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Post by wmcclain on Jun 13, 2019 10:47:28 GMT
Southern Comfort (1981), directed by Walter Hill. Meet a unit of Louisiana National Guard on maneuvers. Through accident and stupidity they find themselves in a survival situation, battling unfriendly swamp Cajuns. None of the soldiers are suited to the task, lacking skill or temperament or both, and are picked off one by one. The director didn't want to talk about it, but this is obviously "Vietnam in the bayou". I hadn't seen this for a long time but it has always been a nostalgic favorite. Walter Hill tends to deliver entertainment value, but I see more of its flaws now. We have a strong beginning with introductions, particularly noting the two clever "operators" in the unit: Keith Carradine -- relaxed and accepting the bad craziness, and Powers Boothe -- transplanted Texas tough guy, outraged at the insanity. The ending is also very good, with serious tension, paranoia and excessive explosive violence in a swamplands party with it's great music, friendly locals and explicit hog slaughtering. The long muddled middle is more of a problem: - Apart from the two leads, the characters are all caricatures: either wannabe warriors or lazy good old boys -- verging on moronic -- who don't mind occasional murder and looting.
- "Coach" goes spectacularly crazy with scarcely any warning.
- The escape plot is exciting, but when the invisible enemy drops huge trees all around them: forget it, we've entered fantasy land.
Still, it's a great, gritty, rewatchable action picture. Very cool dobro score by Ry Cooder. Many lovely long-focus shots of the bayou toward the beginning. Great 1980s cast. Shout Factory Blu-ray. The color palette is a subdued army drab, probably matching the original film. I don't remember if I saw this in the theater.
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Jun 13, 2019 13:32:15 GMT
Well sir, after finally accepting VHS was going to be an archaic only form of viewing films, Southern Comfort was the first film I purchased on DVD - and it's still the copy I hold today Muddled middle? Never! Yeah there's some formula in the mix, still great. Interesting to note Sonny Landham is in here, and of course 6 years later he would do a bare chested blood red marking scene in Predator, similar to Ward's in Southern Comfort, naturally Landham wanted to top it, and did! Four of them with automatic weapons against some swamp rat. I make it even money. Southern Comfort is directed by Walter Hill who also co-writes the screenplay with Michael Kane and David Giler. It stars Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Fred Ward, Franklyn Seales, T.K. Carter, Lewis Smith, Les Lannom, Peter Coyote and Carlos Brown. Music is scored by Ry Cooder and cinematography by Andrew Laszlo. 1973 and nine Louisiana National Guardsmen head into the bayous on a routine training mission but become lost. Taking some moored canoes to cross a river, leaving a note of explanation, they find that within a short space of time they are in a fight for their lives against a Cajun foe whose territory they are now completely at the mercy of. The comparisons to Deliverance are obvious and fair, the metaphor for Vietnam, too, is rightly associated to Walter Hill's movie, but it's a good enough picture across the board to stand proudly on its own two feet. Southern Comfort is expert film making, where it's both a taut action suspense film and an exercise in arresting visuals. Narratively as well the film is always strong, where the group dynamic of uniformed men trying to survive in a hostile environment, is tossed about like a rag doll amongst the swampy bayous of Louisiana. As evidenced by much of his CV, Hill is a master of action choreography, and Southern Comfort finds him on top form. Be it mano-mano fights or flighty pursuits, he pulls the viewer into those swamps to feel it as it is. Set almost bleakly to a back drop of murky greys and greens, with Laszlo's photography suitably monochrome and misty, the mood is often one of disquiet, even as the film reaches the last quarter to be played out in a Cajun village, the men, and us, never feel safe, it's consistently a Hillbilly Hell. The pursuers are barely glimpsed, where Hill wisely sets them up as phantoms in the forests, predators who hold all the aces against their hopelessly out of their depth prey. The ensemble cast are impressive, led in uniform by Carradine, Boothe and Ward, with scuzzy trapper support coming from Mr. Reliable himself, Brion James. While one of the "hunters" is played by Sonny Landham, and everyone knows that he is one tough old boy you don't mess with! Setting, themes and story are boosted no end by Ry Cooder's evocative score, where his unusual flecks of Cajun flavours pings about the swamps like an aural firefly. Big bonus is the use of traditional Cajun music for the village sequences, Parlez Nous a Boire is performed with gusto and a genuine love of drinking! Here, too, we are treated to some traditional Cajun dancing, and Hill leaves us in no doubt that not all Cajun's are murdering hicks. It stops short of being a masterpiece because there's some adherence to action movie formula, and one (literally) explosive scene makes no sense at all. Regardless, this is one of the better male based action movies out there, crafted by a seriously talented and under valued director. 9/10
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jun 13, 2019 16:22:03 GMT
Definitely an underrated Walter Hill film, a showcase for his masculine direction. An allegory for the Vietnam War with shades of Deliverance. Ry Cooder's score really adds some flavor to it.
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Post by Sulla on Jun 13, 2019 20:17:41 GMT
Entertaining movie. Those Cajuns know how to party.
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Post by petrolino on Jun 15, 2019 21:40:17 GMT
A movie I enjoy watching again and again. Tension and atmosphere galore.
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Post by london777 on Jun 16, 2019 20:35:15 GMT
Talk about product placement! Even Adam Sandler's movies don't have the effrontery to title the movie after a product.
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Post by wmcclain on Jun 16, 2019 21:13:48 GMT
Talk about product placement! Even Adam Sandler's movies don't have the effrontery to title the movie after a product.
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