Trivia for
Under Siege (1992)

photos

board

trailer

details

• The USS Alabama (BB60) Battleship museum in Mobile, Alabama, was used as the USS Missouri (BB63) in the movie.
  
  
• One of the biggest problems the production crew faced was how to give the illusion that the USS Alabama (USS Missouri in the movie) was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when in fact it was docked in Mobile Bay in Mobile, Alabama. To do this, the production crew created a 100-feet long barge and a 60-feet high framework on the barge, and hung a giant black cloth on the framework. The "blackout" barge was moved around the Alabama as necessary to block out city buildings and lights.
  
  
• Erika Eleniak, who plays Jordan Tate "Miss July 1989" actually was Playboy Playmate of the Month for July, 1989.
  
  

• Nine of the actors in this film, including Tommy Lee Jones, returned a year later to appear in the film The Fugitive (1993), also directed by Andrew Davis.
  
  
• At the time of its release, this movie was the highest grossing movie not to have been pre-screened for critics.
  
  
• The large turret weapon that is used to shoot down the American jet is a Phalanx CIWS, which combines radar and computer targetting with a 20mm armour piercing projectile to provide a short range defense system firing approximately 75 rounds per second. In the War Room, when the inventory of the Missouri is read out, they noted that the ship was carrying "40,000 rounds of Sea Whizz" which is an often-used reference to the CIWS, Close-In Weapon System. Because of the radar dome shape, the CIWS is sometimes referred to as an R2D2.
  
  
• Patrick O'Neal's final movie.
  
  
• The events in the movie take place in mid-to-late December 1991. The opening scenes mention that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had taken place 50 years earlier on December 7, 1941. In addition, President George Bush's real-life order to remove nuclear missiles from U.S. Navy surface ships was issued in 1991.
  
  
• Admiral Bates states that Ryback lead a SEAL team to take the airport in Panama and was the only survivor of the team. In one of the major blunders of the Panama invasion SEAL team 4 was sent to take the airport. In that mission 4 SEALs were killed and 8 were wounded. Generally, Army Rangers take airports but the Navy was unhappy with the amount of participation in the invasion so the SEALs were given the task.
  
  
• The narrator in the opening sequence is Don Marsh, a former KTVI/KDNL News anchor in St. Louis. He was doing a special series on the Missouri when he was noticed reading news copy. He was asked to narrate for the movie.
  
  

Related Links