This week’s pick is from the wonderful world of Cannon Pictures with the 1987 feature The Hanoi Hilton. It was directed by Lionel Chetwynd and tells the story of downed American airmen who suffered greatly at the hands of their North Vietnamese captors in the infamous Hoa Lo Prison.

The film stars Michael Moriarty (LCDR Williamson USN), Paul Le Mat (Capt. Earl Hubman USAF), David Soul (Major Oldham USMC), Lawrence Pressman (Col. Cathcart USAF), Doug Savant (Lt. Ashby USAF), Jeffrey Jones (Maj. Fischer, USA), Jesse Dabson (Seaman Rasmussen USN), and John Diehl (Capt. Murphy USAF).

The film opens in the fall of 1964 where U.S. warships are patrolling the waters off of North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin which is where the events leading up to the war happened. Michael Moriarty plays Cmdr. Williamson who is a Navy aviator who is being interviewed by the press who are trying to determine if American involvement in this police action is what’s needed.

Williamson declares that it is the duty of America to lend a hand to whomever requires its assistance and that they are there at the request of the South Vietnamese government, and at the request of President Lyndon Johnson. Williamson also adds that it is the right of all nations to determine their own existence, and that Communism must be stopped by all freedom loving peoples in the world.

This was what became known as the famous “domino theory” which stated that if one country in a hemisphere succumbed to Communism, others would fall along side it. That was one of the major arguments for American involvement in southeast Asia during this crucial time during the Cold War.

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