Feature Films Made in Beaufort County: Rules of Engagement (2000)

The following post is based on a web page written by former BCL staff member Dennis Adams between 1998 and 2007 for an earlier iteration of the Beaufort County Library website. Much of the information about movies filmed in Beaufort comes from anecdotes and recollections of local residents that Adams gathered during his tenure. Revised and updated by Grace Cordial. Research assistance provided by Cheryl Graffo. Latest update: 26 January 2022; Posted: 19 December 2019.

Filmed on location in March 1999, Rules of Engagement would be the last movie made in Beaufort County for twenty years.

Main Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Delaney, Ben Kingsley, Blair Underwood, Anne Archer, Amidou, Conrad Bachmann, Gordon Clapp, Dale Dye, Bruce Greenwood and Philip Baker Hall

Directed by William Friedkin

Production Company: Paramount Pictures

The movie’s plotline involves a decorated war hero, Colonel Terry Childers, whose actions during a peacekeeping mission in Yemen go terribly wrong. He orders his Marines to fire into a crowd of civilian demonstrators to thwart an assault on the United States Embassy. He is court-martialed for breaking the “rules of engagement” by killing 83 unarmed civilians. Coming to his defense is Hays Hodges, who fought with Childers in Vietnam and owes him his life. Some scenes flash back to the Vietnam War. The Yemen scenes – thirty years later in the film’s plot – were filmed in Morocco.

This movie made more money than it cost to make. With a budget of $60,000,000 it opened on April 7, 2000 with opening weekend receipts of $15,011,181. Its gross in the United States and Canada was $61,335,230 and world gross was $71,732,303.

The BBC review of the film expressed disappointment: “It has the look of a fine film, at times has the self-possessed confidence of a fine film, but “Rules Of Engagement” crosses the line into mediocrity too often to really be judged a fine film. A big budget and decent production values cannot distract from the fact that the story is built on a highly dubious foundation.”

Local Tidbits of Information:

A casting call was held February 5 – 6, 1999 at the Holiday Inn of Beaufort, 2001 Boundary Street, for extras to portray U.S. Marines and Vietnamese people. On the first day, over 200 persons auditioned for the movie.

The south end of Hunting Island State Park doubled for Quang Tri Province of Vietnam; the earlier sequences of the film deals with Marine Corps platoons during the Vietnam War.

Sgt. Chris Young, quoted by Marti Gatlin in the March 6, 1999 issue of the Beaufort Gazette , reported that he and about fifty other men who portrayed the film’s Vietnam War-era Marines slept out on Hunting Island, “wore Marine uniforms (jungle fatigues) exactly like those worn in Vietnam, which presented problems because it was still cold, warm during the day but very cold at night. We carried gear like they did in 1968. They didn’t let us shave or bathe, so we looked like we were in combat.” Whenever it rained, the men tried to keep dry under shelters they made from their ponchos.

Dale Dye, a retired Marine captain who had worked with Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan (1998), trained the film’s Marine extras on Hunting Island, day and night. He shared his own Vietnam War memories with his trainees, as well as songs written by veterans of that war. Capt. Dye was also military advisor for Forrest Gump.

The Beaufort County Library has a DVD of the film to share with customers.

Note: The Beaufort District Collection (BDC) exists to acquire, preserve, maintain and make accessible a research collection of permanent value which records the history, culture, and environment of the South Carolina lowcountry wedged between the Combahee (pronounced “kum-bee”) and Savannah Rivers.

Contact the Beaufort District Collection at 843-255-6446 or e-mail bdc@bcgov.net for additional information about local history and archives relating to the people, places, and themes of the history, Gullah culture, and natural environment of Beaufort County, Jasper County and Hampton County, South Carolina.

Please check the Beaufort County Library (SC) system’s website for terms of access to the Beaufort District Collection and current hours of operation and location details.