Bat*21 is a 1988 American war film directed by Peter Markle, and adapted from the book by William C.. Anderson, novelist and retired United States Air Forcecolonel.Set during the Vietnam War, the film is a dramatization based upon the rescue of a U.S. signals intelligence expert shot down behind enemy lines in Vietnam. The film stars Gene Hackman and Danny Glover with Jerry Reed, David Marshall Grant, Clayton Rohner, Erich Anderson and Joe Dorsey in supporting roles.