Southern Comfort [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of Southern Comfort [VHS]
Movie Review: predictable but fun
Summary: 3 Stars
Watching the Keith Carradine/Powers Boothe vehicle" Southern Comfort" is a bit like eating a big bowl of vanilla ice cream-- yoiu pretty much know what you're in for, no real surprises, but it can still be enjoyable as hell if that's what you're in the mood for.
The characters are all walking cliches-- the smart outsider, too intellectual for the ignorant rednecks he's stuck with (Boothe) the good ol' boy who's brighter than he lets on (Carradine), the hip black urbanite surrounded by crackers, the sidekick hispanic, the religious whacko, and the badass redneck who thinks the rules were made for other people. Oh, and let's not forget the halfwit ninety-day wonder of a CO, who everybody wants to see fragged, and finally, the obligatory inscrutable cajuns, at the same time both evil for attacking our boys in green, and sympathetic because "they are just defending their homeland/they got attacked first."
To say that this is a thinly veiled, ham-handed commentary on the Vietnam war would be to give the director far too much credit for subtlety. While the action is steady, the character development is pretty nonexistant, and the audience finds itself repeatedly asking itself "why the hell did he do THAT???"
Having said all that, the movie remains one of my favorite guilty pleasures. It is, to be sure, not a great film, but it remains a good movie. The action is relentless, the pacing good, and once you get past the cookie-cutter nature of the characters, the character interaction is entertaining. The most likeable figure in the movie is the one-armed cajun, who finally breaks into English, and tells Boothe to do what the audience has been shouting at the screen for three-quarters of the movie.
As much as for any other reason, the movie is well worth the ride for the slinky, swampwater soundtrack, provided very admirably by Ry Cooder (using, among other things, a seven foot long steel guitar.) It is another example of the inexplicable nature of Hollywood that this, of all cooder's soundtracks, has never been released as an album-- go figure!
Like I said at the start-- It's like vanilla ice cream-- If you're looking for a new and unique experience, you probably want to skip this one. If, on the other hand, you seek something familiar, then this movie is definitely the equivalent of (Southern) comfort food.
Movie Review: no "comfort" in this tight action film
Summary: 5 Stars
southern comfort is the story of national guardsmen who on a weekend march cut cajun fishing nets steal their boat and fire blanks at them when caught, but the cajuns don't know there blanks and fire back killing the leader and causeing them to lose thir map, compass, and slowley but surely their lives as the hunt the scared and leaderless men. this little thriller is one that will stay with you long after the movie ends. great score by ry cuttor. check it out Movie Review: Cajun Hell
Summary: 4 Stars
Walter Hill's film on urbanism vs. ruralism and which one fares best in a rural environment when put against each other. Not that there's too much surprise as to who has the advantage, the film successfully carries the plot and suspense of this theme similar to John Boorman's earlier and superior film 'Deliverance.'
The film follows a squad of weekend warriors serving the National Guard who are training in the Bayou of Louisianna. Cocky and overconfident about their urban prowess, the squad harasses the Cajun residents in the swamp by stealing their canoes and firing blanks at them. Although for them this was just a silly game, their Cajun antagonists take their acts very seriously and begin to carry out a vendetta against the squad members eliminating them one-by-one. The weekend warriors suddenly start losing their hubris and sense of prowess as they wander lost through the swamp with nothing but play-guns loaded with blanks and but one box of twenty .223 rounds for their M-16s which one of the members brought along for hunting.
The film stars Peter Coyote, Powers Boothe, Keith Carradine, Fred Ward, and Lewis Smith. The film is quite good in its plot development and how it supports the theme of man vs. nature or urban vs. rural forces. Although the film is not as good or moving as Boorman's 'Deliverance' it carries plenty of drama and suspense. If you liked this film, you may also like Herzog's 'Aguirre: The Wrath of God' starring Klaus Kinski which, set in the Amazon basin in the 16th century, has a similar plot structure and thematic elements albeit with lower production values.
Movie Review: An Interesting, Entertaining Film For A Rainy Sat. Afternoon
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a good film to watch when you can't go outside, when you've got the time for some popcorn and an entertaining, otherwise meaningless action flick. Most interesting is the manner in which this small military unit fell apart, after getting lost in a Louisiana swamp and riling some of the local backwoodsmen. The sergeant in charge kept spouting training-manual platitudes ("lay down suppressing fire" etc), while every subordinate squad member developed his own ideas for surviving. Suspend your disbelief, and just watch it only for fun. (P.S. I've met some of the indigent folks portrayed in this film, and there's no way in real life they could ever be so functional or sober.)Movie Review: What We Have Here Is a Problem of Communication
Summary: 4 Stars
A company of semi-red neck Louisiana National Guardsmen are on weekend maneuvers in Cajun swamp land. They need to use a map to work their way out of the swamp. Leadership is weak, they bicker among themselves...and they lose the map. So they can struggle back the way they came, or steal some canoes from a Cajun fishing camp and make it easier for themselves. They make the mistake of taking the canoes. Then one of them for a joke fires blanks at a Cajun. Well, he fires back and there's one less National Guardsman.
The Cajuns, some of whom look like they might be second cousins to the backwoods guys in Deliverance, figure they'd better get them all. The National Guardsmen figure they'd better get out as fast as they can. They stick together but its pretty much every man for himself. They're in the middle of a swamp, and have to deal with quicksand, vicious dogs, bear traps, and psycho Cajuns with guns. Maybe I forgot to mention, they have almost no live ammo themselves.
Eventually only Keith Carradine and Powers Boothe make it to a small Cajun village. They think they're safe and can get help. The Cajuns are having a celebration with fiddle music and dancing and pots of gumbo. Then Carradine and Boothe notice that some of the men are among those who were after them. They make it, but barely.
This is a tight, well made movie that's engrossing. It's worth getting, with good performances by the two leads. Only thing to remember, if you've spent any time in Louisiana's small Cajun towns you'll know the people are a lot friendler than some in this movie.
Ry Cooder is down for the score. He as much as anyone was responsible for bringing the musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club to prominence and getting that movie made. Great movie, great DVD, great CD.
And for fans of Viet Nam war films, some people think this was one of the indirect anti-war movies being made around then...U.S. soldiers lost in a dangerous quagmire and being killed for misjudgements and mistakes.
At any rate, it's a good movie that's held up well. The DVD transfer is better than average.