Heartbreak Ridge Review

Heartbreak Ridge (1986) *

James Carabatsos wrote a handful of mostly forgotten 1980s war films, the most pretentious of which was 1987's Hamburger Hill, one of a long line of Hollywood revisionist films about Vietnam. Carabatsos teamed up with actor/ director Clint Eastwood in what has to be Eastwood's worst film.

Heartbreak Ridge is the story of Gunnery Sgt. Highway (Eastwood), a tough as nails relic of the Vietnam era. Highway is a regular Audie Murphy, a Congressional Medal of Honor winner, and has row after row of combat decorations. He's also a hard ass- and in the 1980s Marine Corps this trait is apparently not in fashion.

What the film really is, is a polemical treatise against the perceived weakness of the Carter (read liberal) Administration. In the age of Reagan, everybody, including Hollywood seemed eager to drink the mighty American military resurgence Kool-Aid without giving it much thought.

What truly makes the film awful isn't the political message- even though it borders on propaganda. No, the film truly dates itself with the uppity black guy character of "Stitch" Jones agonizingly "acted" by Mario Van Peebles.

"Stitch" is always one misstep away from being lynched in the film. In fact, every time "Stitch" appears on screen, be it playing rock 'n roll at a biker bar, talking "jive" to roughnecks, or even wearing an earring in uniform (not allowed), the film seems to suggest that this type of person doesn't understand his place. It's off putting to say the least. Hispanics suffer the same level of derision, as Eastwood derides them for not Habla-ing English.

As an indictment on how ignorant mainstream America was in the 1980s when it came to depiction of race, Heartbreak Ridge serves its purpose. It's about as offensive as Birth of a Nation in that regard. Unfortunately, BoaN is an important film. Heartbreak Ridge? Not so much.