The Hanoi Hilton (1987) User Reviews

Could have been better

[mikeiskorn · 5/10 · 14 December 2021]

I generally don't like to write negative reviews and this one isn't however it's not a glowing positive one either.

After listening to a few podcasts and reading a few articles about what life was like during this timer for the soldiers I really think that this movie could have been so impactful however it just turned out to be a little bit lacklustre.

Hanoi Hilton

[ihope-youlikeme · 7/10 · 21 July 2009]

It is always refreshing to see Col Jim Thompson receiving the recognition he so rightly deserves. I was honored to have known Col Thompson following his return from the hells of 9 years of imprisonment. My father was an officer stationed at Valley Forge General Hospital after his own stint in Viet Nam. He was chosen to be Col Thompson's personal escort upon his return.

When finally determined to be "healthy" enough to travel, he spent many evenings with us. Even though I was a very young man at the time, 3rd grade, I will never forget the scenes that played out around our dining room table and in our living room.

As far as I am concerned, Col Thompson was then and is now in death a true American hero. I wish others would hear of his story to understand what he and the other POWs went through.

It is because of their determination, and all those who serve, that have guaranteed our freedoms for over 200 years.

Just wondering

[jw_55767 · 6/10 · 29 December 2009]

Like anyone else who has seen this film, I stumbled across it quite by accident.

I enjoyed it and considered it to be an historically accurate portrayal of the experiences of POW's in North Viet-Nam to the best of my knowledge from other accounts by POW's.

I am a Viet-Nam veteran who has always been puzzled by the obscurity of this film. Why was it never released to theaters?

I am not a conspiracy theorist by nature, but I have always wondered if the wealth and power of Hanoi Jane Fonda might have had something to do with the stifling of this movie. If I am not mistaken, I believe she was married to the media mogul, Ted Turner at the time. Any thoughts?

re: torture tactics

[eklectech52 · 5 January 2007]

I felt it important to respond to the statement of the person from Minnesota re: The Hanoi Hilton. The torture tactics by the NVA were questioned in the motion picture. The idea that these horrid experiments were not employed is sheer liberal naiveté. I spent several days designing the sequence of the shots and making storyboards for (Lionel Chetwynd) the director based upon lengthy research and a grueling interview with a former (Congressional Medal of Honor recipient)American P.O.W. The distinguished officer described in great detail the many barbaric torture methods employed by his captors. It turned my stomach and revealed the dark evil side of humanity.

From those who were there...

[BanzaiSGI-1 · 7/10 · 18 January 2011]

1. This movie was not released widely due to several factors I learned from a producer and actor in the film. a. The 'woman' who has been described as Hanoi Jane was a composite of several though she has been claimed to be Jane, alone. b. The 'slanderous' portrayal of 'Jane' was a concern to backers who felt they could lose $ in a lawsuit. c. Most people seeing it supported the facts and events, lawsuits and Jane, aside. 2. There were Chi-Coms,Cubans, N.Koreans, East Euro/East German types who were minimized in the film. a. These inquisitors conducted limited bio-chem acts against the POWs. b. These enemy military murdered POWs and have never been held accountable due to politics of the time and the present. c. The 'turned' POWs were either tortured or compliant. NO one could withstand the tortures. 3. To present day, techniques experienced are still used in resistance training in the US military, as well as our enemies. a. The use of physical and mental torture by our enemies then to the present time also is used and sometimes revealed in movies. 4. Hanoi Hilton is a good movie overall due to the actors used and their intent to portray accurately, the conditions of the POWs. a. While there are some flubs and heartstrings tugged, the movie was designed to show the human condition that made our enemies realize that we hold (any) human life in value. b. That we are willing to sacrifice dozens of our own to rescue one, to never leave anyone behind. 5. I learned that first hand on special missions, but especially Desert One in 1980. My crew was lost on the EC130E that was destroyed. a. The mission was not a failure. b. It showed our need to maintain the high standards of military preparedness vs weakness. c. We were willing to go full force to rescue Americans we never knew or met. That is the difference between those who oppress and those who free. 6. Hanoi Hilton should be shown to high school kids as well as those in training for military, civil, corporate employment. 7. Michael Moriarty was the right choice and voice. He was both humane and a leader. As an actor, he made sure that we knew it wasn't just a role. The man is someone I'd call a best friend. Get a copy of the film. Share it with family and friends.

View From The Prisoners

[galahad58-1 · 7/10 · 19 November 2008]

Hanoi Hilton is an excellent movie that captures the horror and the pain that American POWs had to face during the Vietnam War. It is NOT a political movie as some naive liberals would write in the comments section--nor is it right-wing grandstanding. The fact is that the Vietnamese people were downright horrible and tortured our men on a regular basis is historical fact. The fact that Jane Fonda, and other Hollywood idiot who would NEVER ever serve this great country (yet expect all the benefits American soldiers have given them)went to Nam and insulted the prisoners is an absolute fact. Those who write that this is a political movie are part of the problems with America--those who have never served, those who are too cowardice to serve, and those who spit on and insult the American soldier. Not one of them would have had the courage to withstand the torture and mayhem these brave men had to face each and every day. You should be saluting these men and not insulting them. These men are part of the reason you have MTV, HBO, NFL, freedom, the right to vote, etc--why America is free.

Really good film, but watered down a bit

[khanley2244 · 7/10 · 21 September 2012]

After personally visiting the real Hanoi Hilton a couple weeks ago (or what is left of it), I had to watch the film. I must admit I was a little disappointed, though, but maybe not for some of the other reasons previously mentioned. I was disappointed primarily because the Hanoi Hilton depicted did not look like the real one from what I could tell. Admittedly, most of real HIlton was tore down in mid-90's, so I truly have no way of knowing what the original courtyard looked like, etc. If anyone on here was there, I would very much appreciate your thoughts.

In addition, although the acting superb and definitely pulling at my heart, I felt the movie was a little watered down to the horrors of such a prison. Again, thankfully I wasn't there (and my tears well up for those who were), but seeing the real one made me think life there was much more depressed and brutal than this movie depicts.

As a veteran who served two tours in Iraq/Kuwait (2004/2010), I would appreciate anyone who was there's opinion comparing this film to reality.

Thanks, CPO Kevin Hanley [e-mail]

Hanoi

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 24 March 2022]

Hoa Lo Prison started its use as a political prison used by French colonists in French Indochina before the North Vietnamese used it for jailing U. S. P. O. W.s during the Vietnam War. So while Cannon may have made at least five Vietnam P. O. W. Movies that I can name off the top of my head, this is the first serious one they filmed.

Directed and written by Lionel Chetwynd, this film shows a decade in the life of LCDR Williamson (Michael Moriarty, one of my favorite actors) who watches men come, go and die inside the prison camp.

There's Hubman (Paul Le Mat), a solder recalled to fight after serving in Korea who just wants to get home. Major Fischer (Jeffrey Jones in a rare heroic role) faces death with spiritual strength. Colonel Cathcart (Lawrence Pressman) tries to keep order in the face of chaos. But the only thing the men have is each other to lean on.

In no way is this an easy watch. It was made with the participation of real prisoners of war. While it failed at the box office, it remained popular amongst soldiers and those who have been in this situation.

I was an extra on the film

[Celt47 · 10/10 · 3 April 2010]

I worked as an extra on the film. I was looking for work and a neighbor told me about a casting agency that was looking for extras. The scenes in the prison were filmed in a closed VA hospital in Westwood Los Angeles. The site was chosen because of the architectural similarity to the prison in Hanoi.

One of the perks of working on the film was a POW haircut.

We non union extras were told in no uncertain terms not to bother the actors. One time in the commissary line I was behind Michael Moriarty and another extra I was friendly with struck up a conversation with him. He told Michael that he had been an extra serving as a juror on a courtroom drama that Michael had filmed. Michael remembered him and chatted with him amiably. Later that day that extra got a 'bump' arranged by Moriarty. He was given a speaking line which gave him the right to get a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card which is required to work as an actor. That extra had an ambition to be an actor so it was a huge step forward to get the SAG card. I always liked Moriarty as an actor but since that day I've liked him as a human being.

The scene of the prisoners being run through Hanoi was filmed in an industrial area south of downtown LA.

The scene of the prisoners waiting for the plane to take them home was filmed at an air base east of LA. Leo K. Thorsness, a retired air force colonel, who was a consultant on the film was present for the filming at the air base and much of the filming in Westwood. Thorsness had been shot down over North Vietnam in April 1967. He was released in March of 1973. He was tortured in captivity.

The plane landing to take the prisoners home was provided by the air force. The plane touched down and taxied on the runway long enough to be filmed then took off to return to its own base. We were told it was the same kind of plane that picked up the first batch of prisoners to be released. I got a kick out of the arid Southern California mountains in the background devoid of vegetation. In Southeast Asia every inch of every hill is covered with vegetation.

We filmed in the fall of 1983. I believe the film was played in sneak previews in several locations around the country and was wildly cheered by the audiences. The left wing press stepped up a campaign to trash the film. If I'm correct it was never released to theaters and was eventually released to video.

all around terrible!

[thepaschs · 1/10 · 9 July 2009]

This movie was not good, the only thing that made it even remotely realistic was the torture. I have read every book on Vietnam POW's that I can possibly get my hands on and believe me the way that the American and Vietnamese were portrayed in this movie is far from accurate. Don't get me wrong, the POW's area heroes, and they did the best they could but the didn't walk by each other saluting, or flaunt their chain of command to the North, more accurately they were broken men, many stories tell of the fear they felt hearing the guards keys tingle, there is one moment were a prisoner is being taken out to "interrogation" and he jumps off the bed saying "my turn" like it is some luxury trip. I have no problem with a movie portraying these men as resilient, and brave, but lets stop the B/s propaganda and show how they were shells of the men they once were. It wasn't until the 70's that some of them even saw the face of another man in the very next cell! Its a disgrace to make this movie like they were on vacation, and the Guards weren't bumbling idiots as portrayed in the film. Read a book to get the true story's, and if you must watch a movie watch a documentary. This is just junk.

Phenomenal (did I spell that right?)

[mr_whud · 10/10 · 31 October 2003]

The Hanoi Hilton is a must-see film. Many leftists denounce its historical accuracy and positive portrayal of the men who fought and died to prevent the disaster that befell Vietnam. If you want to know what the men were really like, by all means see this film. Don't waste your time on Communist propaganda crap like the monstrosity Platoon. NOTE TO ALL LEFTISTS: As this movie shows, most of the soldiers who fought were courageous and honorable men, not mindless killers like the idiots in the media want you to believe.

As bad as you've heard...

[GrigoryGirl · 2/10 · 12 June 2023]

I went into this with an open mind after hearing it was a bad film, but alas, its reputation as a bad film is warranted. It's boring, episodic, and feels like an eternity watching it, even though it's just over 2 hours. You never really get to know any of the men, and strangely enough, the only sympathetic character is the Vietnamese commander of the prison camp, which is NOT supposed to happen considering this is a pro-America/pro-Vietnam War film. This film is supposed to garner sympathy for the POW's, yet you end up liking the kommadant of the camp instead LOL. There's a lot of overly macho acting throughout the film, and the guy who plays the Cuban is awful. Way over the top like he was doing an opera. A real soldier would not have behaved like this. The man who played the Vietnamese commander of the camp gives the best performance in the film. The others are mixed. They range from good to passable to amateurish, even though there are many well known actors in the film, like Michael Moriarity. The only real emotion you feel is at the end when the prisoners are sent home. There's a reporter that's a very thinly disguised Jane Fonda (aka Hanoi Jane), and it's pretty obvious and smacks of propaganda. The film is extremely disjointed, often covering a year's time with literally 30 seconds of screen time. The film felt long and felt rushed at the same time. It's a poorly made film on an important subject. There's an interview on the DVD with John McCain, who was a POW at the Hilton, even though his character is not in the film. That's more interesting than the actual movie. Don't bother.

Harrowing

[dtucker86 · 19 October 2003]

The Hanoi Hilton is an excellent film, that sadly never found an audience due to the fact it was an independant film with a cast of relative unknowns (except for Michael Moriarity and David Soul). This is a shame because it spotlights the men of the Vietnam war who were the true heroes. The prisoners of war who went though hell for our country. We are spared no details of that hell they went through in this film. It is a terrible story, but one that needs to be told and one we must never forget.

One thing I wanted to add, its a mistake that few have corrected. Many people believe that the longest held prisoner of war in Vietnam was Navy Commander Everett Alvarez. He was shot down in August of 1964 and held until February 1973. This is not true, the longest held POW of the Vietnam War (indeed the longest held prisoner of war in American history) is Army officer Floyd James Thompson. I read a book about him called Glory Denied by Tom Philpott that told his heartbreaking story and I want to tell it as well. Jim Thompson was born in New Jersey in 1933. He started out life working in a grocery store and married his sweetheart Alyce in 1953. In 1956, he was drafted into the Army. He grew to love the Army and planned to be a thirty year man. He went through Officer Candidate School, Airborne and Ranger training and became a Green Beret Special Forces Officer at Fort Bragg North Carolina. In December of 1963, Captain Thompson was sent to a then unknown country called Vietnam for a six month tour. In March of 1964 (I wish to point out this is almost six months before Alvarez's capture) Captain Thompson was on a small spy plane that was shot down. He was badly wounded and taken prisoner. Thompson spent nine years in hell. He was kept in mostly jungle camps that were even worse then the Hanoi Hilton. At one point, he had no contact with other human beings for five years. He underwent starvation and horrible torture before finally being realeased in March of 1973. However, Thompson's sad story was in many ways just beginning. He and his wife divorced and he was never able to really connect with his four children (his three daughters were only 6,4 and 2 when he was shot down and his son was born after he was taken prisoner). Although he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, he had lost the nine most important years of his career. He was a Lieutenant Colonel who didn't even have a Captain's experience. He married again but divorced shortly afterwards. Thompson began drinking heavily and even attempted suicide. Then in 1981, ironically after he finally conquered his alcoholism, Thompson suffered a massive heart attack and while hospitalized also suffered a massive stroke that left him permanently disabled. In 1990, he had to go thru the agony of seeing his son imprisoned for murder. Last year, Colonel Floyd James Thompson, a true American hero, died at the age of 69. This was one of the saddest stories that I have ever heard in my life a man and his family destroyed by war. I hope many people read the words that I am writing now because we need to remember the sacrifice of Colonel Thompson and the many like him who were POWs. The Hanoi Hilton helps us do just that.

Worthy attempt but lacks major focus.

[Jetset971 · 5/10 · 4 June 2010]

This movie is a bit of an oddity to me. On the one hand it feels like very mediocre handling of a serious subject. On the other hand, it has some compelling scenes sprinkled, sparingly, over it. I feel for the soldiers and their perdicerment but the movie just gets bogged down in itself. Like it had no real direction to follow and just throws everything on the screen in a desperate hope that something will stick. If the filmmakers had spent more time on story development and less time on tired war clichés this would have been a much better film. Still, I keep going back to watch it because there is potential in this film. Here is my list of things that this movie could have done better.

1). War Clichés: This movie was RIFE with every tired war cliché in the book. From the Evil Camp Comendant that acts like a petty dictator who plays mind games with the prisoners. To senior ranking officer who taps his monologue of inspiration via Morse code. You try not to groan but just cant help it.

2). Focus! Focus! Focus!: This movie was all over the place. One minute the prisoners are in isolation the next they are being tortured the next they are being paraded and ridiculed the next they meet up with American anti war protesters! Come on! Too much on the plate! If they had zeroed in on one, or at most, two themes they might have developed a more grounded story.

Hopefully, somebody someday will attempt another movie about this subject. When they do, I recommend that they watch this movie very carefully and beware of the pitfalls and mistakes it made.

Great Movie!

[danielgalea99 · 10/10 · 24 July 2001]

This movie was a excellent way of showing how American POWs survived in Vietnam during the war. Michael Moriarty gives a riveting performance as Williamson and Scotty Sachs gives a memorable perfomance as Soles. This movie is a must see a war buff and it will eat away at a person's heart.

The audience suffers along with the P.O.W.s

[dinky-4 · 4/10 · 8 April 1999]

This movie seems to be a well-intentioned tribute to the American P.O.W.s held for years under brutal conditions in North Vietnam. However, the characters are flat, the attitudes simplistic, the ambiance never quite persuasive. Episodes and characters come and go without much impact. One of the movie's "highlights" consists of a montage-sequence in which a captured U.S. pilot played by David Anthony Smith is subjected to various kinds of torture. Accounts written by former POWs indicate that they suffered "rope" tortures and floggings delivered with whips made of strips of rubber taken from automobile tires. However, Smith's torture shows him being shocked with electrical wires alligator-clipped to his nipples. One of the prison guards then gleefully turns the crank on an electrical generator and Smith begins to writhe in torment -- a sight which prompts laughter from his delighted tormentors. Then the clips are transferred to Smith's genitals, though the camera angle discreetly avoids nudity. The guard again turns the crank and he and his colleagues break into unabashed laughter once more as Smith, his sexual organs now being "fried," dances in helpless agony. Dramatic, yes, but questionable. In his massively-detailed 1976 book, "P.O.W. - A Definitive History of the American Prisoner-of-War Experience in Vietnam, 1964-1973," author John G. Hubbell makes absolutely no mention of electricity being used in either nipple or genital torture. One gets the impression these tortures were included in "The Hanoi Hilton" simply because they fitted our notions of how fiendishly sadistic the Oriental mind can be.

Surprisingly open-ended

[rzajac · 10/10 · 5 August 2014]

After reading various comments, many of which accuse the flick of being a propaganda piece, I had to check it out.

I think it's fantastic. And I'm a DFH, long-haired, radical libertarian who felt, and still feel, that the American actions in Vietnam were a war crime. McNamara shouldn't have been able to retire and write this memoirs; he should have been hung.

The production, writing, directing, acting, editing simply work to tell the tale and show the strain. One commenter was bothered by the splintered, disjointed nature of the production; which feels like it derived directly from the script. I sort of wonder if the reason it didn't bother me was that the mythic payload of the production is so strong that I indulge this disjointedness and see it as a natural reflection of the attitude of mind brought on by that strain. Of course, surviving the experience, psychologically, means that you have to gather those disjointed shards and assemble them into something you can understand when you find a few precious moments to do so. Furthermore, I was often struck by the lucid beauty of these fragments of shimmering humanity; of people clinging, moment by moment to their lives and the promise of solidarity.

I guess I do want to highlight the writing. I'm a sort of fuddy-duddy who believes that the highest of this kind of art must rest on a foundation of beautiful writing; and I felt the script just glowed. On one level, it was a simple matter of creating that kind of hard, sturdy, dangerous realism; the kind of realism that all too often gets jettisoned by producers, in the interest of... what? In the interest, I suppose, of avoiding the danger of telling a real story, hence, not hewing to safe, standard-issue stuff that's guaranteed to fill the seats of theaters. How did it come to pass that the script survived the process and didn't get dumbed down by a script doctor? I think I understand now why the film did lousy at the box office: It's too, too honest.

And, make no mistake, I agree with the "gooks" that the American servicemen under their purview *were* criminals. They were criminals allied under a system that institutionalizes "values" of courage, fidelity, service--and all the rest of it--to the purpose of traveling half-way 'round the world to kill and otherwise terrorize in the interests of western capital. Vietnam was a war crime. And that doesn't detract a whit from the stunning drama we witness in this flick: If anything, I think it enhances it! In fact, if you're one of those who sees those servicemen as selfless servants of "freedom" and "democracy"--and despises what I've written above--watch the flick again with what I've said in mind, and see if the dramatic effect isn't even stronger.

Well, I've gone and done it: I rated it a '10'; very rare for me! I can't emphasize enough what a miracle this production is, again, for its refusal to submit to the usual production process that only serves to trivialize and denigrate the subject matter. I can plainly see why it "failed" as a film "product"... and why it may well be worthy of consideration as a historical document.

Slightly lifeless POW drama

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 2 August 2014]

This war drama is set in the 'Hanoi Hilton' prisoner-of-war camp. It focuses on a selection of American soldiers who are incarcerated there by the North Vietnamese over the course of the Vietnam War.

The potential for something quite powerful is certainly there in the serious subject matter that this film is based on. But sadly this is a movie that never really gets out of second gear and is ultimately a mediocre take on a serious subject. The movie's politics are fairly unambiguous and it depicts the communists as being fairly one-dimensionally evil. The portrayal of life in the camp seemed a bit overly idealistic too, with the American POWs more or less at liberty to disrespect their captors with very little consequence. I'm sure it was never quite as carefree in reality as it was depicted here. The cast has no stars and is serviceable at best but none of them really brings much dimension to their characters and consequently they are essentially rather lifeless. Ultimately, the film as a whole comes across as being somewhat underwhelming and is mainly redeemed by the fact that it's based on a real historical situation which at least makes it educational at least to some extent.

Compelling look at POW life and effect of anti-war sentiment

[steve-692 · 26 February 2002]

Very compelling and realistic portrayal of life as a N.Vietnam POW and how opinion at home affected their situation. You can read Jane Fonda's own broadcasts to verify that the "portrayal" of her and Tom Hayden was not a caricature. Few Americans understood the impact their views and actions had on American soldiers and POWs. There are several standout performances, especially by Moriarity, Pressman, Jones and "Starsky and Hutch" star,David Soul. Although intentionally episodic and semi-documentary in style-the period covered was after all, 9 years -the film is nonetheless compelling. However it's main goal seems to tell the story and not make great "film".This is not Mallick's " The Thin Red Line"(a superb, introspective film). H. Hilton's view that the strength of US military training and code of honor, the value and support of religion in tough times and it's admiration of the "average guy" is more in line with Scott's "Blackhawk Down" and Stephen Ambrose's influenced Speilberg film, "Saving Private Ryan" Neither of these films are as artistic as Mallicks-but all are true to the reality of the specific event.An interesting film to view in conjunction with the H.Hilton is the fictional and quite propagandist " Coming Home" starring Jane Fonda.In that film only Vets who denounced the war(nothing wrong with that)are given credibility. Fonda's husband in the film, Bruce Dern, is not only a joke as a soldier (his metal is for being shot in the rear end)but as a man-he has never given his wife an orgasm-that's left to hero Jon Voight, a paraplegic who renounces the war. Dern ultimately drowns himself. Talk about a loaded deck. No recognition in that film that an American GI who supports his country might have the character of any of the POWs in the Hanoi Hilton. These men were the "forgotten men" of the 60's/early 70's- The Hanoi Hilton was not at all popular at the box office and vilified by many in the Hollywood community when it was made-but it was ahead of it's time content-wise and quite brave for it.

Not too bad for a right-wing polemic

[frankfob · 4/10 · 16 February 2003]

Given the film's pedigree--written and directed by Lionel Chetwynd, a self-described "right-wing activist", and produced by the Cannon Pictures team of schlockmeisters Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus--it really isn't as bad as one would expect it to be, certainly far above such other Vietnam-war Cannon fodder as the late and unlamented "Missing In Action" series with Chuck Norris, Cannon's fourth-string Rambo. The based-on-fact story of American POWs held in a prison camp known as the Hanoi Hilton, it has a much better cast than Cannon usually gets, and they manage to bring more life to Chetwynd's rather simplistic script than it deserves. Still, it does manage to hold your interest and Michael Moriarty, as always, gives a first-class performance. This is an important subject that deserves better treatment than it gets here, but the film is still worth a look.

Pretty solid Vietnam war/POW movie

[dworldeater · 8/10 · 29 May 2018]

Let me start off by saying that I was 1 year old when we pulled out American troops from Vietnam, but if I was an adult or teenager around that time I would have opposed the war as well. This film in question, The Hanoi Hilton is based on the experiences of American POW's and their experiences in captivity during the war. The film does have a right wing tone that is in favor of the United States involvement in the conflict, but mostly is about the perseverance, solidarity and strength that these men had to endure while in captivity. The Hanoi Hilton was made by Cannon films, a company best known for action films like the Missing In Action series and Chuck Norris dose not show up to save the day in this one. This project, while not an action vehicle is another low budget film from Cannon. However, this is a pretty solid dramatic film with good performances from its ensemble cast. While hardly Oscar worthy, the movie gets across what it needs to by showing the horrific conditions, torture and squalor that American soldiers in captivity by the enemy had to endure and the efforts by their captors to break these men. The reality of the situation was, I am sure much worst then portrayed on celluloid. But, this gives the audience a good idea of what it may have been like for these men. Michael Moriarity is the leading man in this film and is told through his perspective and he delivers a solid performance. I remember this playing all the time on cable and it is a good film and holds up fairly well.

Revenge of the 80's: The Viet-Nam war movies.

[Captain_Couth · 4/10 · 3 July 2004]

The Hanoi Hilton (1987) was an film that took a rare look at the brutal treatment many of the P.O.W. pilots went through whilst they were held captive in North Viet-Nam. What could have been a good movie is ruined by the right-wing rhetoric, soap boxing and grand standing that is so blatant that even a child could easily read through the lines. Maybe someday a film-maker will take this story and make a more balanced and straight forward view on the subject instead of swinging either to the left or the right. I like my movies to keep politics on the side (unless they can do it without hitting the viewer over the head like Brunuel or Watkins). A rare film on such an interesting subject.

Worth a view but not a keeper.

Fair.

C

Garbage propaganda

[shanayneigh · 1/10 · 15 September 2020]

These poor prisoners were invaders slaughtering literally millions of Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians. How many thousands of murdered civilians were these people directly responsible for?

And these are the people - routinely described as "heroes" by people who have zero knowledge of the impact of the Vietnam war and the countless atrocities carried out by American soldiers - we're supposed to sympathize with? No thank you.

People usually bring up My Lai as the example of American atrocities in the Vietnam war. Having been there it is chilling to think that 500 people were murdered in that little village. But as Nick Turse shows in his magnificent book "Kill Anything That Moves" the My Lai massacre was just one among many.

And of course, a lot of the prisoners at Hoa Lo were airmen who preferred mass murdering civilians from what they thought was the relative safety of the sky. You reap what you sow, is all I can say.

Any chance we get any of that background in this blatant piece of right wing propaganda and failed attempt at rewriting history? This movie might just as well have been made by Leni Riefenstahl.

If you want to know something about the true atrocities of the Vietnam War check out the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City.

Misguided attempt to tell the story of U.S. prisoners during Vietnam War emerges as a right-wing tract

[lor_ · 19 April 2023]

My review was written in March 1987 after watching the film at a Midtown Manhattan screening room.

"The Hanoi Hilton" is a lame attempt by writer-director Lionel Chetwynd to tell the story of U. S. prisoners at Hoa Lo Prison, in Hanoi during the Vietnam War,. Special pleading aside (pic's end credits 16 P. O. W.'s for their assistance, listing on-screen the extent of their incarceration), pic is a slanted view of traditional prison camp sagas, injecting lot of hindsight and taking right-wing positions tht do a disservice to the very human drama of the subject.

Chetwynd missteps very early on in this overlong (exceeding two hours running time) picture, with the characterization of Aki Aleong as the cultured but sadistic martinet of a prison commandant. Aleong's performance is technically okay, but film fans will immediately recognize the verbal cadence and sinister styling as right out of Richard Loo's memorably hissable (and often-quoted) performance in "The Purple Heart" in 1944. What worked during World War II as propaganda won't wash in a 1987 feature film.

Michae Moriarty heads a curiously bland cast portraying P. O. W.'s on a set that conjures up "Hogan's Heroes" rather than the gritty realism intended (pic was lensed in California with unconvincing junlge location scenes adn stock footage for action material). He's thrust into a position of authority when the ranking officer played by Lawrence Pressman is taken off to be tortured. Episodic structure introduces new prisoners as more pilots are shot down over a roughly 10-year span (including some comic relief such as one prisoner who says he fell off his ship accidentally and was captured).

Pic is desperately lacking side issues or subplots of interest (such a the fun black humor or interpersonal rivalries of such forerunners as Bryan Forbes' film of James Clavell's "King Rat") with Chetwynd monotonously hammering away at the main issue of survival in the face of inhuman treatment. Main thematic point which carries the narrative was done far better in "The Bridge on the River Kwai", namely, that the prisoners must maintain military discipline and lines of authority by rank at all costs, lest their captors isolate and break them down.

There is an intrinsic interest watching the ensemble cast overcome their travails, but unbelievability intrudes, especially in later reels when characters start mouthing statements about the war that benefit from years of hindsight. Worse yet, in attempting to present the P. O. W.s' point of view, Chetwynd moves deep into poor-taste territory with verbal potshots at Bertrand Russell and Senator William Fulbright, an embarrassing pastiche of Jane Fonda (an actress wearing a "Klute" wig sitting next to a guy with a bad complexion is supposed to represent the star, renamed Paula, visiting North Vietnam), and a purely right-wing portrait of a British journalist who co vers up a P. O. W.'s bloody, torture-induced wounds so his newsreel camera won't show them and distrub his pro-North Vietnam interview. This is propaganda pure and simple and sounds particularly loathsome (relative to the right's pronouncements lately regarding the Iran/contra affair) when characters blame the news media back home reporting on the war for exacerbating the prisoners' problems.

Cast struggles with this intractable material, with the more familiar faces, such as Jeffrey Jones, Paul Le Mat and David Soul, emerging far too laidback for their roles. At the other extreme, Michael Russo overdoes it as the heinous interrogation office named (no kidding) Fidel the Cuban. That presumably rules out the film being invited to next year's Havana Film Festival.

Pic was once on track by Chetwynd as a telefilm, and given a network's standards & practices office, which would have removed the scurrilous material, it would undoubtedly have worked better than as a low-budget theatrical feature.

Mixed results

[Wizard-8 · 1 September 2012]

First of all, I feel I should say that I am not against the idea of a movie praising U.S. soldiers who were imprisoned by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. These soldiers suffered greatly, and their stories are stories that need to be told. "The Hanoi Hilton" was obviously an attempt to tell these soldiers' stories, but it is greatly uneven.

One big problem is that the movie has a number of heavy-handed touches, namely with certain characters. It's not just with some of the communists (the prison warden, a visiting Cuban military officer), but also with liberal western characters (a visiting journalist, a Jane Fonda clone). The movie also takes way too long to get to the 1970s, and then it starts moving so quickly that the viewer barely gets a chance to absorb the now quickly unfolding scenes. And Michael Moriarty, while giving good performances in other works, is really miscast here. He seems too wimpish and meek to be a military person of high rank.

On the other hand, every so often there is a really good touch in the movie. The period detail is pretty good for the most part; real P.O.W.s praised the look of the movie. Some of the acting by the mostly no-name cast is pretty convincing, and there are a few scenes (a torture sequence with the audio cut out, the P.O.W.s having a Christmas dinner) that are really well done and have genuine power.

So the movie is far from terrible, but it also isn't exceptional. You may learn some things from this movie, but I have a feeling that if you want to learn what it was really like for these unfortunate men, you might find a book on the subject matter more informative.