Southern Comfort

Un-believable is my summery. Sure some may enjoy it if you like unexpected moments & violence. But one thing sticks out a mile, No communications? What troops would ever go into any jungle without a way to contact to the outside, or with each other. Crazy mistake. Makes the film story flimsy and without credibility. Why when the dogs attacked them did they not shoot the dogs? They had live ammunition according to there shots at the Cajuns. credible story line would have made it a top film. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

This movie is an insult to anyone who has ever been in the National Guard. No, strike that... it's an insult to anyone who's ever HEARD of the National Guard. Suppose you took the the hapless troops chasing Rambo in "First Blood," and airdropped them into the plot of "Deliverance"; that's what you have in "Southern Comfort." Spoiler (for what it's worth): stupid and incompetent weekend warriors get in an extended run-in with illiterate inbred "coon-asses." The result? Two hours of ridiculous posturing, bad dialogue, and unconvincing action. Although the cast and director have all done better, this movie is exceptional in that not one character is even likable, much less believable. From Sergeant Weenie to the psychotic Bowden (even his buddies eventually decide he just needs to be tied up) to the stereotypical "token-black-guy-that-takes-the-lead-and-immediately-dies," they range from annoying to downright repellent. It's perhaps telling that this movie improves every time a character dies. The only redeeming value of this film is the last 20-30 minutes, when the surviving pair finally crawl out of the swamp and into a Cajun party. Kudos to the director for apparently filming the actual slaughter, gutting, and cleaning of two live hogs (there sure isn't a "the animals weren't really hurt" sop to the PeTA freaks on this one.) It's the only realistic shot in the movie, and earns two of the three points I've given the film, just for the novelty of it. Two more quick murders, and it's a "we're-out-of-film-hurry-roll-the-credits" ending. You'll be even more relieved than the "heroes," if you've actually made it that far.

Eight dumb men, National Guardsmen but devoid of training or personal qualities, find themselves stranded in the Louisiana bayou. Half the time they spend turning to each other and commenting on how ridiculous their situation is, and the other half doing unbelievably stupid things to make their situation worse. One by one they are picked off, killed by Cajuns who, frankly, are quite right to do so. Walter Hill has chopped out an awful film. Because he is Walter Hill, though, many people have praised it as a taut, gritty, suspenseful thriller. It's not. Badly written, childishly edited... well enough acted, but that's not enough to save it. I wish I could unload a pile of spoilers here to illustrate the film's flaws in logic and characterisation to support my complaints. However, in the event readers wish to burn a couple hours watching this tripe, I won't spoil what little fun it provides. It does have a brilliant cast playing a bunch of one-note morons and a lunatic. And it does have a lovely, haunting soundtrack. But if this sort of movie is what you're after, Deliverance is much better.

If you've seen Deliverance, there's no need to watch this one. It's a much worse copy cat of the same theme. The movie falls apart with the completely and utterly ridiculous actions of the guardsmen who behave more ineptly in the field than tenderfoot boy scouts. Furthermore, the portrayal of all cajuns as backwards french-only speaking inbreeds is similar to Deliverance's portrayal of hillbilly Georgians. Don't waste your time with this one, folks. If you haven't seen Deliverance, watch it instead. The acting, cinematography, scenery, and music are all a grade better than this movie's.

Southern Comfort Is an excellent drama, suspense about a rag- tag group of National Guardsman who are out in the Louisiana bayous practicing maneuvers in the swamps, which is inhabited by Cajun's, All is routine Until the guardsman display their macho side to the locals, The locals Don't take too kindly to these redneck outsider's when they Appropriate some of the local's canoes, unfortunately one of the men Stupidly makes the mistake of firing 'blanks at the Cajun's Who naturally return fire, killing their Captain, The guardsman find Themselves at odds in this strange visceral, almost Vietnam like environment with their pursuers Who are relentless in stalking The 8 men who are all ill equipped, are put to the ultimate test with Their survival skills, Southern Comfort boasts a superb ensemble cast, And an equally superb Ry Cooder score which makes good use of Cajun instruments.

The first thought that comes into my mind when thinking about this film is that it certainly doesn't paint the Louisiana National Guard in a very positive light. These guys are totally lost, totally out of control and don't really have a clue what they're doing from beginning to end! The story centres around a group of them out on a training mission in the Louisiana Bayou. Once they find themselves hopelessly lost, they come across some form of camp and decide to steal some canoes to help themselves get home. Mistake 1. Don't steal. Once they're on their way those whose canoes they've taken show up on the shoreline and watch the Guardsmen paddling away, when - for his own reasons apparently - one of the Guardsmen decides to take his machine gun and starts firing rounds of blanks at them. Mistake 2. Don't fire at people (blanks or live ammo) - especially after you've stolen their stuff. Not surprisingly, the guys from the Bayou aren't very happy with the Guardsmen, and the rest of the story is them hunting the Guardsmen down for revenge. It's a wee bit novel. Usually, the folks encountered in the backwoods of wherever a movie is set are the bad ones. Here, I felt sympathy for these poor backwoods Bayou Cajuns. What did they do except defend themselves and their property from out of control part-time soldiers? As the soldiers get hunted down, we get to watch their sense of teamwork and cohesion (shaky as it was the whole way through) break down even further in the face of an unseen enemy. (I know, some people see this as a parable of Vietnam, with the Cajuns playing the role of the Viet Cong, up against the powerful but lost and out of control Americans. If you want to do that, just make a movie about Vietnam.) Frankly, I didn't care for this and have to admit that I'm surprised by the generally positive reviews it gets. Of most interest to me was a sort of worthwhile look in the last third or so of backwoods Bayou Cajun culture. Otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, what a waste of time.

A unit of US national guardsmen go out on weekend manurers and whilst there they incur of the wrath of local Cajuns which leads to a battle for survival against an unseen , cunning nd ruthless foe This is the type of premise that appeals to director Walter Hill . His 1979 controversial thriller THE WARRIORS had a similar type of plot about a New York gang trying to seek sanctuary through a hostile land and 20 year later he made another similar thriller TRESPASS about two protagonists fighting for their lives in a decaying urban landscape against a violent street gang . It should also be remembered that Hill was the co-screenwriter of ALIEN and we all know the story to that one . In short Hill is an auteur who makes movies about individuals trying to survive against a hostile foe in an uncaring environment Everyone seems to have picked up on the allegory of the Vietnam war which is hardly surprising since it's impossible not to escape the parallels . Even the opening caption of " Louisanna 1973 " ties in with the conflict . Why does the story have to be set in 1973 ? Absolutely no reason whatsoever except this was the year that the last American combat troops left the country leaving behind 58,000 dead compatriots and adds to the subtext of the narrative I've got to be honest and state that the allegory is in my opinion overdone and while watching it I was left with the distinct impression that someone somewhere in the production team wanted to make a straight forward war thriller set in 'Nam , a sort of American version of THE LOST PATROL but decided that the budget wouldn't stretch to this . This might explain why the inciting incident seems rather weak . Would this misunderstanding lead to the death of somebody and the fall out connected with it exist in real life ? You can understand it if the story was taking place in the jungles of South East Asia but not Cajun territory in the USA This is the weak point of the film and the lack of conviction spoils it somewhat. I had memories of SOUTHERN COMFORT being a gritty violent compelling thriller but most of the running time I found myself thinkingwhy I thought it was so great after seeing it many years ago . The reason it was so fondly remembered is because it was a truly great ending where the last two surviving guardsmen find themselves in a friendly village only to find their nightmare hasn't finished aftera ll . Walter Hill builds up the tension via the use of editing and music in the last ten minutes in a way rarely seen except from the best American film makers In summary SOUTHERN COMFORT is a memorable thriller due to it having a very good ending . Elsewhere it's not so good because the audience are being bludgeoned by a very unsubtle subtext and the audience needing to suspend disbelief in order for the film to work which stops it from achieving true greatness

It's ironic that one of the best films ever made about Viet Nam is set in the Louisiana Bayou. "Southern Comfort," a story about National Guardsmen who tick off some Cajuns and are then picked off one by one, creates great tension by balancing the themes of "stranger in a strange land" and "who can you trust?" It's not until the final frame of the film that you find out how things turn out for the two protagonists, well played by Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine.

Thank the heavens for John Boorman! If it hadn't been for his classic "Deliverance", we never would have had the stream of gritty and relentless "Backwoods" action & horror movies. Most of them are just a cheap excuse to make fun of stereotypical rednecks and depict gratuitous violence, but some are truly great films that come damn near to the quality level of "Deliverance" itself, like Walter Hill's "Southern Comfort". This exhilarating backwoods survival chiller uses some of the best exterior filming locations ever, the suspense and atmosphere of madness gradually builds itself up, the (almost) all-star cast is terrific and the violence is extremely rough at times. A nine-headed squadron of the Louisiana National Guard enrolls into a training practice in the Cajun Swamps and soon get lost. They borrow three canoes of the local population without asking and when one of the soldiers playfully (but stupidly) fires off blanks in their direction, the unseen Cajuns hillbilly-poachers respond with real bullets. This inflicts a disturbing cat and mouse game between the soldiers (with minimal ammunition and no knowledge of the area) and the seemingly invisible Cajuns (with their primitive hunting instincts and inventive booby traps). Usually in this type of flicks, it's obvious to choose which side you're on, but in "Southern Comfort" you have to think at least twice. The soldiers aren't exactly warm and friendly men, neither, and you're more than often tempted to think they're somewhat responsible for the mess they're in. After all, they did steal the canoes, they did set fire to one of the Cajun's homes and they did yell obscure things at them! The finale, set in an actual Cajun community, is truly nail-biting, absorbing and strangely educational, what with all the portrayal of typical rituals like dance parties and barbecuing! Another masterful period accomplishment from Walter Hill, who also made the brilliant cult classic "The Warriors" and the family-western "The Long Riders".

A group of National Guardsmen led by Hardin(Powers Boothe)and Spencer(Keith Carradine)get on the bad side of swamp-dwelling Cajuns while conducting maneuvers in the bayou.Bloodshed ensues.Hardin and Spencer must then go on the run through the Louisiana swamps if they're to survive.This violent and exciting survival thriller owes a lot to John Boorman's fantastic "Deliverance".Walter Hill does a fine job of showing how an area as large as a bayou can be claustrophobic and the ultra-intense finale shows some top-notch editing.The acting is great and the script raises some serious questions about the behaviour of man."Southern Comfort" can also be seen as an allegorical treatment of the Vietnam conflict.8 out of 10.A must-see!