Missing in Action 1984

California, Present Day.

Awaking from a nightmare, retired Colonel James Braddock (Chuck Norris) is preoccupied with memories of his experiences during the Vietnam War. After being captured, he was imprisoned in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war (POW) camp and remained in enemy hands even after the conflict ended. The U.S. government classified him as MIA (Missing in Action), until he was able to escape after seven years and return home to the United States. Believing MIA soldiers are still held captive in communist Vietnam, Braddock crusades on their behalf, but is unable to provide any evidence for his claims.

At the request of the U.S. government, Braddock returns to Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City in the communist People’s Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to participate on an investigative committee about the missing soldiers which is led by Senator Maxwell Porter (David Tress). Upon arrival, Braddock recognizes Colonel Vinh (Ernie Ortega), the ruthless North Vietnamese officer who tortured Braddock at the POW camp. General Tran (James Hong) leads the talks on behalf of his communist government, and presents false evidence that “heroic” Braddock actually committed war crimes, claiming the North Vietnamese imprisoned the American not as a POW, but as a “common criminal.”

Braddock sneaks into Tran’s compound that night to confront the general about the location of missing American soldiers. As Braddock points a knife at his throat, Tran mentions a camp in northern Vietnam, eight kilometers from the coast. Braddock fatally stabs the general when Tran tries to shoot him. Braddock then evades the Vietnamese guards and makes his way across the rooftops back to his room where Ann Fitzgerald (Lenore Kasdorf), a member of the American investigative committee, is waiting. Sympathetic to Braddock, Ann covers for him by climbing in his bed so when the Vietnamese soldiers enter the room and find Braddock and Ann in bed, she claims that he had been with her all night.

The next morning, after thanking Ann for helping him and bidding her goodbye, Braddock journeys to Bangkok, Thailand, to seek out and enlist the help of a former U.S. Army comrade named Jack Tucker, nicknamed “Tuck,” (M. Emmet Walsh) who now smuggles contraband along the Southeast Asia coast. After convincing Tuck to take him by boat to rescue MIA soldiers, Braddock buys weapons, a bullet-proof assault raft, and the services of a backup helicopter. Meanwhile, Colonel Vinh attempts to assassinate Braddock in Bangkok by sending agents after Braddock, but the American fights off his attackers, and quickly leaves for the mission with Tuck. Although Vinh follows Tuck’s boat and slips on board at night wielding an ax, Braddock gains the upper hand and kills his former captor.

Anchoring off the Vietnam coast, Braddock and Tuck disembark from the boat and navigate a river inland on the armored raft. Braddock leaves Tuck with the raft while he infiltrates the covert POW jungle camp. That night, Braddock launches a one-man attack against the enemy prison camp. Taking control of the camp after igniting a series of explosions, Braddock learns from a local prisoner that the American prisoners were taken away three hours earlier and are being transferred by truck along a riverfront road.

The next morning, Braddock and Tuck intercept the enemy convoy and rescue four American prisoners, but fighting continues as they confiscate a Jeep and make their way back toward the coast. As Braddock and the other Americans reach Tuck’s boat, a Vietnamese armed patrol boat appears. At the same time, Braddock’s backup helicopter arrives. Tuck fends off the patrol boat with a heavy machine gun long enough for Braddock and the POWs to climb safely into the hovering helicopter just before Tuck’s boat is destroyed. Braddock looks down at Tuck’s burning boat and sees that his friend was killed in the fight.

Back in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnamese officials issue final statements to Senator Porter and the rest of the U.S. investigative committee, as well as the local and foreign press, maintaining that there are no living American MIAs in Vietnam. Suddenly, the helicopter containing Braddock and the MIAs land outside the building in which Braddock barges into the conference room with the four rescued soldiers, exposing the Vietnamese treachery.