Casey Ryback

Last updated
Casey Ryback
Under Siege character
Ryback2009.JPG
Steven Seagal as Casey Ryback in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
First appearance Under Siege (1992)
Last appearance Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
Created by J. F. Lawton
Portrayed by Steven Seagal
In-universe information
GenderMale
Occupation Culinary specialist
U.S. Navy SEAL (ret.)
Nationality American

Casey F. Ryback (born August 6, 1953) is a fictional character and action hero from the Under Siege films of the 1990s. Played by Hollywood action star Steven Seagal, [1] Ryback is a chief petty officer, culinary specialist [2] and former Navy SEAL operator with top training in martial arts, explosives, special-weapons and tactics. He appears in the 1992 film Under Siege and its sequel, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory , in 1995. [3]

Contents

Biography

CPO (SEAL) Casey Ryback, USN (Ret.), was a decorated leader of SEAL Team Four until losing security clearance, demoted to cook aboard USS Missouri. He struck his CO (Commanding Officer) after his SEAL teammates were killed because of poor intelligence during the invasion of Panama, Operation Nifty Package, in which they were sent to disable General Manuel Noriega's private jet at Punta Paitilla Airport.

At the end of the first film, his former position was given back to him in a ceremony following his bravery. At the beginning of the sequel, Ryback had retired from the Navy as a lieutenant, shown by the salute and verbal greeting from his driver in the beginning of the film. He worked as a chef at the Mile High Cafe in Denver, Colorado. According to his fictional Colorado's driving license, he has brown eyes, black hair and he is 6 ft 5 in (1.96 meters) tall and weighs around 220 lbs (100 kilograms). [4]

At the end of the second film, when Ryback visits his brother's grave, he wears Navy Dress Whites with the shoulder boards of a Navy Lieutenant (O-3). This means he was awarded a direct commission after the events of the first film. In the original poster art of the first film, he wears shoulder boards of a flag officer. Not enough is shown to see one-star, two-star, or admiral. In the first film, he has the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

As a SEAL, Ryback was awarded various U.S. military honors. His niece Sarah lists them as the Navy Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart with clusters. Ryback would also have earned the Special Warfare insignia, and other decorations during his 20 years of service mentioned in the first film, including the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for operations in Panama, and most likely the Navy's Marksmanship Medals. The gold chief's stripes shown at the end of the first film also indicated multiple earning of the Navy's Good Conduct Medal.

USS Missouri (BB-63) Missouri post refit.JPG
USS Missouri (BB-63)

In the first film, the mercenaries on the USS Missouri do not know who Ryback is, believing he was just a mere cook. This added an element of surprise to the onslaught which followed. However, in the sequel, Under Siege 2, in which Ryback boards a train with his niece Sarah (Katherine Heigl) to visit a recently deceased brother James (Sarah's father) in Los Angeles from Denver, the mercenaries who hijack the train have full knowledge of the man they are dealing with once they hear his name. For the hand to hand combat, in the first film Ryback uses merely aikido techniques mixed with striking and kicking, while in the sequel, he implements moves used in combatives, such as the rear naked choke and the open guard.

Influence and reception

Casey Ryback became one of well known names of action heroes in the action film genre in the 1990s compared to the likes of John McClane from the Die Hard films. As David West writes, Under Siege is "cut from the same cloth as the 'Die Hard' series and stars Seagal as Casey Ryback..." [5] The character of Ryback has been criticized in the media because he is invincible and would defeat his opponents rather too easily, removing the element of surprise in his personal combat. As Eric Lichtenfeld writes, "Ryback...is the ultimate warrior. As the action genre tends toward hyperbole, Ryback is an amalgam of everything that signifies Ultimate Warrior status, even more than Riggs had been in Lethal Weapon. It is fitting then, that...Ryback's costuming progresses from a white cook's uniform...to an olive tank top, to the all-black garb that merges Ryback with the ship, and with which Seagal came to be identified. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krav Maga</span> Martial art

Krav Maga is an Israeli self defence system. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it uses techniques derived from Aikido, Boxing, Judo, Karate and Wrestling. It is known for its focus on real-world situations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Seagal</span> American actor, martial artist, and filmmaker (born 1952)

Steven Frederic Seagal is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan where he became the first American to teach in an aikido dojo. He later moved to Los Angeles where he continued teaching aikido. In 1988, Seagal made his acting debut in Above the Law, which is regarded as the first American film to feature aikido in fight sequences. He has appeared in over 50 films.

<i>Under Siege</i> 1992 film by Andrew Davis

Under Siege is a 1992 action thriller film directed by Andrew Davis from a screenplay by J. F. Lawton. It stars Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, and Erika Eleniak. Seagal plays Casey Ryback, a former Navy SEAL, who must fend off a group of mercenaries after they commandeer the U.S. Navy battleship Missouri.

<i>Under Siege 2: Dark Territory</i> 1995 American film

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory is a 1995 American action thriller film directed by Geoff Murphy, starring Steven Seagal as the ex-Navy SEAL, Casey Ryback. Set on board a train traveling through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Los Angeles, it is the sequel to the 1992 film Under Siege also starring Seagal. The title refers to the railroading term that the subject train was travelling through dark territory, a section of railroad track that has no train signals and in which communications between train dispatchers and the railroad engineers were impossible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Claude Van Damme</span> Belgian actor and martial artist (born 1960)

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan Karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd-dan black belt in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. As a teenager, he won the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association in 1979 and the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978. With the desire of becoming an actor in Hollywood, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did a variety of jobs and worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).

Frank William Dux is a Canadian-American martial artist and fight choreographer. According to Dux, a ninjutsu expert named Senzo Tanaka trained him as a ninja when he was a teenager. He established his own school of ninjutsu called Dux Ryu Ninjutsu, and has said he won a secret martial arts tournament called the Kumite in 1975. His alleged victory at the Kumite served as the inspiration for the 1988 film Bloodsport starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Dux's victory at the Kumite has been disputed, as has the existence of both the Kumite he described and Senzo Tanaka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ching Siu-tung</span>

Ching Siu-tung, also known as Tony Ching, is a Hong Kong action choreographer, actor, film director and producer, who has directed over 20 films, including the critically acclaimed supernatural fantasy A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). He produced the expensive music video for "L'Âme-stram-gram" by the French singer Mylène Farmer in the style of A Chinese Ghost Story at a cost of €1 million. He studied in the Eastern Drama Academy and trained in Northern Style Kung Fu for 7 years.

Julius R. "Jules" Nasso is an Italian-American film producer, pharmacologist, and businessman. He is a 20-year Directors Guild of America member. In 2004, he was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to his role in an extortion scheme against the actor Steven Seagal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael A. Monsoor</span> US Navy Medal of Honor recipient (1981–2006)

Michael Anthony Monsoor was a United States Navy SEAL who was killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom during the Battle of Ramadi when dove onto a grenade to shield his fellow SEALs, sacrificing his own life. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. He enlisted in the United States Navy in 2001 and graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training BUD/S class 250 in 2004. After further training he was assigned to Delta Platoon, SEAL Team 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Adkins</span> British actor and martial artist (born 1976)

Scott Edward Adkins is a British actor and martial artist. He gained prominence with his villainous portrayal of the Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the American martial arts film Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006), a role he reprised in its sequels Undisputed III: Redemption (2010) and Boyka: Undisputed (2017). He has since made films in a variety of genres, such as crime dramas, martial arts movies, war films, action thrillers, sci-fi actioners and action comedies, mostly as the lead.

Ryback is a surname, a spelling variant of Rybak. Notable people with this surname include:

<i>Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia</i> 2009 American film

Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia is a 2009 American action war film directed by Tim Matheson and starring Joe Manganiello, WWE wrestler Mr. Kennedy, Keith David and Matheson. It is the third installment in the series, following Behind Enemy Lines, and Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil. The film was co-produced by WWE Studios, written by Tobias Iaconis and released direct-to-video on January 6, 2009. Keith David was the only cast member to have returned from the previous film.

Under Siege is a 1992 action film starring Steven Seagal.

Marc Alan Lee was a United States Navy SEAL. He was the first SEAL to lose his life in Operation Iraqi Freedom when he was killed in a fierce firefight while on patrol against insurgents in Ramadi. Lee was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Purple Heart. On March 20, 2013, the Marc A. Lee Training Center building was dedicated at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado.

<i>A Good Man</i> (2014 film) 2014 film

A Good Man is a 2014 American action crime film directed by Keoni Waxman and starring Steven Seagal, Victor Webster, Tzi Ma, Iulia Verdes, and Claudiu Bleont. The film is a prequel to Force of Execution, and is the fifth collaboration between Steven Seagal and director Keoni Waxman. A Good Man was followed by a sequel, Absolution, in 2015.

<i>Absolution</i> (2015 film) 2015 film by Keoni Waxman

Absolution is a 2015 English-language Romanian action thriller film directed by Keoni Waxman and starring Steven Seagal, Vinnie Jones, and Byron Mann. The film is a sequel to A Good Man, and is the sixth collaboration between Steven Seagal and director Waxman. The film also marks the third collaboration between Seagal and Jones, and between Seagal and Mann.

<i>U.S. Seals II: The Ultimate Force</i> 2001 American military action film

U.S. Seals II: The Ultimate Force is a 2001 American direct-to-video action film directed by Isaac Florentine, written by Boaz Davidson and Michael D. Weiss, and starring Michael Worth. The film is a sequel to U.S. Seals (2000) and is followed by U.S. Seals 3: Frogmen (2002).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Dietz</span> US Navy SEAL and recipient of the Navy Cross (1980–2005)

Danny Phillip Dietz Jr. was a Navy SEAL who was awarded the U.S. Navy's second-highest decoration, the Navy Cross, along with the Purple Heart, for his actions during the War in Afghanistan.

<i>Navy Seals vs. Zombies</i> 2015 Film by Stanton Barrett

Navy Seals vs. Zombies is a 2015 American action horror film directed by Stanton Barrett and starring Ed Quinn, Michael Dudikoff, Rick Fox, Molly Hagan and Lolo Jones. It was released on October 8, 2015.

References

  1. ↑ Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders, The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes (Lone Eage Pub., 2000), 45.
  2. ↑ M. Ray Lott, The American Martial Arts Film (McFarland, 2004), 98.
  3. ↑ Sylvia P. Flanagan, "Movies to See: Under Siege 2: Dark Territory," Jet (Jul 31, 1995): 56.
  4. ↑ "Prop Store - Ultimate Movie Collectables". Archived from the original on 2018-03-23. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  5. ↑ David West, Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film (I.B.Tauris, 2006), 223 Archived 2024-03-30 at the Wayback Machine .
  6. ↑ Eric Lichtenfeld, Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie (Wesleyan University Press, 2007), 169 Archived 2024-03-30 at the Wayback Machine .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.