Courage Under Fire is a 1996 American war-drama film directed by Edward Zwick, starring Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Matt Damon, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bronson Pinchot and Michael Moriarty.
Plot[]
The film is about a US army officer (Denzel Washington) who works to determine whether a female chopper commander (Meg Ryan) (who died in a tragic accident) deserves the Medal of Honor for combat.
Cast[]
- Denzel Washington as Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling
- Meg Ryan as Captain Karen Emma Walden
- Lou Diamond Phillips as Staff Sergeant John Monfriez
- Matt Damon as Specialist Andrew Ilario
- Bronson Pinchot as Bruno, a White House aide
- Seth Gilliam as Sergeant Steven Altameyer
- Regina Taylor as Meredith Serling
- Michael Moriarty as Brigadier General Hershberg
- Željko Ivanek as Captain Ben Banacek
- Scott Glenn as Tony Gartner, a Washington Post reporter
- Tim Guinee as Warrant Officer One A. Rady
- Tim Ransom as Captain Boylar
- Sean Astin as Sergeant Patella
- Ned Vaughn as First Lieutenant Chelli
- Sean Patrick Thomas as Sergeant Thompson
- Manny Perez as Jenkins
- Ken Jenkins as Joel Walden
- Kathleen Widdoes as Geraldine Walden
- Christina Stojanovich as Anne Marie Walden
- Tom Schanley as Questioner
Production[]
Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks were considered for the lead role of Nathan Serling.
When Denzel Washington was first approached with the script, his immediate thought was to contact Edward Zwick to direct. Denzel had previously worked with Zwick on the 1989 film "Glory".
To prepare for his part in the film, Denzel met with two combat veterans from the Gulf War to ask about their experiences there and any particular memories that had stuck with them since the war. He also visited with B 1-12 CAV at Fort Hood to prepare for his role LTC Nate Serling. The dip that he puts in while giving his OPORD in the opening sequence is a tribute to the time he spent with B 1-12.
For his role of Andrew Ilario in the film, Matt Damon lost 40 pounds, going on an extreme diet and running 13 miles a day. It took him about 2 years to get his body back to his normal shape.
In some of the background scenes in the training camp, cadets from Texas A&M University were used as extras in the film.
The tanks in the film are British Centurions with sheet metal added to make them look like M1A1 Abrams tanks; they were shipped from Australia when the US Department of Defense withdrew their cooperation.
Filming locations[]
"Courage Under Fire" was filmed from October 16, 1995 to January 31, 1996. The filming locations took place in Texas, California and Connecticut.
The train\car head-on crash was filmed in Bertram, Texas. Other filming locations took place at the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California, the Gary Job Corps Center in San Marcos, Texas and the Southwest Grounds at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas.
Box office performance[]
"Courage Under Fire" debuted at #3 at the box office, grossing $12,501,586 during its opening weekend. Worldwide, it grossed $100,860,818.
Critical reception[]
The film received mostly positive reviews.
As of January 14, 2013, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 85% of critics gave the film a positive review based upon a sample of 53 reviews with an average rating of 7.3/10.
The critical consensus states that the film is "an emotional and intriguing tale of a military officer who must review the merits of a fallen officer while confronting his own war demons. Effectively depicts the terrors of war as well as its heartbreaking aftermath."
On Metacritic (which utilizes a normalized rating system), the film earned a generally favorable rating of 77/100 based on 19 mainstream critic reviews.
The movie was commended by several critics. James Berardinelli of the website ReelReviews wrote that the film was, “As profound and intelligent as it is moving, and that makes this memorable motion picture one of 1996's best.”
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times spoke positively of the film saying that while the ending “…lays on the emotion a little heavily” the movie had been up until that point “…a fascinating emotional and logistical puzzle—almost a courtroom movie, with the desert as the courtroom.”
Denzel Washington’s acting was specifically lauded as Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, “In Washington's haunted eyes, in the stunning cinematography of Roger Deakins (Fargo) that plunges into the mad flare of combat, in the plot that deftly turns a whodunit into a meditation on character and in Zwick's persistent questioning of authority, Courage Under Fire honors its subject and its audience.”
Additionally Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle said that, “Denzel Washington is riveting.”
Accolades[]
1997 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
- Top Box Office Films: James Horner (won)
1997 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
- Favorite Supporting Actor - Adventure/Drama: Lou Diamond Phillips (won)
1996 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
- Best Actor: Denzel Washington (2nd place)
1997 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
- Best Actor: Denzel Washington (nominated)
1997 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards
- Best Picture (nominated)
1997 Image Awards
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture: Denzel Washington (won)
- Outstanding Motion Picture (nominated)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Regina Taylor (nominated)
1997 Lone Star Film & Television Awards
- Best Film (won)
- Best Actor: Denzel Washington (won)
- Best Supporting Actor: Lou Diamond Phillips (won)
- Best Director: Edward Zwick (won)
- Best Screenplay: Patrick Sheane Duncan (won; tied with Robert Harling for "The Evening Star")
1997 Online Film & Television Association
- Best Drama Actor: Denzel Washington (nominated)
1997 Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards
- Best Actor: Denzel Washington (won)
- Best Picture (10th place)
Theatrical Trailer[]
Trivia[]
- In order to lose the required amount of weight for the present-day scenes, Matt Damon went on a strict regimen of food deprivation and physical training. This caused his health to become so frail that he was put on medical supervision for several months after the shoot. However, his efforts didn't go unnoticed: director Francis Ford Coppola was so impressed by Damon's display of method acting that he offered him the leading role in The Rainmaker (1997). While making Good Will Hunting (1997), after regaining his healthy weight, Damon met Steven Spielberg (who was then casting Saving Private Ryan (1998)). Spielberg told Damon that he had loved his performance in this movie and had wanted to hire him to play Private Ryan, but was afraid that Damon was too skinny. Once Spielberg saw Damon at his normal weight, he hired him for Ryan.
- In an October 2009 interview, Bronson Pinchot said that Denzel Washington was verbally abusive to him and others on the set, for the sake of "staying in character".
- In actuality, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker is the only female to be awarded the Medal of Honor for her services as a surgeon during the Civil War.
- Matt Damon lost forty pounds for his role in the movie.
- Matt Damon not only went on an extreme diet, he would also run twelve miles a day, drinking four to six pots of coffee to muster up the energy. His extreme dieting went to the point where he had to had to wash his mouth every time his girlfriend kissed him, because he could taste what she had been eating. Director Edward Zwick got so scared by Damon's emaciated appearance that he ordered the actor to start eating again, but Damon refused. Unfortunately for him, as he was not an established star at the time, he had to do all of this under his own steam, without the help of a nutritionist. After filming was done, Damon was diagnosed with deregulated blood sugar, which required medication. It would take Damon a good two years to get his body back to normal.
- To prepare for his part in the film, Denzel Washington met with two combat veterans from the Gulf War, to ask about their experiences there, and any particular memories that had stuck with them since the war.
- When Denzel Washington was first approached with the script, his immediate thought was to contact Edward Zwick to direct. Washington had worked with Zwick on Glory (1989) to Oscar-winning effect.
- The tanks are British Centurions, with sheet metal added to make them look like M1A1 Abrams tanks; they were shipped from Australia when the U.S. Department of Defense withdrew their cooperation.
- The patch on Sterling's shoulder is referring to the U.S. Army 2nd Cavalry. The motto in french "toujours prêt" means "Always Ready" and the fleur-de-lis is related to the fact that they fought in France during both World Wars.
- The basic concept of the movie is borrowed from Rashomon (1950).
- The Iraqi battle scenes were filmed at the Indian Cliffs Ranch, located just outside of El Paso, Texas. Many of the props were left there, and became a tourist attraction.
- The unit portrayed in the movie, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Serling, is the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR). The Regiment was comprised of heavy tanks (M1A1) and fighting vehicles (Bradley FV M3). The unit as such no longer exists. It is now known as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Stryker) which fights as an infantry (non-tanks) unit.
- After LTC Serling gets back in his tank following his pre-battle talk and prayer, he orders, "Battle carry Sabot" and his loader replies, "Silver Bullet coming up!" "Silver Bullet" was a nickname for the 120mm Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding-Sabot anti-tank round for the main gun of the M1A1 Abrams tank. "Sabot" is from a French word meaning "shoe" and was a hold-over from old artillery terminology. The armor piercing part of the round, with a depleted uranium core, is smaller than the gun bore, so it is held in the bore by a "sabot" of three aluminum petals that peel away after the round leaves the muzzle, and only the subcaliber armor-piercing penetrator travels to the target.
- The crew drill while firing at enemy targets in the film is generally accurate, although it breaks down during the heat of the battle. The tank commander (TC) orders "Crew Report," after which each of the four crew members identifies himself and responds "Ready." When a target is sighted the TC orders (for example - it can vary) "Gunner--Sabot--Tank," which notifies the gunner that he is to fire at a tank, and notifies the loader to load a Sabot round (armor-piercing anti-tank), if one is not already loaded. The gunner replies, "Identified," which means he has acquired the target and can take it under fire, and the loader replies, "Up," meaning the main gun is loaded with the proper round and is ready to fire. The TC orders "Fire!" and the gunner, after using the laser rangefinder to get the range to the target and making final sight adjustments, says "On the way!" and pulls the trigger ("laze and blaze," as gunner Patella says in the film).
- In some of the background scenes in the training camp, cadets from Texas A&M University were used as extras.
- The White House rose garden set was destroyed twice: once by a tornado, and once by a sandstorm.
- Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks were considered for the role of Nathan Serling.
- Denzel Washington and Scott Glenn appeared in Training Day (2001). They also played the same role in different versions of the same story; Glenn in Man on Fire (1987) and Washington in Man on Fire (2004).
- Lt. Colonel Nat Serling (Washington) wears the Ranger Tab on his uniforms' sleeves, meaning he graduated from the U.S. Army Ranger School before becoming a tank commander. Staff Sergeant Monfriez (Diamond Phillips) also wears the Ranger Tab and is shown as a drill instructor at the Army Ranger School where Serling first meets him. Neither of them acknowledges their shared brotherhood of the Ranger Creed with each other throughout the film.
- Courage Under Fire is one of three collaborations between Denzel Washington and Edward Zwick. Previously, Zwick directed Washington in 1989's Glory and would again in 1998's The Siege.
- Lieutenant Colonel Nat Serling's "fruit salad" (military slang for medals worn on uniform's chest) include the Silver Star and two Meritorious Service Medals.
- Steve Zahn auditioned for the role of Specialist Ilario.
- This was the first movie produced by Fox 2000 Pictures to be released in theatres.
- Denzel Washington visited with B 1-12 CAV at Fort Hood, to prepare for his role of Lieutenant Colonel Nate Serling. The dip he puts in, while giving his OPORD in the opening sequence, is a tribute to the time he spent with B 1-12.
- Castmates Scott Glenn and Diane Baker had both five years earlier been in the cast of The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
- At 05:34, after LTC Serling orders CPT Boylar to move his unit to the right, as the tanks begin to turn you can see an M1A1 tank with the insignia of the World War 2 German 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" on the right turret front (this is not the tape from mounting Combat Identification Panels or MILES).
- English critic Mark Kermode cited this film's casting of Meg Ryan as a helicopter pilot as the benchmark for a casting decision so ludicrous that it takes the viewer out of the film.
- Lt. Colonel Nat Serling's (Washington) military decorations include the Silver Star and Meritorious Service Medal. These awards are prominently shown on his chest when he wears his Army Class -A and formal dress uniforms.
- At least one of the Centurion-based M1A1 Abrams tank mock-ups, used during the 'Al-Bathra' battle scene in the film, was re-used in Cradle 2 the Grave (2003).
- Denzel Washington and Lou Diamond Phillips share one thing in common: in their careers they have both played cops who pursued and were tormented by a supernatural enemy. Washington would play one in 1998's Fallen and Phillips back in 1990's The First Power.
- In the scene where Sterling is packing to begin his trip to investigate the Medal of Honor, there is a picture on the bedroom wall of the Watts Towers in Los Angels, CA. These towers were also the stage for the final climactic scene of another Denzel Washington movie, Ricochet (1991).
- In 2021 during Household Faces Podcast, Néstor Carbonell stated he was one of the final actors in the audition process for the role on Monfriez along with Lou Diamond Phillips.
- Bronson Pinchot co-starred in the sitcom, Perfect Strangers (1986-1993). The show had 100 episodes directed by Joel Zwick, who shares the same name as Courage Under Fire director, Edward Zwick. The two directors, however, are not related.