Missing in Action is a 1984 American action film directed by Joseph Zito and starring Chuck Norris.
Through his contact with Norris, Van Damme landed a small stunt man/extra role in the movie.
Plot[]
Colonel James Braddock is a US military officer who spent seven years in a North Vietnamese POW camp, which he escaped 10 years ago. After the war, Braddock accompanies a government investigation team that travels to Ho Chi Minh City to investigate reports of US soldiers still held prisoner. Braddock obtains the evidence then travels to Thailand, where he meets Tuck, an old Army friend turned black market kingpin. Together, they launch a mission deep into the jungle to free the US POW's from General Tran.
Cast[]
- Chuck Norris as Colonel James Braddock
- M. Emmet Walsh as Jack "Tuck" Tucker
- David Tress as Senator Maxwell Porter
- Lenore Kasdorf as Ann Fitzgerald
- Ernie Ortega as General Vinh
- James Hong as General Tran
- Augusto Victa as General Yung
- Pierrino Mascarino as Jacques
- Erich Anderson as Masucci (as E. Erich Anderson)
- Joseph Carberry as Carter
- Avi Kleinberger as Dalton
- Willie Williams as Randall
- Bella Flores as Madame Pearl
- Jean-Claude Van Damme as An Extra Soldier
Release[]
The film was popular at the box office, one of the most successful ever made by Cannon. It earned over $10 million in rentals in the US and resulted in a profit to Cannon of $6.5 million on the basis of its US release alone.
Sequels[]
The film was followed by a prequel, Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), and a sequel, Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988).
Missing in Action 2 was filmed back to back with Missing in Action, and was actually set to be released first before the producers changed their minds.