Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

classicsoncall I'm a big Clint Eastwood fan but there was something about this film that just felt off to me. I've never served in the military, but my son served in the Marines and simply based on some of his boot camp stories I could tell that the kind of recon platoon that Gunnery Sergeant Highway (Eastwood) encountered on his first day back would never have existed in real life. So early on, one has to view the story as one in which all the stereotypes apply, as Eastwood's character takes on the mission of whipping his boys into shape while challenging the arrogance and ineptitude of his superior officers. Malcolm Powers (Everett McGill) looked and acted like someone who could have been a Marine Major, but the portrayal of Lieutenant Ring (Boyd Gaines) seemed to come out of left field. He just seemed totally out of his element.Then, when the action shifted to actual combat during the invasion of Grenada, the film really took on an air of incredulity. With a population of about ninety one thousand at the time, it felt like there was no one else on the island except the Marines and a minor opposing force of revolutionary soldiers. There were the American medical students of course, about the only thing that felt accurate historically.This wasn't Clint Eastwood's first directorial effort, so I can't really account for the movie's lack of authenticity. One's best approach to the picture probably ought to be one of settling back and suspending disbelief, and enjoy the story as any another Eastwood actioner. I did get a big kick out of the Gunny quote to his new platoon that I mention in my summary line above. I had a boss in the supermarket business that would state "I'm here to tell you..." at least a couple of times in every speech he ever gave.

Harriet Deltubbo 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.

SnoopyStyle Highway (Clint Eastwood) is a hard-nosed Korean and Vietnam war veteran. After the latest drunken rampage, he gets his wish and gets sent back to the Second Recon Battalion, Second Marine Division. His new CO is the strict arrogant Major Powers (Everett McGill) who has never seen conflict. He's given a bunch of malcontents to lead. His platoon leader is the nerdy bookish Lt. Ring (Boyd Gaines). He needs to get his squad into shape and then they are sent into Grenada to rescue university students.Director Clint Eastwood breaks out all the clichés. He does it well. It is all gung ho militaristic rah rah. The most memorable part of the movie is the T-shirt bit. It's a relatively fine John Wayne movie. It's not really trying to be more.

Cheese Hoven 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.