Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Mario Van Peebles, Everett McGill, Marsha Mason, Moses Gunn, Bo Svenson, and Pete Koch
Grade: A

That’s a cool ass poster, right?

Summary

Despite winning the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge during the Korean War, Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway (Eastwood) is a bit of a mess. He’s aged, has a bit of a mouth, and still gets drunk on a regular basis. In fact, to open the film, he had to pay a fine for pissing on a cop car. It doesn’t help matters much that he talks shit and doesn’t mind letting his superiors, or fellow peers in the military know what he thinks of them. After he turns down a fellow officer who wanted to ship illegal contraband through the camp he runs, he’s requested in the back office by a higher-up officer. This officer tells Highway he’s being transferred back to his old Marine unit which he’s pretty happy about. Somewhere in town, Stitch Jones (Van Peebles) performs at some hillbilly bar and tries to play some rock. Unfortunately, two rednecks start shit with Jones and legitimately throw him out of the bar. He gets on a bus to leave town, and it happens to be the same one Highway is on as he heads to his old unit. Jones sits with Highway and annoys the hell out of him.

At a diner the bus stops by the next day, Highway goes to the bathroom. Before he leaves, he tells Jones to tell the bus driver (who just pulled up) that he’ll be right out. Jones tells him it’s cool and that he’ll cover the bill, so Highway throws down money for the tip. As soon as Highway goes to the bathroom however, Jones tells the waitress Highway is paying for everything, steals his bus ticket, and leaves. Later, Highway is able to get a ride from some random stranger to base and starts meeting his co-workers. Sergeant Major Choozhoo (Arlen Dean Snyder) is a friend of his from back in the day and greets him, but his commander Major Powers (McGill) is an uptight prick that knows everything about Highway’s bad attitude and doesn’t trust him off the bat. This will be an uphill battle for sure. He gives Highway the job of shaping up the Reconnaissance Platoon, a notoriously lax crew of Marines that couldn’t give less of a fuck about anything. Highway busts in there and scares the shit out of the platoon by giving them the ol’ “There’s gonna be some real big changes around here” speech.

Also, a part of that platoon is that motherfucker Stitch Jones.

Once he notices him, Highway grabs Jones by the ear, forces him to give all of his money back, and rips off his earring. That night, he sees his ex-wife’s mother at the bar she works at, and they have a nice conversation. She tells Highway to go see her daughter and his ex-wife in Aggie (Mason). He goes out to the bar Aggie works at and she’s very surprised, though not so happy to see him. She is now with the owner, Roy Jennings (Svenson). At that same bar, Jones is performing. After a fight almost happening with Jones and some fellow Marines where Jennings threatens all of them, Highway steps in and challenges Jennings in front of everyone. They almost come to blows, but Jones stops it. Despite this, Jennings bans them both from the bar. That next morning, training begins, and Highway is not going to take it easy on these Marines because they need to be prepared for potential war. At the same time, Highway has to deal with the backlash from his training methods and the ego problems of his superior officers, while trying to start things up again with Aggie.

My Thoughts:

Let’s be honest, there are not many films about the invasion of Grenada. That alone might be a good enough reason to see this movie. Well, I say “about” the invasion, but that’s a strong word. Heartbreak Ridge is more about the Marines, Mario Van Peebles learning how to be a soldier, Clint Eastwood doing his thing as Gunnery Sergeant Highway and beating up people half his age and getting one last shot at proving himself in his job and personal life. Once things start coming together, then they get shipped off to Grenada for the big climax. The politics around the invasion and why we went there are irrelevant to the film. It’s more about the soldiers showing the audience what they may have learned from Highway and how they improved as a unit under his leadership.

Basically, don’t show this film in a history class because it’s not that type of war film.

It may not be the most accurate war movie either, but it’s a great one, nonetheless. It’s got action, it’s got personal life drama, it’s got humor to lighten things up from time to time, and we get another great Clint Eastwood performance being the total badass he is. Sure, it’s rough around the edges when the scene isn’t about Highway, but this doesn’t ruin the experience in the slightest. When you think about it like that, Heartbreak Ridge did a pretty good job. It may also give you some incentive to research Grenada to find out more about this moment in history, mostly because the film doesn’t bother to get into it. Hey, if it inspires you to learn, I would think this to be a positive thing as well, right? Anyway, be prepared that the whole film is essentially a puff piece for the Marines. Think of John Wayne’s The Green Berets but not entirely propaganda, a better lead character, and is constructed a lot better. Hell, even the battle scenes are better. Basically, it’s The Green Berets done right. Clint Eastwood plays the gravelly voiced sergeant to perfection as he whips these clown ass Marines into shape. How the hell were these Marines able to get this far acting like they do? I don’t know, but it’s a good thing Highway showed up to scare them straight! Though the Eastwood “unbeatable tough guy” gimmick (that can get a little corny at his age here) is essential to how Highway carries himself throughout the film, as most Eastwood characters are, he is more relatable than usual.

Though he’s a hardass to his platoon because they are insubordinate and careless, he’s the insubordinate one to his superiors. This is how he relates to this unit he has to train. Though he may not admit it out loud, his actions do show it. Highway doesn’t get along with those in charge of him because he feels like he knows better than anyone. It’s never bad intentioned, but it gives him a reputation that he’s hard to work with because of his refusal to listen to anyone he disagrees with, which is a bit of a problem when you’re in the military.

Well, winning a Congressional Medal of Honor will do that to a man’s ego.

On top of that, he’s kind of a drunk and his relationship with his ex-wife is problematic to say the least. Eastwood’s performance and characterization reminds me a lot of Lee Marvin’s John Reisman in The Dirty Dozen, only with more personal issues and a raspier voice. I keep on talking about Eastwood’s voice for a reason too. Usually, his voice always sounds that way, but multiply his usual voice by a hundred. It’s like he had a sore throat throughout all of filming. It’s a bit distracting earlier on, but you get used to it because it fits the character. Because of this, you start to catch on and know he’s not going to yell at his platoon anytime soon because his voice can’t travel like that and still sound tough. This is why throughout the movie, he threatens everyone with a stern talking to, raising his voice slightly when he’s close to their faces. It gives off that vibe of “Don’t make me raise my voice because then you’ll really piss me off”. Again, it fits the character. With the humor, I enjoyed the little insight they give into Highway like when he tries to read women’s magazines to try to understand his ex-wife Aggie. It’s funny and not something you’d expect a Clint Eastwood character to do. I just wish there was a little more shown of this side rather than his military side because with the military side, we know what we’re getting. We know the character fairly early into the movie in regard to his work. I want to know about Highway more personally and what led him to act the way he is with those in his personal life. It would’ve made his scenes with Marsha Mason’s Aggie much more interesting. Maybe they didn’t want to because Highway doesn’t have another side and that’s his issue, but if that was the case, wouldn’t he try a little harder to be sympathetic with her during their conversations, especially because he’s trying to win her back?

Is this nitpicking? I don’t know, but something felt missing regarding the whole of Highway’s characterization. It was very “What you see is what you get”. Again, it could’ve been intentional, but that just seems problematic for the flow of the non-Marine scenes. It works for all the fun war-related stuff but just not the “B” story.

Mario Van Peebles does a decent job as Stitch Jones, but his singing performances at the bars in certain scenes felt weird. The script had him saying the stupidest shit to people. After being heckled, his “insults” to a group of people were, “You’re so ugly you need to be at the airport sniffing luggage”, and “All of y’all cross your legs, hold your noses and fart. I bet you can clear out your minds”. Not only are these weak insults totally overthought, but they’re also just weird. High schoolers have better insults towards each other. Where the fuck did they think of this stuff? Did they really type those lines up and think, “Yup, I nailed it”. I don’t know how these comments were enough for someone to get that pissed off that they would want to fight. If I was in that crowd at the bar, I would just sit there confused. The screenplay in general is just filled with weird quotes. At one point, Highway walks into the platoon’s barracks and the first thing he says is “drop your cocks and grab your socks”.

What?

I also thought it would’ve made a little more sense for the Jones character to be shell-shocked when they’re in combat rather than him still saying his “Rockstar” catchphrases in the heat of the battle. This would’ve been an entertaining moment to “wake up” the potential of the character to show his real side when his back is against the wall. Based off how we know him, it would’ve made sense for him to be more like “Oh fuck. This shit is real!” and get a little freaked for the initial moments, only to overcome it once he does some good. It’s a minor suggestion I suppose, but it would’ve added a late layer of development for the character that would’ve helped. One thing that did bother was when Private Swede (Koch) shows up, the platoon basically attempts a coup d’état on Highway and Swede tries to fight him. What kind of pirate shit is that? And no one got in trouble afterwards?! What the fuck?! This is the sole scene that took me out of the movie for a second and wonder why this was even happening. What was their endgame if they succeeded in taking out Highway? They would all get court-martialed for this, so why would they try something so insane? I’ve never served, but this scene felt crazy unrealistic and seemed to only exist for Eastwood to knock a young giant out with one punch to show he’s still got it. I understand that Highway tells Swede, after beating his ass, that he’s not going to call the military police and how he wants him to be a Marine, but I think they all should’ve got some sort of punishment from Highway.

This isn’t only because the audience doesn’t like them at this point in the film but because the character of Highway (based off how we know him) doesn’t seem like the guy that would put up with something as outrageous as this. Putting them through another grueling workout isn’t enough for attacking an officer. It just doesn’t make sense for Highway to act kind of indifferent to the whole situation. He’s gotten into fights for much less. He should’ve fucking lost it on these disrespectful jerkoffs!

Even with that perplexing scene and the other minor issues already mentioned, I still really enjoyed Heartbreak Ridge, and Clint Eastwood handles it well in the director’s chair. When the drums begin in the opening credits coupled with war footage, and eventually the black-and-white screen switches to color as Highway opens the film talking to a group in jail, you know you’re in for another Eastwood-is-cooler-than-everyone type of movie. Again, it might not be an introspective look into the political implications of the invasion of Grenada, but it is a badass Clint Eastwood in a war movie and really, that’s good enough for me. At one point, he kills a guy, steals his cigar, and keeps it in his mouth as he shoots. That’s the type of action hero/cool guy shit I want to see in a movie like this.

*Be aware of the fact that they don’t actually go to war until the last half hour of the film.*