*BLACK HAWK DOWN* Movie Reaction FIRST TIME WATCHING 

Unfortunately my Saving Private Ryan video got taken down by Paramount. If I re-edit it and post it, will u guys watch? WAR Playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLQHhQlj8i5dqK5zvtIR97dgZDbVfVVR23 2000's Playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLQHhQlj8i5dqjI_CP3V3I6H1EfHBseZcW

RIP SFC Randy Shughart and Master Sergeant Gary Gordon you went out fighting like LIONS!

RIP, Tom Sizemore, 1961-2023.

The Pakistani's and Malaysians were CRITICAL in saving American lives that day, the Malaysians were more than willing to put their lives on the line, and earned a place in our history that unfortunately very few people know about.

Sgt. Pilla, the first guy to be killed, was from Vineland, NJ, which is near where I grew up. A few years ago, a new school opened up but the school board was hesitant to name it after anyone. Sgt. Pilla’s sister led a successful campaign to name the school in his honor.

Something to note...MSG Gordon and SFC Shughart were awarded the Medal of Honor for going down voluntarily to defend Super 64.

They played AC/DC through the Helicopter loud speaker when Mike Durant was Captured and he said he heard it. They Army knew it was his favorite jam. Gave him a signal of hope

In a retrospective documentary about the battle of Mogadishu, on of the former Rangers said "We're RUNNING out of Mogadishu? What a great idea! I could have done that last night!" instead of staying put all night getting shot at waiting for armored vehicles that didn't have enough room for them to ride out. Speaking of not enough room, one of the officers got the last space in a vehicle and saw a terrified young soldier run up to the vehicle only to be told there was no room for him. Seeing how frightened and desperate the soldier was, the officer got out of the vehicle and let him take his place. The soldier later said that that officer's actions are what convinced him to re-enlist.

You always hear soldiers who did something very brave say that they weren't brave - that in the heat of the moment, they weren't thinking about the danger and that it was just instinct, reflex or their training kicking in. Shughart and Gordon had a very clear bird's eye view of what they were getting into, plenty of time to think it about it, and even had orders to stay aloft in their helicopter and do what they could from the air yet they still requested permission to be put down on the ground to protect the crew of the downed helicopter, were refused twice, and persisted in asking a third time until they were given the go ahead. That's sobering.

Straight-up All Star cast: Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, Tom Hardy, Josh Harnett, William Fichtner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Sam Shepard, etc...

Tom Sizemore got some criticism for looking too calm while his character was under fire, but the real Danny McKnight forced himself to appear calm while the bullets were flying because he thought that if he showed fear, his inexperienced soldiers could start breaking down. This practice is actually a tradition among British officers like Thomas Pakenham who said ""Don't bother ducking, the men don't like it and it doesn't do any good" before he was killed in action at the Battle of Gallipoli. There's even a RU-vid video on the subject of British officers not ducking while under fire titled "British Officers Don't Duck?" On the flip side, when the real Gen. John Frost was an advisor on Richard Attenborough's highly recommended WW2 movie "A Bridge Too Far," criticized a scene showing Anthony Hopkins, who played Frost in the movie, ducking and weaving during a barrage, and Attenborough said they had to do the scene that way or audiences wouldn't believe it.

"Gordie's gone man, I'll be outside" makes me choke up everytime

Sizemore and Bana are titans in this movie. The way Bana says all that so casually in the end, not putting any Oscar-bait gravitas, just a dude completely immersed in the life he's living. Sizemore just has to show up.

I'm currently in therapy for PTSD (yup, 15 years after I got back from war) and my therapists asked me what I would like to change to let me know I'm making progress. I told her I want to be able to watch Black Hawk Down from beginning to end without having a panic attack. It's the most accurate modern warfare movie out there.

The aorta splits into the femoral arteries at abdominal level, so if a femoral artery is completely severed and goes onto a powerful spasm, it can retracted up into the pelvis. If that happens, you would have to cut into the lower abdomen and retract the intestines out of the way to get to the femoral artery to clamp or tie it off. That's how difficult a situation they were in when Jamie Smith was bleeding out.

Jen, I was fresh out of the US Army, post Desert Storm when this all went down. There are lots of political opinions about this, as well as rwanda, and Kosevo, and other 'minor' events the US was involved in during the mid 1990's. Anyway, 90% of the troops on the ground during this battle were highly trained 'elite' rangers, delta, and others. The book is good, but the documentary about this battle is exceptional, and shows where this movie takes liberties and dramatic license. Also, the soundtrack is amazing!

Air Force Pararescueman Tim Wilkinson who is depicted stabilizing and treating the crew chiefs of the first downed Black Hawk in the helicopter because they couldn't be moved received the Air Force Cross (the Air Force's second highest decoration for valor) for his lifesaving efforts in the Battle of Mogadishu. At one point, he had to run back and forth under fire between buildings to treat wounded soldiers and miraculously wasn't hit once. One of the Rangers, who was amazed after seeing this, said "God must really love medics," and other joked that Wilkinson was such a slow runner that the Somalis were over estimating how much to lead their shots (you "lead," i.e. fire ahead of, a moving target so that your bullets and the target reach the same place at the same time).

There's a YT channel called The Operations Room that makes detailed map animations of famous battles, and they put together a two part series covering this battle.

"Firimbi," the Somali who guarded Mike Durant while he was held captive, protected him from other militia members who wanted to harm the American and had a lot of conversations with Durant trying to get him to sympathize with his militia. He even invited Durant to visit him in Somalia after Durant was released.

"Skinnies" was a reference to the Robert A. Heinlein novel, "Starship Troopers", which was particularly popular among the American soldiers in Somalia at the time. Skinnies referred to an extra-terrestrial race that, in the story, was initially brainwashed by another extra-terrestrial race which were enemies to the humans, but became close allies of the humans later on. This part of the novel bore similarities to the relationships between the Americans & many of the Somali tribes (like those who were cheering the Rangers during what came to be known as the "Mogadishu Mile" or "Mog Mile" as they were ran to return to the UN base at the stadium near the end of the film) who were largely enemies of Aidid but were also, understandably, weary of the Americans at first as well, but came to trust & appreciate the Americans over time. They also chose to use "Skinnies" because it served as an apt reference to how Somalia seemed like an entirely different world to the Americans when they first arrived there.

4:44 The Jerk (1979), staring Steve Martin. You absolutely should watch it. 🤣

The book "Black Hawk Down" is a really great read.

Your mind will be blown whe you realize tha Lucias Malfoy, Obi Wan, Legolas, Bane, The Hulk, and Jamie Lanister all fought in Mogadishu.

Shuggart& Gordon 🖤🖤 Definition of heroism, sacrifice,& bravery.

Ewan McGregor and Orlando Bloom Obi Wan and Legolas in one scene Jen: recognizes the Jedi, but not the elb

“In the Company of Heroes” was written by Mike Durant, the chopper pilot, about his role in this and his captivity. Definitely worth a read.

The actual Strucker the Seargent in charge of the first humvee column that pulled out Blackburn, said in many interviews, that this event guided his career, he left the infantry and became a chaplain. He realized he could do more as a spirtual and moral leader than he could as a standard soldier. When he finished his training he came back to the rangers as their Chaplain... his interviews are a fantastic watch especially the one where he discusses this film and this event.

Another movie similar to this is "We Were Soldiers". It's about the first conflict the Americans and the North Vietnamese had in Vietnam. The American soldiers were transported onto the battlefield via helicopter, which posed severe logistical challenges. It was a few hundred American vs thousands upon thousands of Vietnamese. It's an intense movie, but is very well done in my opinion. I really liked your closing speech about how people in places that aren't torn by war need to take a step back and realize how good they have it. It is very true. People have lost touch.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about this story. Theres a podcast called The Shawn Ryan Show, and he had a "Delta" guy "Tom Satterly" on the show who was there. (EP.#77). Jeff Struecker (a Ranger) who was also there is great to listen to. Again, thank you for taking the time to learn about this story

The name of the Steve Martin movie they were watching is The Jerk and it is 100% worth watching.

I like to imagine there's a company out there that sells artisinal coiled headphone cords. Their production methodology is to ship boxes of new straight cords to Jen, and she uses each one for a single reaction, then ships it back.

One of my highschool teachers was a chopper pilot during this. He never spoke of it. We watched it with him in school. Such ana amazing man. He started to cry and we all surrounded him and told him how amazing he was. This has always stuck with me no matter how many times I've watched this movie.

Slawomir Idziak's cinematography is so ahead of its time

The book is more raw and graphic in its descriptions. The character Eric Bana played was actually a merge of three men in the book. This was done due to time constraints. I served with some of the guys from this incident (the actual soldiers, not the actors). The only reason I even know that is because one of them was willing to chat with me, and he pointed out the others who had been there. Despite anyone's curiosity, even if I did learn anything about this incident, I couldn't admit to it, so please, no questions. I do, though, have some rather juicy Intel about the General's retirement, and no one ever said it was classified info. Besides, if anyone tried to confirm anything with the General, he would have to admit to suffering acute amnesia. 😉

Helicopter answers. The engine(s) that drive the main rotor make the rest of the helicopter try to spin in the opposite direction. The tail rotor works like the propeller on an airplane and pushes the back of the helicopter to balance the force. To turn left or right, you use the foot pedals to adjust the angle of the blade in the tail rotor to increase or decrease the force. The tail is also shaped like an airplane wing, so if the helicopter is flying fast enough, the airfoil will keep it from spinning, but this doesn't have an control surfaces, to turning isn't really an option. If the tail rotor stops working at low speeds, the procedure is to kill the engine. This stops the force driving the main rotor, so the tail doesn't try to come around. The pilot still has some control but can't fly up or accelerate. It basically just lets it land in relative safety. It's called auto-rotation, and it's something all pilots have to know how to do. The same basic premise was used in an aircraft called an auto-gyro, which was an airplane that used a rotor instead of wings. "Little Nellie" in the Bond movie "You Only Live Twice" was a real aircraft of that type.

@ circa 3:42 That is the same actor who played the bad guy in the movie "Kindergarten Cop"

On the topic of the Somalis using human shields, in the book, one of the Rangers said he saw a Somali militiaman laying prone firing his AK while several women stood over him.

This movie had one of the most stacked casts. It was such an overwhelming experience in the theaters when it came out. I highly recommend the book. It touches on so much that the movie was just not able to touch on.

The Presidential administration at the time did not authorize the requested Spectre gun ships as they were afraid of the optics. Clearly, they were wrong…but hindsight is a bitch sometimes…

Yes, the book is worth reading.

The movie shows Dan Busch singlehandedly defending the first crash site (the crew chiefs were too badly wounded to even move, and the other Delta sniper dislocated his shoulder during the crash) and getting badly shot up until the Rangers arrived, and it shows him being evacuated in the Little Bird. Unfortunately, he later died of his wounds, and he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star (third highest decoration for valor) which I think was later upgraded. I would appreciate it if someone who knows for sure could confirm or deny.

At 36:47 when you say that's what they should have been doing the whole time: they were doing that the whole time. The Little Birds made tons of strafing runs all day. In the book one of the Rangers described the street after a strafing run had a pink mist hovering in the air and then after another said it looked like somebody had thrown a bunch of hamburger meat all over the place

Hussein Farrah Aidid the son of Mohamed Farrah Aidid was a U.S Marine at the same time this was all going on.

The biggest problem with "peacekeeping" missions is that the soldiers are often completely powerless to intervene in what's happening, making their presence essentially pointless. A great film to watch that shows how frustrating this is to the soldiers involved and a good one to watch being Canadian is "Shake Hands with the Devil". Based on the book of the same name.

My fave part is when the Delta Force guy decides to get some barbecue for his fellow soldiers by hunting that wild boar. That was very nice of him.

I remember 1993. Crystal Pepsi tasted like Pepsi.

They didn't tell anyone. No one outside of that command knew they had gone in until it was too late. There were other American forces over there, including special forces, that had no idea the Army had gone in until it was too late. I know this for a fact.

Some war films I think you would love is The Thin Red Line (1998) by Terrence Malick. Released same year as Saving Private Ryan so was overlooked by how much more of a contemplative poetic war film. The filmmaker is a poetic type that is more interested in the internalization of his characters than any spectacle or action (and the action is fantastic). And it also is scored by Zimmer and it features one of Hanz Zimmer’s all-time musical tracks (in my opinion and you’ll know it when you hear it). Another one is Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) by Clint Eastwood. It tells the Japanese perspective of the battle of Iwo Jima. It was shot alongside another Eastwood film, Flags of our Fathers, that told the American perspective of the battle and both serve as a fascinating dual contrast to viewing the pacific conflict by a mature thoughtful filmmaker.

-It's Obi Van! -No, it's Mark Renton :)

The thumbnail alone deserves a zillion LIKES so hopefully my like is the first of many 👍 only watched the full reaction Monday and that was brutal watching Logan rn and likewise that's brutal too and both these movies hit you hard Jen bless you 🤗 I'm looking forward to seeing how your editor put this one together 🔥

Eric Bana is in another must see film, Chopper.

Fascinating reaction to a well-made movie. Scott's focus on peiple doing their difficult jobs in (sometimes unexpectedly) dangerous situations/envronments is something he revisits (Alien, Blade Runner, Black Rain, White Squall, Prometheus).

"Are all the mission names just ladies names?" -Jen M. Funny thing is, Irene means "peace". Irony.

The political people in charge of the military at the time were responsible for the deaths of the military service personnel who they abandoned and left to die on the streets of Mogadishu. (19)

Wow! That was intense. Ridley Scott did a great job with this movie. The horror and consequences of conflict are on full display here.

"We got a Black Hawk down, we got a Black Hawk Down" will forever be one of the most iconic lines in movie history.

You should absolutely read the book!

So sorry you had to watch this. War is evil. Thank you for being so kind.

Just popping by to wish you all a fantastic premiere , have an awesome time and show Jen lots of love in the chat and please leave a LIKE , it really does help the channel a lot 👍Jen's not only the best she's the elephants eyelashes too 🔥💙

Jen, Some war films which I recommend are: "Dunkirk" 2017, "Bridge on The River Kwai" 1957, "The Dam Busters" 1955, "All Quiet on The Western Front" 1930 or 2022 versions, "Enemy at The Gates" 2001, "Hacksaw Ridge" 2016 I can't remember if you've reacted to this or not, "Letters from Iwo Jima" 2006, "Fury" 2014, "Their Finest" 2016, "1917" 2019, "Inglorious Bastereds" 2009, "Operation Crossbow" 1965, "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence" 1983, "Paths of Glory" 1957. There are many more but these are good ones to continue with.

this movie is based on a non-fictional book, that book is based on a real event, this actually happend, remember it when it was on the news this event.

Thank you for your incredible, insightful response to this film. Having fought in Viet Nam, I understand the hellish, chaotic nature of war, but it never ceases to stun me. You bring such an open and honest voice to the discussion and I am forever grateful for your powerful reactions. Thank you.

Mark Bowden's book is superb

The book is pretty good and it tells the story from both sides. It has a great deal more detail than the movie, which is condensed to the point of leaving a lot out, but the book also has some inaccuracies in it as well. Just one example: 10th Mountain at least knew they had gone in and were on the way. The route they had to take went around the outside of the city and was rather long. If they had tried to go through the city to reach the airport (10th Mountain was on the other side of the city) they would have been shot up. The the second convoy shown in the movie never made it near the Durant crash site. It drove into an ambush and was shot up. It ran into the main convoy on its way back, the main convoy was so shot up it was barely moving. At the airport they linked up with 10th Mountain, the to another location to meet up with the tanks and armored cars, when there was more delay.

3:18 You should definitely read the book. Lots more detail, including some perspective from the Somali side. 5:53 A common narrative device is that when a plan is stated in detail, something's going to go seriously wrong. You know things are going to go well when a characters says, "Here's what we'll do..." and then it skips right into the action. 10:32 Helicopter flight is great. :) Done it once: my first time in the air in any aircraft, after a year of playing around with helicopter flight simulators. 15:51 The standard procedure when one loses the tail rotor is to autorotate: flatten the rotor blades, which reduces torque and the need for a tail rotor, and "glide" down to a landing. This only really works if you're high and fast, though. Low and slow is bad. A landing technically can still be accomplished, but you need lots of space. 16:57 The book relates a case where one militant was lying prone on the ground, pointing his gun out from between two women's legs. Another had a few kids sitting on top of him. Human shields. Sometimes, warning shots or flashbang grenades would scare them away, leaving the militant in the open. I've no doubt that some of these shields got shot, though.

Good reaction Jen. Interesting fact, The so called "Mogadishu Mile" shown at the end of the film wasn't the way it was shown in the movie. In actuality, the solidiers walked, at a brisk pace, next to the Pakistani vehicles all the way back to the base a distance of about a mile hence the name. So that was the least accurate part of the movie. When I was in the Army I met an NCO, Staff Sergeant Gauna who had served in Mogadishu. He told the the movie was pretty accurate. This was during my first tour in Iraq. He was the only person I served with who also served in Mogadishu.

Someone please send Jenny a stress ball for movies like these 😄

When they say "Hua" = Heard Understood Acknowledged

People don’t know this but before Super 6-1 crashed the pilot pitched the front of the aircraft downwards taking the bulk of the damage to save the crew. Both pilots died in an attempt to make sure the crew survived

I read the book. It's way different than the movie of course. There were Navy Seal but they didn't put them in the movie. He was carrying a k-bar knife and was hit by a bullet, the knife deflected the bullet and he was trying to market the K-Bar knife he carried was bullet proof. Didn't worked. The ammo the US was using was not able to take the enemies out easily. One of them spread an enymy with a SAW and the man got up and limped away. It was horrified to the men the ammunition was not good.

The term 'Skinnies' actually had nothing to do with the famine or their appearance, but was a nickname from the movie Starship Troopers which was really popular at the time.

Good Reaction, Jen! Always good to watch your channel! Be well! If now one has told you the name of the book is "Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden. He also wrote another I'm surprised has been made into a movie "Getting Pablo Escobar" about the take down of Columbian Drug Chieftain Pablo Escobar. Another note: If you were a member of the press and asked about Delta Force the US Army would deny it's existence ... ask me how I know and I'll tell you so! Again be well my Canadian Lassie! Those badass pilots are part of a special ops rotor wing (Helicopter) Group called "The Night Stalkers" and they are the absolute best rotor wing pilots on the planet!

My favorite Ridley Scott movie is his first - THE DUELISTS starring Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine. It is about 2 rival soldiers during the Napoleonic War era.

I can't believe a Black Hawk helicopter went down, in a movie called "Black Hawk Down". On a serious note, as someone who works at a VA hospital, I am in awe and thankful for thoese who riskd everything for service to our countryl Even if they didn't go through something like this...they risked it. They are heros. I am grateful for their service.

What an unbelievably stacked cast, even once you get away from the main characters. Ty Burrell, Tom Hardy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jeremy Piven, Ioan Gruffudd, Kim Coates... So many of these guys would go on to be notable actors.

There's Casualties of war 1989 true story , Hamburger Hill 1987 true story , and Tunnel Rats true story film that was never supposed to be made but it was regardless in 2008 . That tells about one of the last outpost of America military in Vietnam . Also there's another good war movie about Bruce Willis that called Tears of the Sun 2003 .

The term "Skinnies" comes from the book Starship Troopers by Heinlein. In the book it's what the mobile infantry call a race of aliens. ST used to be required reading at West Point.

A chalk is a group of paratroopers or other soldiers that deploy from a single aircraft. A chalk often corresponds to a platoon-sized unit for air assault operations, or a company-minus-sized organization for airborne operations.

"No Plan Survives First Contact With the Enemy".

the run at the end was called "The Mogadishu Mile".

I love Grimes’ story throughout this. A guy who started off behind a desk volunteers and ends up being able to keep up with the Delta operators, the best of the best the US Army has to offer.

HUA - is an acronym essentially meaning Heard, Understood, & Acknowledged.

Love this movie. Hans Zimmer, a crazy good cast, beautiful cinematography, outstanding sets... and did I mention Hans Zimmer? I saw this on a freezing Saturday afternoon in January with my dad, and it was one of those perfect theater experiences. Any movie that has Phil Dunphy, Jamie Lannister, Obi Wan Kenobi, Mister Fantastic, The Hulk and Bane in it (among others) I'm going to go see.

25:32 One of the Rangers said that, while they were running to the safe zone, it made him sad to see that the little donkey was lying dead in the road still hitched up to its cart.

20:18 - The Little Bird pilot who jumps out and grabs injured Delta operator, Daniel Busch, is real-life Army pilot Keith Jones (CW4). He is playing himself in this scene and is re-enacting his rescue of Busch while updating Eversmann (Josh Hartnett) on the crash site.

Lots of great war films out there. I would suggest Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, We Were Soldiers, Danger Close, The Last Full Measure, 13 Hours, and Lone Survivor. A military film is Taking Chance.

Thank you for the reaction, the situation this movie is based on is etched into alot of folks even today

Hamburger Hill is an overlooked film as far as reactions.

When this movie came out there was a magazine article that the actual events were slightly different than the movie. Still a very intense watch in dramatic fashion. War is so dangerous and could always need the best prep.

A friend of mine who was in the Air Force met a couple of the guys who lived through this. When asked about the movie they all said it was pretty spot on.

I remember watching the news reports of them dragging the soldiers’ bodies through the streets. Check out “Heartbreak Ridge,” “Porkchop Hill,” “Kelly’s Heroes,” and “Battle: Los Angeles.”

The movie they are watching is "The Jerk" with Steve Martin ( great movie). The book is incredible, worth the read. The D- Boys ( Delta) are actually some of the most disciplined operators on the planet. 💔💔💔

Good reaction. You want more war movies? Band of brothers is one of the best but a mini series, also once were warriors, both are actual events and very close to the way it actually happened.

Great reaction Jen. Appreciate it.

The book is really good. This movie is a must see. Both Shughart and Gordon received the Medal of Honor posthumously for their bravery and sacrifice. We should never forget You need to watch Escape from Sobibor.

Their request for air support for the mission was denied. They asked for AC 130 gunships which would have probably made a huge difference. Google the gunship, it's insanely powerful.

A giant black cross on top of a low level white car might be a tad conspicuous 😂

Actually Jen, this movie was not based on a novel, it was based on an actual event that really did happen. BUT, this being only a feature-length movie (not to mention the nature of classified material being what it is), there was actually a lot more that happened that day than was featured in this movie itself. I know this because when I was in army boot camp, our drill sergeants told us a lot of what else happened during that failed operation; For one thing, it was not just army rangers and Delta Force that were in on that mission. EVERYBODY had their people in there going after that guy - The army Rangers, Delta Force, the CIA, and even a full blown U.S. Navy SEAL team went in there, all at the same time. LITERALLY EVERYBODY for our side had their operators in on that whole thing. The gang was all here on that one, as we still didn't get him that day. And, the names you saw listed at the end of the movie as far as who got wasted were just the names of the Army soldiers. Given that the movie didn't have room to feature eveny other U.S. entity that sent in guys (and the fact that some of that was even still classified at the time the movie was made), there were actually more of our guys who got killed than the movie shows. The rest, about the general retiring ONLY the day after they finally got that evil @$$#0Le for example, is also true. That general was not retiring without being able to say we nailed that guy's butt cheecks to a fence post (metaphircally speaking of course) once and for all. THAT IS A LEADER FOR YOU RIGHT THERE, JEN! And a leader of real men at that. Speaking for my fellow soldiers of the U.S. Army, past present and future, I say HOO-AH, BROTHERS! Thank you.

This reminded me of some of those older films where the entire cast is recognizable from other popular films or TV. I'll say it is also one of the films I will NOT put on to go to sleep - the constant gunfire throughout the movie will wake me. The only other films I have that problem with is the Lord of the Rings trilogy - not because the films themselves but the incredibly loud closing credit music - wakes me every time. Always remember no matter how much research is done or how many advisors are used, this IS a Hollywood movie and there will ALWAYS be things added or changed/left-out for effect. Otherwise it would be a docudrama.

I saw this in theaters on wide release opening weekend in January 2002. I remember reading something about Ridley Scott possibly delaying the film’s release in the wake of 9/11 as production was already completed, however the events actually helped the box office results out of patriotism in the US. I consider this and The Martian to be Scott’s best films released after Gladiator; overall in his filmography up there with Alien, Blade Runner, and Thelma & Louise.