Southern Comfort (1981)
MGM DVD (region 4)
d. Walter Hill; pr. David Giler; scr. Michael Kane, Walter Hill, David Giler; ph. Andrew Laszlo; m. Ry Cooder; ed. Freeman A. Davies; cast. Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Fred Ward, Brion James, Peter Coyote, Franklin Seales, TK Carter, Lewis Smith (106 mins)
Director Walter Hill is today known principally for his action movies, his biggest popular hit being the riveting 48 Hrs. and has consistently drawn comparison to Sam Peckinpah, almost as if Hill were in a line of descent from the legendary figure. However, before the enormous popular success of 48 Hrs. cemented his mainstream career, he made a number of stylishly provocative movies that either dealt with enigmatic loners (Hard Times, The Driver) or with unusual groups faced with gradual dissolution (The Warriors, The Long Riders). His taut film of Southern Comfort fits startlingly well into the latter category and emerges as an example of the director at his finest, being both a rugged action movie and a sobering allegory about American military involvement in Vietnam. Although the Vietnam War was long over by the time the film was made, only recently had American cinema begun to tackle these events directly: indeed, through the 1970s, other genres were substituted for themes relevant to Vietnam. Westerns especially were solid ground, as were action-exploitation films and even war movies about other skirmishes had undeniable references to the most traumatic war in American 20th Century history. Southern Comfort perhaps represents the pinnacle of such war allegories, an unmatched treatise on military arrogance and group collapse under the pressure of an under-estimated adversary.
Southern Comfort takes place in Louisiana in 1973 over one weekend in the midst of Cajun swampland. The Louisiana National Guard is deployed there on routine training maneuvers, in uniform and with weapons (loaded with blanks only). The squad headed by Peter Coyote is the subject of the film. They are a motley gang of mostly arrogant people (including Keith Carradine and Fred Ward) all familiar with one another, but they are joined by a newcomer from Texas (Powers Boothe). Setting off into the swamp, they find that their course has been flooded. Rather than turn back, they steal canoes belonging to the local Cajuns. When the Cajuns return, one of the soldiers plays a horrible trick and opens fire on them. The Cajuns duck for cover, unaware that the soldier has only blanks. The Cajuns retaliate and the squad leader is shot dead. Now leaderless, the squad must find their own way out of the swamp, increasingly aware that they may be hunted by other Cajuns. One member (Fred Ward) has brought a single pack of live ammunition and now this becomes a subject of contention as loyalties within the group begin to erode. They find a one-armed trapper (Brion James) and hold him prisoner, the new troop leader acting according to the military book no matter what. Soon they are lost and worse, the Cajuns may be intending to pick them off one by one unless they get out. read more