthew Marsden - Specialist Dale Sizemore, U.S. Army Ranger
• Nikolaj Coster Waldau - Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, Delta operator (Medal of Honor Recipient)
• Orlando Bloom - Private First Class Todd Blackburn, U.S. Army Ranger
• Johnny Strong - Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, Delta operator (Medal of Honor Recipient)
• Kim Coates - Master Sergeant Tim 'Griz' Martin, Delta operator
• Zeljko Ivanek- Lt. Colonel Gary Harrell, Delta component commander
• Glenn Morshower - Lt. Colonel Tom Matthews, 1-160th SOAR commander
• Enrique Murciano - Sergeant Lorenzo Ruiz, U.S. Army Ranger
• Jeremy Piven - Chief Warrant Officer Cliff 'Elvis' Wolcott, 160th SOAR
• Richard Tyson - Staff Sergeant Daniel Busch, Delta operator
• Carmine Giovinazzo - Sergeant Mike Goodale, U.S. Army Ranger

[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 (Josh Hartnett)
• 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] Other production information

This section does not cite its references or sources. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) Any unsourced material that has been or is likely to be challenged may be removed at any time. This article has been tagged since March 2007.

• The photo of a wife and child that Durant is looking at is actually a photo of Eric Bana's wife and child. The props department forgot to take a photo of a wife and child with them, so they asked Bana's wife and child who were traveling with him if they could use a photo of them in the movie.

• The wife of Randy Shughart is played by Ridley Scott's girlfriend Giannina Facio who also appeared in Gladiator as Maximus' wife.

• Disney passed on distributing this film because of its violent R rating. Its eventual distributor, Revolution Studios, is run by ex-Disney studios chairman Joe Roth.

• Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan Bremner, William Fichtner and Kim Coates all previously worked together in another war film Pearl Harbor (2001).

• Some of the scenes on the monitors behind Major General Garrison are actual images that were taken from the Orion spy plane that was orbiting over Mogadishu during the battle.

• The Ranger that runs after SSG Strueker's HMMWV to join the rescue convoy is a real Ranger, named John Bamford. He was hastily given membership in the Screen Actor's Guild for him to perform the role.

• On the last day of their week-long Army Ranger orientation at Fort Benning, the actors who portrayed the Rangers received a letter that had been anonymously slipped under their door. The letter thanked them for all their hard work, asked them to "tell our story true" and was signed with the names of the Rangers who died in the Mogadishu firefight.

• According to IMDB.com,

  The massive shoot of the "target building insert" sequence was intended to be among the first sequences shot in principal photography, due to its complex nature. However, negotiations to borrow four Black Hawk helicopters from the United States military were so arduous that an agreement was not reached until a month after shooting had commenced. Director Ridley Scott had prepared a rental of four Hueys from Germany that were ready to be painted black and work as substitutes in the event an agreement with the US Department of Defense could not be reached. Fortunately, the US Government was eventually satisfied that the film would portray the incident in a positive light, and shipped the helicopters to the location in two C-5 Galaxy transports. Ridley Scott says this was very fortunate for the film, since the title is "Black Hawk Down" and Hueys have no resemblance to Black Hawks.

• One of the Black Hawk helicopters used in the film was named the "Armageddon" (a film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer) and another was named the "Gladiator" (a film directed by Ridley Scott). Producer Jerry Bruckheimer believed this to be a sign of good luck.

• The scene where the helicopter follows the informant's car was an error as the helicopter on the screen in front of General Garrison is a Huey, but when the image cuts away, the chopper from the screen becomes a Black Hawk.

• The scene where a U.S. soldier falls out of the truck in the convoy was an outtake, but director Ridley Scott felt that it was funny and should be left in the movie.

• The scene in which Captain Steele and Sergeant Sanderson argue about "Hoot's" behavior at the cafeteria is biased towards Captain Steele's behalf. In the novel, Captain Mike Steele had a problem with the Delta Force's behavior, feeling that they were a bad influence to his Army Rangers, as many of his young soldiers had begun to question his "robot-Ranger" protocols which Delta Force and later they viewed as procedures for procedure's sake. The incident did in fact occur in the cafeteria in which a Delta Operator, Norm Hooten, had walked into the cafeteria with his safety off. When Steele approached him, the operator pointed at his finger and said, "This is my safety." The real-life version of Sanderson, Paul Howe, on the other hand felt that the Ranger's strict training regimen was doing more harm than good when it came to actual combat situations.

• SFC "Hoot" Hooten is a compilation character, whose storyline is comprised of the combined exploits of several anonymous Delta and U.S. Special Forces operators. "Hoot" (really Sgt. Norman Hooten) himself is barely mentioned in the book. Although he was an important figure in the battle, much of the information concerning him came from his buddy Sgt. Paul Howe.

• The scene where Staff Sergeant Eversmann runs unprotected across a street under heavy fire to plant a targeting strobe did happen in the actual battle although it wasn't Eversman who did the act; SPC Twombley was ordered to plant a flat triangular marker (similar to a construction marker) out in the middle of the street so that pilots could identify their position. In another incident, Technical Sergeant Tim Wilkinson, an Air Force Pararescueman, repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to collect medical supplies and to treat a wounded Ranger named Carlos Rodriguez holed up near the first crash site. For his bravery, he was awarded the Air Force Cross, a medal second only to the Medal of Honor. Many of his fellow PJ buddies (formerly Parajumpers but now "Pararescuemen") joked that he had run too slowly and thrown off all the Somalian's aim.

• The film takes creative license on Staff Sergeant Eversmann's role in the battle. In the film, Eversmann became a compilation character based on his own experiences, and U.S. Army Rangers Tom Ditomasso and Larry Perino. In the movie, he is shown as a key member of the movement to the crash site, who essentially substituted for Ditomasso and Perino. In the actual operation given in truth and in the novel, Eversmann was actually a member of the lost convoy and returned to base with the prisoners. The only actual event depicted accurately on Eversmann's experiences in both sources was Blackburn's injury.

• Like Eversmann, Sergeant Lorenzo Ruiz, played by Enrique Murciano, is shown as a key member of Steele's team. In actuality, Ruiz was also with the lost convoy, but he did suffer a severe wound to his abdomen and died on a transport on the way to Germany.

• SFC Kurt Schmid played by Hugh Dancy was actually a Delta Force medic, not a U.S. Army Ranger medic. Although he started off as a Ranger, he became a Special Forces medic and served in the Delta Force during which time he was in Mogadishu. Kurt went on to become a Special Forces Warrant Officer and has since retired. Years later, with the publishing of Bowden's book, Schmid took leave from his post in Japan to talk with the father of Jamie Smith, the Ranger he had fought so desperately to save.

• During the scene between Grimes (Ewan McGregor) and Sizemore (Matthew Marsden), Grimes asks Sizemore how he broke his arm. Sizemore says he broke his arm in a ping-pong accident. In reality, Sizemore broke his arm while in a scuffle with Lieutenant Colonel Harrell in the hangar (although saying that he broke it in ping-pong could be taken as a joke on his part).

• The US troops on several occasions refer to the local Somalis as skinnies. This is a possible reference to the fictional alien race in the Robert A. Heinlein novel Starship Troopers. Another possible source of the term stems from the fact that many of the Somalis were malnourished or had slender builds, hence the description of "skinnies." Somalis were also referred to as "Sammies" in radio chatter during the first scenes.

• In the last scene, SFC Sanderson was seen using a Colt M1911 after he ran out of ammo, but later is seen holding a Beretta M9. (This does not appear in the Revolution Studios demonstration Copy)

• In the scene where SFC Shugart and Master SGT Gordon go to protect the second crash site, Gordon is seen carrying a suppressed M733 carbine, while Shugart carries an M14. During their battle with the militia, the camera switches from Gordon to Shugart for several seconds, during which time Shugart is firing a scopeless M16 rifle and his M14 is nowhere to be seen. The M16 is likely plucked from the wreckage.

• The film brought an unusual pairing from season one of 24. The man enlisted to defend Senator David Palmer from assassination was Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce, and the would be assassin was European crime lord Andre Drazen. The actors of these characters, Glenn Morshower (Pierce) and Zeljko Ivanek (Drazen), appeared alongside each other in a US chopper, both as American soldiers.

• Mark Bowden's cousin, David Keane, produced and directed a documentary for The History Channel titled, The True Story of Black Hawk Down. The documentary was released in 2002 and is included in some of the actual movie's DVD releases.

• In the scene where Nelson, Twombly and Yurek finally find Eversmann's squad at the crash site we can see bullets hitting the ground while Yurek is running towards shelter, however we can't hear any gunfire as the Somalians are either praying, or resting at that time. They start shooting when the last of the soldiers (Twombly) makes his way towards the strong point.

• Specialist Grimes was based on Specialist John Stebbins. The change in names made at the request of the Pentagon because he was convicted by court martial in 1999 for sexually assaulting his six-year old daughter.^[1]

• The scene were a severed hand appears was out of sequence because it belonged to SPC Richard Kowalewski and was severed later when a RPG went into the cab of the truck he was driving severing his hand, lodging in his torso and did not explode. Kowalewski later was covered by sandbags out side the base hospital because of the unexploded RPG and died of his injuries

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://www.socnetcentral.com/vb
• Inquirer Philly
• Warlord thumbs down for Somalia film, BBC News 29 January 2002
• Medal of Honor Recipients on Film