Black Hawk Down

Name: Black Hawk Down

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Screenplay by: Ken Nolan

Based Upon the Book by: Mark Bowden

Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer Ridley Scott

Executive Producers: Branko Lustig Chad Oman Mike Stenson Simon West

Associate Producers: Harry Humphries Terry Needham Pat Stenson

Director of Photography: Slawomir Idziak

Production Designer: Arthur Max

Film Editor: Pietro Scalia

Music by: Hans Zimmer

Casting by: Bonnie Timmerman

Art Directors: Pier Luigi Basile Gianni Giovagnoni Ivica Husnjak Keith Pain Cliff Robinson

Supervising Art Director: Marco Trentini

Costume Designers: David Murphy Sammy Howarth-Sheldon

Set Decorator: Elli Griff

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Production Companies: Revolution Studios Jerry Bruckheimer Films Scott Free Productions

Producer/Release: 20th Century Fox

Airdate: December 28, 2001

Length: 146 minutes

Budget: $92 million

Box Office: $271 million

Pixar Movie Number: 420

Black Hawk Down is a 2002 American war film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott. The screenplay by Ken Nolan is adapted from the non-fiction book of the same name by Mark Bowden, which in turn is based on the 29-part series of articles published in The Philadelphia Inquirer chronicling the events of a 1993 raid in Mogadishu by the U.S. military aimed at capturing faction leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid and the ensuing firefight, known as the Battle of Mogadishu.

The film features a large ensemble cast, including Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs, Tom Hardy, and Sam Shepard. It won two Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing at the 74th Academy Awards. Although it was received positively by critics, the film was strongly criticized by a number of groups and military officials.

Plot
In 1993, following the ousting of the central government and start of a civil war, a major United Nations military operation in Somalia is authorized with a peacekeeping mandate. After the bulk of the peacekeepers are withdrawn, the Mogadishu-based militia loyal to Mohamed Farrah Aidid declares war on the remaining UN personnel. In response, U.S. Army Rangers, Delta Force counter-terrorist operators, and 160th SOAR aviators are deployed to Mogadishu to capture Aidid, who has proclaimed himself president of the country.

To consolidate his power and subdue the population in the south, Aidid and his militia seize Red Cross food shipments, while the UN forces are powerless to intervene directly. Outside Mogadishu, Rangers and Delta Force capture Osman Ali Atto, a faction leader selling arms to Aidid's militia. A mission is planned to capture Omar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid, two of Aidid's top advisers.

The U.S. forces include experienced men as well as new recruits, including PFC Todd Blackburn and a desk clerk, SPC Grimes, going on his first mission. When his Lieutenant is removed from duty after having an epileptic seizure, Staff Sergeant Matthew Eversmann is placed in command of Ranger Chalk Four, his first command. The operation begins and Delta Force operators capture Aidid's advisers inside the target building. The Rangers and helicopters escorting the ground-extraction convoy take heavy fire, while Eversmann's Chalk Four is dropped a block away by mistake. Blackburn is severely injured when he falls from one of the Black Hawk helicopters, so three Humvees led by SSG Jeff Struecker are detached from the convoy to return Blackburn to the UN-held Mogadishu Airport.

SGT Dominick Pilla is shot and killed just as Struecker's column departs, and shortly thereafter Black Hawk Super Six-One, piloted by CWO Clifton "Elvis" Wolcott crashes when shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. Both pilots are killed, the two crew chiefs are wounded, and one Delta Force sniper on board escapes in another helicopter.

The ground forces are rerouted to converge on the crash site. The Somali militia erects roadblocks, and LTC Danny McKnight's Humvee column is unable to reach the crash area while sustaining heavy casualties. Meanwhile, two Ranger Chalks, including Eversmann's unit, reach Super-Six One's crash site and set up a defensive perimeter to await evacuation with the two wounded men and the fallen pilots. In the interim, Super Six-Four, piloted by CWO Michael Durant, is also shot down by an RPG and crashes several blocks away.

With CPT Mike Steele's Rangers pinned down and sustaining heavy casualties, no ground forces can reach Super Six-Four 's crash site nor reinforce the Rangers defending Super Six-One. Two Delta Force snipers, SFC Randy Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon are inserted by helicopter to Super Six-Four 's crash site, where they find Durant still alive. The site is eventually overrun, Gordon and Shughart are killed, and Durant is captured by Aidid's militia.

McKnight's column relinquish their attempt to reach Six-One's crash site and return to base with their prisoners and the casualties. The men prepare to go back to extract the Rangers and the fallen pilots, and MG Garrison sends LTC Joe Cribbs to ask for reinforcements from the 10th Mountain Division, including Malaysian and Pakistani armored units.

As night falls, Aidid's militia launch a sustained assault on the trapped Americans at Super Six-One's crash site. The militants are held off throughout the night by strafing runs and rocket attacks from AH-6J Little Bird helicopter gunships, until the 10th Mountain Division's relief column is able to reach and save the American soldiers. The wounded and casualties are evacuated in the vehicles, but a few of Rangers and Delta Force soldiers are forced to run from the crash site back to the Pakistani Compound UN Safe Zone.

75th Rangers

 * Josh Hartnett as SSG Matt Eversmann
 * Ewan McGregor as SPC John "Grimesey" Grimes
 * Tom Sizemore as LTC Danny McKnight
 * Ewen Bremner as SPC Shawn Nelson
 * Gabriel Casseus as SPC Mike Kurth
 * Hugh Dancy as SFC Kurt "Doc" Schmid
 * Ioan Gruffudd as LT John Beales
 * Tom Guiry as SSG Ed Yurek
 * Charlie Hofheimer as CPL Jamie Smith
 * Danny Hoch as SGT Dominick Pilla
 * Jason Isaacs as CPT Mike Steele
 * Brendan Sexton III as PVT Richard "Alphabet" Kowalewski
 * Brian Van Holt as SSG Jeff Struecker
 * Ian Virgo as PVT John Waddell
 * Tom Hardy as SPC Lance Twombly
 * Gregory Sporleder as SGT Scott Galentine
 * Carmine Giovinazzo as SGT Mike Goodale
 * Chris Beetem as SGT Casey Joyce
 * Matthew Marsden as SPC Dale Sizemore
 * Orlando Bloom as PFC Todd Blackburn
 * Enrique Murciano as SGT Lorenzo Ruiz
 * Michael Roof as PVT John Maddox

Delta Force

 * Sam Shepard as MG William F. Garrison
 * Eric Bana as SFC Norm "Hoot" Gibson
 * William Fichtner as SFC Jeff Sanderson
 * Kim Coates as MSG Chris Wex
 * Steven Ford as LTC Joe Cribbs
 * Željko Ivanek as LTC Gary Harrell
 * Johnny Strong as SFC Randy Shughart
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as MSG Gary Gordon
 * Richard Tyson as SSG Daniel Busch

Night Stalkers

 * Ron Eldard as CW4 Michael Durant
 * Glenn Morshower as LTC Tom Matthews
 * Jeremy Piven as CWO Clifton Wolcott
 * Boyd Kestner as CW3 Mike Goffena

Miscellaneous

 * George Harris as Osman Atto
 * Razaaq Adoti as Yousuf Dahir Mo'alim
 * Treva Etienne as Firimbi
 * Ty Burrell as United States Air Force Pararescue Timothy A Wilkinson

Other Languages

 * Black Hawk Down/Other Languages

Media Release

 * Black Hawk Down is released on video and DVD June 11, 2002.

Aspect Ratios

 * 2.35:1 (CinemaScope)
 * 1.85:1/1.33:1 (Full Open Matte)

DVD Main Menu

 * Play Movie
 * Scene Index
 * Bonus Features
 * Audio and Setup
 * Commentary with Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer
 * The Making of Black Hawk Down
 * English
 * French
 * French (Canada)
 * Spanish (Latin)
 * Portuguese (Brazil)
 * Danish
 * Norwegian
 * Swedish
 * Finnish
 * Greek
 * Hebrew
 * Hungarian
 * Icelandic
 * Italian
 * Japanese
 * Polish
 * Bulgarian
 * Croatian
 * Czech
 * Slovak
 * Arabic (Egypt)
 * Serbian
 * Romanian
 * Russian
 * Estonian

Previews

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Trailer (In Theaters November 15)
 * XXX Trailer (In Theaters August 9)
 * Inspector Gadget 2 Teaser Trailer (Spring 2003)
 * Treasure Planet Trailer (In Theaters November 27)
 * Black Hawk Down: Motion Picture Soundtrack Commercial

Quotes

 * Black Hawk Down/Quotes

Outtakes

 * Black Hawk Down/Outtakes