Movie Review – Missing in Action (1984)

“The war’s not over until the last man comes home!”

Back in the early 1980s, there was still a lot of talk about American soldiers possibly still being held prisoner in Vietnam, from a war that ended back in 1975.  Many American servicemen were still reported as missing in action (MIA), and considering the dense jungle environment and the hostility from the Communist government of Vietnam, it certainly was possible that our guys were still captive.

The 1984 action film Missing in Action uses the still-captured American soldiers as its theme.  The film involves Colonel Braddock, a special forces officer who was captured and later escaped, returning to Vietnam as part of a diplomatic mission.  He knows that the country is still hiding secrets, and he infiltrates a prisoner-of-war camp to rescue captured Americans.

Directed by Joseph Zito, Missing in Action stars the legend himself Chuck Norris as Colonel James Braddock, a man set on bringing home captured American soldiers.  Supporting him in the film are M. Emmet Walsh as Braddock’s old friend, Jack Tucker; Lenore Kasdorf as Ann Fitzgerald, an aide on the diplomatic mission; and James Hong as Vietnamese General Trau, a sinister man who wants to pin phone war crimes on Colonel Braddock.

Missing in Action begins back in the Vietnamese jungle during the war.  Colonel James Braddock (Chuck Norris) is leading his men back from a mission when they encounter Viet Cong soldiers.  It’s a large gun battle as the enemy tries to stop the American soldiers from retreating.  Most of the soldiers are able to board the Huey helicopters, but the Viet Cong do shoot down one of the choppers.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

The last ones left are Braddock and a couple of his men.  His men are ambushed and heavily wounded.  As Braddock kills the ambushers, one of the enemy soldiers shoots and wounds him.  He watches from a hut as that enemy soldier then uses a bayonet to viciously stab the Americans until they’re dead.  This infuriates Braddock, so he grabs two grenades, pulls the pins, and leaps down to that enemy soldier, killing himself and everybody else in an explosion.

Colonel Braddock suddenly wakes in a hotel room.It was just a nightmare from the war.  Braddock has been suffering from many of these nightmares from his time in Vietnam, from both as a soldier and a prisoner of war (POW).

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

Colonel Braddock arrives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as part of a diplomatic mission inquiring about American soldiers still being held captive in the country.  Accompanying him are U.S. Senator Maxwell Porter (David Tress) along with Ann Fitzgerald (Lenore Kasdorf).  At the airport they’re greeted by Vietnamese General Trau (James Hong), a person whom Colonel Braddock greatly despises.  He refuses to shake the general’s hand.

General Trau conducts a meeting with Senator Porter and Colonel Braddock to discuss American soldiers still being held as POWs.  It’s a media circus and instead of talking about the subject material, General Trau tries to get Braddock to acknowledge a listing of war crimes he allegedly committed during the war.  Trau even marches phoney victims as proof of Braddock’s wrongdoings.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

The meeting ends when Braddock leaves the room.  Later, at the hotel, General Trau has security keep a close eye on the American visitors.  Braddock takes a drink and visits with Ann in her room, but it’s just to fool the guards.  He changes into dark clothes and climbs down the side of the hotel to take a look around the city.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

That’s the excuse he gives to Ann.  What Braddock is really doing is going to visit the home of General Trau.  Braddock easily finds and infiltrates the general’s home, and he holds him at knife point, demanding that Trau reveal the location of American POWs.  General Trau tells Braddock what he needs to know, but when Braddock is leaving the room, Trau shoots at him but misses.  Braddock throws his knife into Trau’s abdomen, killing him painfully.  But the gunshot has alarmed the guards, and Braddock has to fight his way out of Trau’s home.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

The police are dispatched and they surround the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.  Colonel Braddock sneaks his way into a neighboring building and then climbs a wire back into his hotel.  By the time the guards break into Ann’s room, he and Ann are undressed and under the covers.  The guards know that Braddock was up to something, but they have no proof.  Instead they tell Braddock that he has to leave Vietnam in the morning.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

Colonel Braddock leaves Vietnam, but instead of returning to the U.S. he heads to Bangkok, Thailand to seek an old friend.  While waiting in the line for customs, Braddock notices two suspicious men with Vietnamese passports.  The two men receive special treatment from the customs agents and then disappear.  Perhaps somebody in Vietnam has a score to settle with Braddock.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

Braddock finds his way around Bangkok until he finds his old friend Jack Tucker (M. Emmet Walsh) at a strip club.  Braddock informs Tucker that he needs his help to go back to Vietnam and rescue some MIAs.  Tucker owns a boat that’s small enough not to attract any trouble, and it’s fast enough to outrun most of the military vessels.  It turns out that Tucker owes Braddock a favor (like anybody could refuse a request from Chuck Norris, right?), so he agrees to help take him back to ‘Nam.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

After securing a bulletproof raft with a mounted machine gun, Braddock also makes a deal with somebody else to provide a helicopter rescue from Vietnam if necessary.  He is later ambushed in his hotel by one of the Vietnamese assassins, but Braddock defeats him by throwing him out the window.  Other assassins witness the action and they fire a grenade into the hotel room, barely missing Braddock.

The fighting continues when Braddock and Tucker arrive at the pier.  More assassins arrive and try to use machine guns to kill Braddock.  The colonel is able to drive around a truck and distract them while Tucker starts the boat.  Braddock ultimately jumps into the water as both the truck and the stupid assassin drive off the pier.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

They sail the boat to Vietnam.  That night, another one of the assassins has caught up to and sneaks on board Tucker’s boat.  The assassin tries to kill Braddock with an axe, but that fails and Braddock ultimately kills the assassin by stabbing him with the axe’s blade.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

The crew arrives at the Vietnamese coast, and Braddock convinces Tucker to drive the raft for him up the river.  The two of them avoid a couple of patrols, but when he’s investigating something on land, Braddock kills a few soldiers.  The sound of gunfire attracts a small boat carrying more soldiers, and Braddock kills all of them with a grenade.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

They continue cruising up the river until arriving at the coordinates given by the late General Trau.  Braddock waits for night before infiltrating the camp.  He kills the soldiers and opens the cages, but the wrong soldiers are there.  The guys being held captive are South Vietnamese, not Americans.  They tell Braddock that the Americans were taken a few hours ago.  Knowing this, Braddock races back to the raft, and he and Tucker pursue the convoy heading parallel to the river.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

It’s daylight by the time Braddock and Tucker catch up to the armed convoy transporting the American POWs.  Braddock mans the machine gun and mows down the Vietnamese soldiers while Tucker continues driving the raft.  One of the enemy trucks drives into the river and attempts to stop the raft, but Tucker jumps the raft off a wave and Braddock tosses a grenade into the truck, killing the soldiers.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

At one point one of the Vietnamese soldiers fires an RPG at the raft.  It hits and destroys the raft, and Braddock and Tucker are nowhere to be found.  The soldiers laugh and think that they won, but Braddock rises from the water and kills them with his machine gun.  While this takes place, the American POWs use the distraction to seize weapons and fight back against their captors.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

Now that the Vietnamese soldiers are dead, Braddock, Tucker and the American POWs use a jeep to head back to Tucker’s boat.  It’s not easy though as another armed convoy arrives and pursues them.  There’s a massive gun battle as Braddock, Tucker and Tucker’s friend on the boat provide covering fire against the Vietnamese soldiers.

They make it to the coast and start paddling an inflatable raft, but Tucker’s friend on the boat is shot and killed.  Tucker swims ahead and uses the machine gun to continue providing covering fire.  A Vietnamese gunboat rushes to the scene to stop the Americans, but so does the helicopter rescue that Braddock made a deal for back in Bangkok.  The gunboat destroys Tucker’s boat, killing the man, while Braddock and the American POWs climb into the helicopter.  The helicopter then uses some missiles to destroy the Vietnamese gunboat.

Missing in Action (1984) – (c) The Cannon Group / MGM

Colonel Braddock orders the helicopter to fly back to Saigon.  They land on the streets outside of an important government building.  Missing in Action ends as Colonel Braddock and the American POWs force their way into the building and crash the big media event, proving that the government was lying about captured Americans not being held in the country.

So is Missing in Action a good movie?

Let’s face it.  Missing in Action is a standard B-rated action flick.  The story is extremely simple, the characters are one-dimensional, and the enemy soldiers can’t seem to hit the broad side of a barn.  It’s a wonder that the bad guys can kill anybody in this film.

But that’s not why we’re watching Missing in Action.  We don’t care that a film like this will never receive any attention at the Academy Awards.  Nor are we looking for any deep messages or intricate plot twists at critical moments.

We’re watching this film because it’s great seeing Chuck Norris kicking some ass.  In this role he’s a rogue American soldier who infiltrates Vietnam to rescue fellow soldiers still being held captive from the Vietnam War.  It’s a noble cause and we’re rooting for him to keep killing the bad guys.

The only downside is that we don’t see Chuck Norris using any of his legendary martial arts skills in Missing in Action.  He punches a few people, kills a couple others with blades, but pretty much everybody else dies from either a bullet or an explosion.  This film has several large gun battles that leave behind a LOT of dead bodies.

Missing in Action (1984) – movie trailer

Fans of Chuck Norris and cheesy action films will feel right at home with Missing in Action.  Gather your friends, order a pizza, drink some cheap beer, and watch Chuck Norris kick some ass.

Tuck – “Do we run or fight?”
Col. James Braddock – “We don’t have a choice now.”

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This article was originally published on August 19, 2013.