Plot
During the Vietnam War in 1968, Captain Sam Cahill (Danny Glover) has been working hard to create good relations between the United States and Montagnard Vietnamese in the village of Dak Nhe. The U.S. Army is looking to monitor enemy operations on a clandestine weapons supply route which passes near the village. Cahill is coming close to his discharge, and explains to his successor Captain T.C. Doyle (Ray Liotta), the delicate nature of Vietnamese customs as well as the counter intelligence involving covert enemy activity. In a lapse of judgment with surrounding village children, a child steals a Nestlé Crunch bar, the wrapper, which when found, lets the NVA know of their cooperation with the local villagers. In punishment, Brigadier Nguyen (Hoang Ly) of the NVA, at the disagreeance of his subordinate, Captain Quang (Vo Trung Anh), orders him to kill the villager's elephant, right before a spiritual festival. To aid the villagers, Cahill promises to replace the slain elephant before their upcoming ceremony.
At their special forces camp, Major Pederson (Marshall Bell), assigns Cahill and Doyle, with Doyle in command, to secure and deliver a new elephant to the villagers, as well as two soldiers, Specialist 4 Harvey Ashford (Doug E. Doug) and Specialist 5 Lawrence Farley (Corin Nemec). Cahill blackmails Chief Warrant Officer 3 Davis Poole (Denis Leary) in to helping as well. They purchase an elephant from a Vietnamese trader in a village. They also agree to take along the elephant's handler, Linh (Dinh Thien Le), who has experience with verbal commands in guiding the elephant. Along the way, NVA soldiers attempt to halt their advancement with the elephant towards Dak Nhe. Following a failed air transport, the soldiers use a combination of methods to reach Pleiku Air Base before their final journey towards Dak Nhe.
At Pleiku Air Base, Major Pederson notifies the captains that the mission to deliver the elephant as a favor, has been cancelled. Pederson informs the soldiers that the enemy supply route has changed direction, and they no longer need the support of the local village. Against regulations, they commandeer a cargo aircraft with the elephant on board to deliver to the villagers as promised. The aircraft comes under enemy fire, forcing them, along with the elephant aboard a crate, parachute out early. The company land unharmed in and around the village, but Ashford, gets stuck in a tree and becomes separated from the rest. NVA forces suddenly appear to disrupt the operation, threatening to take the remaining soldiers hostage and kill the elephant. Ashford however, is able to free himself and create a diversion long enough to distract and incapacitate the NVA troops. They complete their original intended mission, and to the delight of the U.S. Army, capture high-ranking enemy combatants in the process.
Read more about this topic: Operation Dumbo Drop
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“We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)