Colonel Braddock launches a mission deep into the jungles of Vietnam to find the POW camp that he escaped from and free the Americans still held captive there.
Missing in Action (1984) Online
Colonel James Braddock is an American officer who spent seven years in a North Vietnamese POW camp, then escaped 10 years ago. After the bloodiest war, Braddock accompanies a government investigation team that goes to Ho Chi Minh City to check out reports of Americans still held prisoner. Braddock gets the evidence then travels to Thailand, where he meets Tuck, an old Army buddy turned black market kingpin. Together, they launch a mission deep into the jungle to free the American POWs from General Trau.
Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Chuck Norris | - | Col. James Braddock | |
M. Emmet Walsh | - | Jack Tucker | |
David Tress | - | Sen. Maxwell Porter | |
Lenore Kasdorf | - | Ann Fitzgerald | |
James Hong | - | Gen. Tran | |
Ernie Ortega | - | Vinh | |
Pierrino Mascarino | - | Jacques | |
Erich Anderson | - | Masucci (as E. Erich Anderson) | |
Joseph Carberry | - | Carter | |
Avi Kleinberger | - | Dalton | |
Willie Williams | - | Randall | |
Ric Segreto | - | GI | |
Bella Flores | - | Madame Pearl | |
Gil Arceo | - | First Vietnamese Businessman | |
Roger Dantes | - | Second Vietnamese Businessman |
Filmed right after Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), this film was supposed to be the sequel. However when the producers realized this film was the better of the two, they simply renamed them and made the other film a prequel to this. This explains why Steve Bing receives a credit for "characters" because he wrote the screenplay for what became the prequel.
In his autobiography, Chuck Norris stated that he made this film as a memorial honor of his younger brother Wieland, who was killed in the Vietnam War in 1970.
Aaron Norris (Chuck Norris' Brother) was the stunt coordinator for the two sequels even though he was uncredited in the 2nd one, then he became the director of Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988).
Both the North Vietnamese and Vietnam People's Army are seen using the Chinese Type 56 assault rifle - originally produced in the People's Republic of China as a licensed copy of the Soviet AK-47 (when technology transfer between both nations were commonplace) prior to the Sino-Soviet split in 1962.
This was the first film in Chuck Norris' five film contract with Cannon Films which paid him a million dollars per film which was agreed to by Menahem Golan against the wishes of his cousin, Yoram Globus.
James Hong and M. Emmet Walsh previously appeared in Bound for Glory (1976) and Blade Runner (1982).
Pierrino Moscarino plays the same type of character in both Missing in Action and Uncommon Valor...both black market arms dealers
After the studio viewed both films, this was easily deemed the better of the two films because the producers felt it was well shot by Director Joseph Zito and more action oriented as compared to Lance Hool's Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), which they felt paled in comparison. So they flip flopped the order with the intention of saving/redeeming Hool's film and making both films financially viable.
William Sanderson was offered the role of Tuck but turned it down.
A DC-3 is seen outside the window when Braddock is departing Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for Bangkok.
In one scene Braddock is watching a cartoon of Spider-man on TV. Cannon films (the producers of the Missing in Action Series) had just acquired the rights to make a Spider-man film from Marvel so were able to show the clip royalty free. The intention was to have Missing in Action director Joseph Zito (a long time Spider-man fan) make a $20 million film some time in 1986 and Cannon even went as far as having promotional photographs for the project taken and the intended film was advertised to press and overseas distributors. However by this time Cannon had severe financial problems due to their attempts at moving into bigger budget films (see Superman IV as an example) and the project was ultimately shelved, with rights reverting back to Marvel after Cannon's bankruptcy in 1990.
Trailer narrated by Percy Rodrigues.
The blue taxicabs seen when Braddock arrives in Bangkok are 1968 Toyota Crown sedans.
Aside from this movie, Filipino actor Ernie Ortega (Vinh) also appeared as a Vietnamese Officer and main antagonist in a Filipino comedy titled No Blood No Surrender (1986) starring Filipino comedian Palito. It parodied the prequel of this movie (Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)) and was released a year after it and two years after this movie.
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