The Hanoi Hilton
Cannon Film Distributors | Release Date: March 27, 1987 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
4
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
EmpireWilliam Thomas
This uneven but well-researched film takes a much more sober and realistic view than the Rambo-esque capers, of the hardships endured by shot-down Americans in conditions that were anything but Hilton-like. Read full review
50
The New York TimesVincent Canby
An earnest but clumsy tribute to the heroism of the American servicemen - mostly officers - who were captured and held prisoner by North Vietnam during the long, desperate undeclared war we now refer to simply as Vietnam. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneDave Kehr
The film's didactic passages cancel out its dramatic integrity, and the results are strangely neutral and unmoving. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
This film is really blatant right-wing propaganda loaded with a stunning amount of racial and political stereotypes. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldBill Cosford
Chetwynd's design, to show the POW plight in terms as dreary as its reality, works against the movie at almost every point. [20 May 1987, p.D8]
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Chetwynd fumbles the job badly. [2 May 1987]
30
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
The Hanoi Hilton is a lame attempt by writer-director Lionel Chetwynd to tell the story of US prisoners in Hoa Lo Prison, in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Pic is a slanted view of traditional prison camp sagas, injecting lots of hindsight and taking right-wing potshots that do a disservice to the very human drama of the subject. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Lionel Chetwynd has achieved the impossible -- making a Vietnam prison torture movie dull. And although his sympathy for Americans missing in action seems genuine and laudable, the film liberal-bashes so heavyhandedly it's enough to make Nixon cry "Fonda." Read full review
20
Washington PostRita Kempley
Dull and unimaginative, Chetwynd treats his characters with such reverence that they might as well be saints in striped prison pajamas, martyred for the sake of some robotic patriotism. At least, his villains stand out from the host of underdeveloped heroes. Boob journalists, a doofus peacenik actress and a Cuban goon -- Michael Russo, who seems to think he's playing a pimp on "Miami Vice" -- add the unintentional comic relief. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesMichael Wilmington
It's just another failed movie: a loud, shallow fiasco that leaves you feeling used. Read full review
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