Gene Hackman is incapable of giving a bad performance, although he hasn't always worked on the best of films. This action tale is a case in point, as he brings an unusual psychological depth to the part of an embittered father leading a hand-picked platoon into Laos to find his son, reported missing in action ten years before in Vietnam. Joe Gayton's script wins no prizes for originality or political correctness and the direction of Ted Kotcheff only just passes muster, but co-producer John Milius knows how to put on a show.

A group of Vietnam War veterans re-unite to rescue one of their own left behind and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese.