Missing in Action (film)

Missing in Action
Theatrical release poster by Stan Watts[1]
Directed byJoseph Zito
Screenplay byJames Bruner
Story by
Produced byMenahem Golan
Yoram Globus
Starring
CinematographyJoão Fernandes
Edited byJoel Goodman
Daniel Loewenthal
Music byJay Chattaway
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • November 16, 1984 (1984-11-16)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Vietnamese
Budget$1.5 million[2] or $3 million[3]
Box office$22,812,411[4]

Missing in Action is a 1984 American action film directed by Joseph Zito and starring Chuck Norris. It is set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. Colonel Braddock, who escaped a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp ten years earlier, returns to Vietnam to find American soldiers listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War. The film was followed by a prequel, Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), and a sequel, Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988). The first two Missing in Action installments had been filmed back-to-back with the intent to have the first film involve the POW years of Braddock (as directed by Lance Hool) be the first film. However, it was determined that the commercial prospects were stronger with the film directed by Zito involving the POW rescue. As such, Hool's film was turned into Missing in Action 2 and labeled as a prequel that detailed events before those in Missing in Action.

It is the first of a series of films themed around the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue that were produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus and released under their Cannon Films banner, with whom Norris would have a long professional relationship. Norris later dedicated these films to his younger brother Wieland. Wieland, a private in the 101st Airborne Division, had been killed in June 1970 in Vietnam while on patrol in the defense of Firebase Ripcord.[5] The film, however, was criticized heavily as being a preemptive cash-in on the Rambo franchise, with both the first and second Missing in Action films being released just months before the second Rambo film.[6][7]

Despite the overwhelmingly negative reception from critics, the film was a commercial success and has become one of Chuck Norris's most popular films. It was also Chuck Norris's first film with The Cannon Group.

  1. ^ "Missing in Action / One sheet / Teaser / USA".
  2. ^ Andrew Yule, Hollywood a Go-Go: The True Story of the Cannon Film Empire, Sphere Books, 1987 p58
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference lance was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Missing in Action, Box Office Information". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
  5. ^ "PFC Wieland Clyde Norris". The Virtual Wall.
  6. ^ "War Movie Mondays, Missing in Action Movie Review". The Flick Cast. 16 May 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  7. ^ "Box Office Flashback, December 10, 1984". Pop Dose: Pop Culture News, Reviews and Discussion. 10 December 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2012.