Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

OK, but not great. Overly macho and gung ho, yet it does occasionally show traces of the sensitive, intelligent Eastwood The Director that surfaced later, in the 1990s. A transitional movie for Eastwood the director in some ways, because what had come before was one-dimensional vigilante cop, formulaic western or hard-nosed miltiary movies. Here Eastwood The Actor plays his usual role - gruff, insubordinate and tough. Supporting cast is pretty weak and unconvincing.

Last year, Clint Eastwood wowed moviegoers with his gritty, realistic performance as Walt "Get Off My Lawn!" Kowalski in the film "Gran Torino". In "Heartbreak Ridge", the U.S. Marines are the "lawn" and Eastwood (once again) isn't taking any prisoners.Basically, the film centers on a Marines Recon unit of the 1980s that, in all aspects, has "gone soft" in a time of peace. Gone is the strict military discipline of the 1940s-1960s, and in its place is a disrespectful, laissez-faire attitude towards fighting for our freedoms. That all changes, of course, when Sergeant Thomas Highway (Eastwood) is brought in to lead the unit. Though Highway is only given the assignment as a disciplinary measure, it quickly becomes clear to him how far the Marines have fallen. No angel himself (Highway is shown instigating a prison riot at the beginning of the film), Highway goes about instilling into a rag-tag bunch of young men the kind of military values that he holds near and dear.Much like "Gran Torino", then, the most entertaining portion of this film is watching Eastwood embody that kind of old-world toughness that is on its way out (for better or worse) as the World War II and Korea veterans begin to pass away. Both Highway and Kowalski are the type of men who will have your back to the end if you respect them and do right by them, but the only way they know how to show it is through harsh profanity, crude jokes, and a crotchety demeanor that belies their true emotions. Whereas Walt bonds with a young boy who shows potential but just needs some strong leadership in his life, Thomas Highway runs the same emotional gamut with his Marines Unit.There are only a few things that keep this movie from "instant classic" status, those being Highway's rather un-interesting love life on the military base, as well as an ending that just seemed to fall a bit flat considering the entertainment that preceded it. "Torino" was a bit more adept (and thus more deserving of a five-star rating) at handling the emotional drama of Eastwood's character, as well as providing a better send-off.Thus, whether you want to look at "Heartbreak Ridge" as a prequel to "Gran Torino", or "Torino" as a sequel to "Ridge", the similarities between both films are readily apparent. If you loved watching Eastwood's gruff, tough Walt Kowalski portrayal, you will love this film as well. If you were offended by the type of prejudices that Walt held, steer a wide berth around this movie.

Ain't no such thing as too much Clint Eastwood, baby. A hard-nosed, hard-living Marine gunnery sergeant clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude. The real centerpiece of the film is its acting, mainly that of Eastwood. I like this type of film, as it reminds me of German movies where it's more about the characters and their environment. Great performances help to enhance this amazing story of warfare and courage. I give it a rating of 7 out of 10 because it's flawed but good. Watch for Eastwood's best performance of the 1980s in this 1986 film.

This mediocre film consists of 3 strands very different in mood and content. The great problem with it is that it never reconciles these elements.The first strand is a cartoonish raw recruits training film containing all the stereotypes we have seen many times before: the wise cracking black one, the well built one, the nondescript one put in to be killed off (maybe?) and of course, the officious Major who hates the guts of the hero, the foul mouthed Gunny Highway as played by Eastwood.This training has all the verisimilitude of Police Academy, less so actually, since at least the police recruits knew that its not a good idea to threaten your superiors with physical violence as happens here. The scene where the well built Swede, about 7 feet tall and with arm muscles the size of a normal man's chest, is easily defeated in hand to hand combat by the 60 year old Eastwood, is laughably bad to say the least.That is merely one of many things that would have gotten a court martial in real life; others include almost shooting the Major or firing live ammo at the recruits. All these things would be acceptable in an outright comedy film but the problem is that the comedy is so broad that it undermines the apparent seriousness of the rest of the film.Gunny's potty mouth runs rampant in these scenes and the film would have been improved by some reining in of this. Less is definitely more when it comes to obscenity. Fortunately he is more verbally restrained during his attempt to rekindle a romance with his ex, the film's 2nd strand. This part has quite a different tone, that of a romantic melodrama. It's OK, but not memorable.A third strand emerges about 20 minutes from the end. Like Police Academy the recruits must be tested in battle, to show that Highway's unorthodox (and probably illegal, for good reason) methods have really be more effective than the rule book. But whereas in Police Academy the tone remains light, here everything suddenly darkens. The enemy is shown being gunned down, corpses are strewn around and one is even shot at point blank range by Gunny.Then, one of the recruits is killed- maybe. I say maybe because someone says "don't let him be dead Gunny" and Gunny replies "it's not up to me". This is then never mentioned again and the apparent death of one of their pals does not dampen the celebratory mood.I do think this film would have better if those involved had decided what genre they were making. Is it meant to be a broad comedy or a serious film with comedy interludes? A less lazy script and tighter editing would have helped. As it is, it is more Humdrum Hill than Heartbreak Ridge.