Taking Chance is a 2009 American historical drama television film directed by Ross Katz, from a screenplay by U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel, Retired Michael Strobl and Katz, based on the journal of the same title kept by Strobl, who also served as military consultant. Kevin Bacon's portrayal won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie, among others.
Taking Chance premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 2009, and aired on HBO in the United States on February 21, 2009. The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. At the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, it earned ten nominations, such as Outstanding Television Movie and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Bacon, and won one for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie.
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Plot
The movie is based on the recollections of U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl. Strobl becomes self-reflective about his duties assigned to the task of the funeral arrangements for deceased soldiers in contrast to ambitions of active duty in warfare for which he joined the Corps. He decides that he will take the assignment of looking after the remains of Private First Class even though military protocol would normally assign an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) to such an assignment. He escorted the remains of fallen Marine Private First Class Chance Phelps (posthumously promoted to Lance Corporal) from Dover Air Force Base to Dubois, Wyoming.
Phelps was fatally wounded by gunfire on April 9, 2004 near Baghdad during the Iraq War at approximately 1:30 p.m. (Arabian Standard Time), which was presented by audio only at the beginning of the film. Immediately following the audio, two United States Marine Corps casualty assistance calls officers (Sergeant Burton and Major Mike Thompson) drive from Salt Lake City, Utah to Riverton, Wyoming during the late night and pre-dawn morning hours. Thompson and Burton arrive at the house of Phelps' mother to notify her and Phelps' stepfather at 2:00 a.m. (Mountain Standard Time) even though they are only seen walking in slow cadence up to and knocking on the front door. Strobl is first seen scanning the list of Iraq War casualties on the Department of Defense website, where he learns of Phelps' death and notices he previously resided in Strobl's hometown of Clifton, Colorado. This motivates Strobl to volunteer to escort Phelps from the Dover Air Force Base mortuary to his final resting place of Dubois Cemetery. Strobl attended both Phelps's funeral and his memorial service, meeting Major Thompson, as well as discovering that Phelps was an exceptional Marine and well-liked by his fellow Marines. After drinks at the local Veterans club, he confides to the ranking veteran in charge there that he harbors envy for the active duty that Phelps experienced in the field. The ranking veteran tells him to reconsider his words, and that the duty he performs for the grieving families is a high honor which he may have underestimated. Strobl reflects on the ranking veteran's words, meets Phelps' family (which includes Phelps' mother Gretchen Phelps Mack, father John Phelps, sister Navy Petty Officer Kelly Phelps, stepfather Jeff Mack, stepmother Chris Phelps, and Kelly's fiancé Army Sergeant Robert Ordoff) to return Phelps' personal items, fulfills his duty of managing the last remains of a fallen Marine, before he returns home to his wife Stacey, daughter Olivia, and son Nate. Finally, a tribute to Phelps is shown through pictures and videos of him prior to his tragic loss at the film's conclusion.
Strobl later wrote an essay about the entire experience, the emotions he felt, and the people he met. It was published in the blog Blackfive on April 23, 2004 and shared widely on the Internet.
Cast
Kevin Bacon as Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl
Nicholas Reese Art as Nate Strobl
Blanche Baker as Chris Phelps
Tom Bloom as Navy Chaplain
Guy Boyd as Gary Hargrove
James Castanien as Sergeant Robert Orndoff
Gordon Clapp as Capt. Tom Garrett
Mike Colter as Master Gunnery Sergeant Demetry
Henry Coy as Marine Driver
Joel de la Fuente as Ticketing Agent
Liza Colón-Zayás as Ticketing Agent
Ann Dowd as Gretchen Phelps Mack
Tate Ellington as A.V. Scott
Noah Fleiss as Army Sergeant
Julian Gamble as Jeff Mack
Tom Aldredge as Charlie Fitts
Enver Gjokaj as Corporal Arenz ('Sergeant' in film's dialogue)
Brendan Griffin as Major Mike Thompson
Adam Hayes as Dover Team Leader
Danny Hoch as TSA Agent
Ruby Jerins as Olivia Strobl
Tom Kemp as Business Man
Critical reception
Taking Chance received generally favorable reviews. On Metacritic it has a score of 76 out of 100 based on 16 reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 57% rating based on reviews from 7 critics.
One review from The Baltimore Sun, said that it "... is one of the most eloquent and socially conscious films the premium cable channel has ever presented," and USA Today, said "A small, almost perfectly realized gem of a movie, Taking Chance is also precisely the kind of movie that TV should be making." On the other end is Slant Magazine, saying "Instead of well-drawn characters or real human drama, we are presented with a military procedural on burial traditions. The film desperately wants the viewer to shed tears for its fallen hero without giving a single dramatic reason to do so."
The film was the most-watched HBO original in five years, with over two million viewers on the opening night, and more than 5.5 million on re-airings. Critics often attribute this success to its apolitical nature, not directly depicting nor offering an opinion of the Iraq War.
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote in his 2014 memoir Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War that the film had an "important impact" on his decision to allow the media access to the transfer of fallen service members at Dover Air Force Base in February 2009. During a White House press conference in 2017, former White House Chief of Staff and Retired Marine Corps General John F. Kelly, who was next to Chance when he was killed and is the father of First Lieutenant Robert Kelly who was killed in action in Afghanistan, recommended that the Washington press corps watch the film in order to understand the solemnity and dignity of the process of returning fallen military service members to their families.