The Rescue opens on a U.S. military base in South Korea. Personnel receives word that a U.S. submarine has become disabled in international waters near North Korea. A team of four Navy SEALS travels to the underwater site of the sub, rescues the captain, and lays explosives. The captain is airlifted from the SEALS’ raft and taken to safety.
Shortly after, the SEALS’ raft is intercepted by a North Korean helicopter just as the explosives detonate, destroying the submarine. The SEALS are captured and placed in prison cells in a North Korean fortress. Back home on the base, the SEALS’ children watch news of their fathers’ trial. The North Korean government alleges that the SEALS were engaged in espionage. Under North Korean law, if they are found guilty, they could be executed.
Max (Marc Price), the son of Admiral Rothman (James Cromwell), is an electronics whiz. By planting homemade bugs, he learns that a rescue mission is being planned. He shares this information with his friends, Shawn Howard (Ned Vaughn) and Adrian Phillips (Christine Harnos), whose fathers were among the captured SEALS. An official meeting is scheduled to take place on the base. Max plants a listening bug in the conference room so that he, Shawn, and Adrian can listen in via radio.
In the meeting, a rescue mission is proposed, code-named “Operation Phoenix,” involving infiltration of the North Korean base to rescue the SEALS. However, unwilling to risk aggravation of North Korea and its allies, the Secretary of the State insists that the operation is out of the question. Shawn Howard gives a tape of the meeting to J.J. Merrill (Kevin Dillon), a rebellious teenager whose father was also on the captured SEAL team. J.J. proposes that they carry out the mission themselves. Shawn and Max secretly copy the operation plans, and J.J. says he can get a boat from someone in the city.
The Rescue is a 1988 adventure film about a group of teenagers who infiltrate a North Korean prison to rescue their Navy SEAL fathers. It was written by Michael J. Henderson, Jim Thomas, and John Thomas, produced by Laura Ziskin, and directed by Ferdinand Fairfax. The film stars Kevin Dillon, Ned Vaughn, Marc Price, Charles Haid, Christine Harnos, Ian Giatti, and James Cromwell.
The Rescue (1988)
Directed by: Ferdinand Fairfax
Starring: Kevin Dillon, Christine Harnos, Edward Albert, Ellen Barber, Anne E. Curry, James Cromwell, Wendy Gordon, Christine Harnos
Screenplay by: Jim Thomas, John Thomas
Production Design by: Maurice Cain
Cinematography by: Russell Boyd
Film Editing by: David Holden, Carroll Timothy O’Meara
Costume Design by: Mary Malin
Set Decoration by: Thomas L. Roysden
Music by: Bruce Broughton
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: August 5, 1988
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