[request] Help finding a war movie
[request] Help finding a war movie
I'm having trouble finding a movie I caught the ending of on cable TV once upon a time, and never saw again. Does anyone here recognize it?
Modern (~1990s) soldiers (the heroes) are pinned down. They rig explosives for some reason and use the radio to remote detonate them. Something goes wrong, and one of the soldiers takes a walkie talkie and walks towards the explosives, without any cover, to use it to force them to go off. He has to get very close to them. He gets shot repeatedly, and just before being fatally wounded, he yells "Blow!" And the explosives go off.
Additional information:
- On US cable in the mid to late 1990s
- Modern war film, with then-current tech (Desert Storm-era)
- Soldiers are outside in rocky/deserted terrain during the daytime in above the described scene
- walkie-talkie is a military-grade CB brick
- Soldier is a short, young guy who I've seen in a few other movies typecast as a low-ranking soldier or officer of some kind
I know this is a useless non-answer, but at least I can confirm that you're probably remembering correctly. Because that sounds very familiar, and I'm sure I've seen that movie.
Three kings?
No, not this one either.
One of my favorite Clooney movies, though.
I don't think this is it, but Battle: LA? One dude uses a radio to get the baddies attention then detonates himself or something.
Again, too new. About 15 years before that, at least.
(Good movie, though)
The Beast 1988? Haven't seen it but that's what Google seems to think.
Fail safe 1964?
The Beast (of War) is a good guess, but that's not it either. Another movie I'm going to have to check out later.
Definitely not the original Fail Safe.
I am not sure I have seen it, but 1990s war movie, with soldier pinned down, might it be Black Hawk Down?
That's not it. Black Hawk Down was released in 2001, the movie I'm trying to find was on cable in the 1990s.
I can only think of two serious war movies that would have been around in the 90's that weren't set in WW2 or Vietnam:
Sahara and NAVY Seals. (And I suppose Navy seals isn't a "war" movie exactly...)
The 3rd I know of is In The Army Now, and I know the scene you describe isn't in that one unless you're misremembering the airstrike scene at the end (it does sound pretty similar except for the guy being shot). 🤷🏻♂️
Sahara (1943) starring Humphrey Bogart, Sahara (1983) starring Brooke Shields, Sahara (1995) starring Jim Belushi, Sahara (2005) starring Matthew McConoughey, and Sahara (2017) starring Omar Sy are all not it. :P
Doesn't seem like Navy Seals is it, either. Also, when I say "war," I mean there's military action, I don't know if the movie was about a proper war or if they were just fighting an aggressor.
I had to find a copy of In the Army Now to confirm that movie wasn't it. Like Courage Under Fire, it has the same story beats but it is (thankfully) not the right movie. Would have been upset if I had to sit through another Pauly Shore film.
Pretty sure the movie I saw all those years ago was a drama, not a comedy.
OP did you ever figure it out?
Not yet, unfortunately. Any ideas?
Chat GPT:
It sounds like you're describing a scene from the 1994 film "Clear and Present Danger." In the movie, there's a scene where soldiers are pinned down and use explosives rigged to a radio detonator. When the detonator malfunctions, one soldier sacrifices himself by walking towards the explosives with a walkie-talkie to manually trigger them. The film is set during the modern era with then-current military technology, and it features rocky/deserted terrain. The actor you're referring to might be Raymond Cruz, who played Domingo "Ding" Chavez in the film.
Can't find that scene...
2nd try, same prompt:
The movie you're describing sounds like "Courage Under Fire," a 1996 war film directed by Edward Zwick. In the movie, Denzel Washington plays Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling, investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Captain Karen Walden, played by Meg Ryan. One of the soldiers involved in the incident you described is portrayed by Matt Damon, who fits the description of a short, young soldier. The scene you mentioned occurs during a flashback sequence in the movie.
Can't find that scene either...
Clear and Present Danger is a hilarious guess, definitely not that one.
Courage Under Fire was a movie I had originally dismissed, but had to check again. The final fight scene in that movie looks almost EXACTLY like I remember the movie on TV... but it still isn't the right movie.
It is entirely possible the movie I'm thinking of filmed in that exact same location. The place looks exactly right, but I know my movie didn't kill Meg Ryan.
"SHEEEEE'S DEEEEEAAAAADDD!!" :P
The final fight scene in that movie looks almost EXACTLY like I remember the movie on TV… but it still isn’t the right movie.
It is entirely possible the movie I’m thinking of filmed in that exact same location. The place looks exactly right, but I know my movie didn’t kill Meg Ryan.It is also entirely possible, after 30 years, that your memory of a movie you just watched a few minutes of is wrong about the details. Or that you're mixing memories from different movies.
I asked ChatGPT for movies similar to those, released in the early 90s:
A Few Good Men (1992) - Directed by Rob Reiner, this legal drama stars Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson and revolves around a court-martial case.
The Hunt for Red October (1990) - Based on Tom Clancy's novel, this thriller follows a CIA analyst as he tries to determine the intentions of a Soviet submarine captain.
Crimson Tide (1995) - Starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman, this film is about a power struggle aboard a nuclear submarine.
Patriot Games (1992) - Another Tom Clancy adaptation, this film stars Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan dealing with IRA terrorists.
Executive Decision (1996) - This action thriller stars Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal and involves a team trying to stop terrorists on board a hijacked plane.
The "guy sacrifices himself to detonate the explosives" is such a common trope it could be damn near any action movie from the 80's or 90's lol
ChatGPT says it's "Courage Under Fire" from 1996, set in the gulf war, starring Matt Damon.
Butt cheeks