I wanted to but couldn't!

Best movie ever!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Love this film, yes it does have hold a in the story but just watch it for the set pieces, the drama, the action and the acting. The set pieces set done mainly in the swamp gives off a claustrophobic feel to it in which the actors do a great in trying to get out from it. The action parts were done smartly, the viewer never knows what is going to happen next. The acting from everyone on set is also done with great style, Walter Hill arms to be able to do this with every movie I have seen of his and I haven't seen all of them. One of the best sequences that gives off to me, the ultimate claustrophobic feel to it is the scene in the Cajun village near the end of the film, the scene is done with over music that cranks the scene up by 100. This should be one of those movies you have to see before you die. This film has stood the test of time and still works today.

My best guess is that this is a statement being made by Walter Hill with regards to the Vietnam War. Movies like Platoon also depicted this kind of mindless idiocy on the part of US troops, including violent or threatening behaviour towards innocent civilians. It probably happened lots in Namm...and to what extent, probably still happens today.Totally mixed feelings watching this flick. US troops are supposed to be the good guys, but because of my utter disgust of their characters and behaviour, I eagerly anticipate for at least some of them to be "offed" by the indigenous civilians that they wronged.After being hit with various boobie traps, attack dogs, and even fatal casualties due to fighting amongst themselves (meatheads), without disclosing the ending, the only soldiers left in trying to escape the swamps (and their Cajun pursuers) are the only ones that you placed any sympathy with and had half a brain.If not for the production quality and all-star cast, I would have rated this movie much lower. As it stands, it is actually a pretty decent movie, but the annoying factor is fairly high.

In 1973, a regiment of the Louisiana National Guard travel out to the remote bayou for a routine training mission. The men, including Spencer (Carradine), Hardin (Boothe), Reece (Ward), Poole (Coyote), and Cribbs (Carter) have differing attitudes towards life and their situation. It all seems simple enough, but when they accidentally draw the ire of some local Cajun folk, the crafty Cajuns start killing them off one by one as punishment for their perceived incursion into their territory. Not to mention their capture of a local man, simply known as Trapper (James). Now trying to survive with limited resources in a harsh and unfamiliar environment, our National Guardsmen literally have to fight their own war at home. Who will die, who will survive, and who will live to find out the true meaning of SOUTHERN COMFORT? Only the genius of the great Walter Hill could take elements of the Wilderness Horror subgenre, the war movie, the Western, the suspense thriller, and the Asian-style "Heroic Bloodshed" film, and tie it all together with allegorical and metaphorical themes and undercurrents, all the while on the surface allowing it to appear to be a Deliverance/Most Dangerous Game-style survival outing. Strictly speaking, this isn't a straight-up action movie, though it certainly has those elements, but Hill's style, especially with this movie, was so imitated and duplicated in the years following this, we just had to include it here for being the benchmark that it is. Just watch any Cirio Santiago-directed jungle slog or any Italian war film shot in the Philippines (i.e. Eye of the Eagle III or Dogtags, respectively) and you'll see what we mean. The influence of Southern Comfort reverberated throughout the video store era of the 80's/early 90's and beyond, and it's easy to see why. There's a certain disturbing quality to it, especially in the final third. And as much as we enjoyed Hunter's Blood (1986), that film can't really compete with the staying power of Southern Comfort, because there's so much more depth here, despite the surface similarities. Or perhaps it's the presence of Joey Travolta. One or the other.The cast is killer, the Louisiana locations are both picturesque and unsettling (captured gorgeously by cinematographer Andrew Laszlo), and the Ry Cooder score is the icing on the cake. The cumulative effect of the clever writing, brilliant direction, the great cast, strange yet pretty locations and the top-notch score is powerfully effective. You can't ask for much more. If we have one minor quibble, it's that the 105-minute running time might have been able to be trimmed down a tad. But everything else is in the "win" column for this fine film.In high school English class, we learned about the four main drivers of narrative conflict. These are: Man against man, man against society, man against nature and man against self. Southern Comfort is one of the few movies that articulately expresses ALL of the four conflicts. But one of the other themes - and a constant in the work of Walter Hill - particularly stood out: the nature of masculinity. What does it mean to be "a man"? Is there a type of man that is "best"? One that is more effective? Does losing at a certain conflict make you "less of a man"? All these questions and many more are lurking just beneath the surface.Hill also shows that not all the Vietnam-era action happened in Vietnam. This provides a point of difference that is worth noting. There's some un-PC dialogue we all love and enjoy, and much like The Thing (1982), there are almost no women in the entire movie. The Shout Factory DVD/Blu-Ray combo is the package to buy - the movie looks brilliant and there is an insightful documentary included as well.Southern Comfort is much more than a "man's movie" - it cleverly explores themes that are damn near primordial in mankind. But it never loses its power to entertain, which is what good storytelling is all about. We strongly recommend it.

Of course, you might compare this film in many ways to Deliverance. Although this is a less better film, I'd opt to watch this instead. I love the performances in this film, especially Keith Carradine, who really struts his stuff, and I did like Powers Boothe, and we can't rule out Brion James, man of many faces, as a revenge driven shooter and yokel. Peter Coyote leads a training exercise, with his squad of U.S. marines (not the most likable sort), in the the murky swamps in the bayou, not the best place as you'll find out. When making the mistakes of stealing these yokel's canoes, begins a game of vengeance, where one by one the squad are picked off, where inevitably we have the two survivor factor. Some of the characters are so arrogant (esp. Fred Ward) where quite frankly, I was glad to see the back of some of them. The movie actually becomes better the more it progresses, resulting in some real tasty entertainment. The thrills are in wondering how the next soldier is gonna get it, or how the squad intend to outsmart them, with the next plan of strategy. Southern Comfort is quite violent too, amid exploding brains and matter, or watch a pig get gutted. I loved the music scores in this. It's last fifteen minutes is almost, as when the surviving two are in the company of a festival of town folk, it's quite eerie, as to tell which are good or bad. You don't know in this sea of yokels. Powers Boothe was quite a reason to watch this, as I do like that actor, but the others hold their own too. A very made film in the tradition of Deliverance. Enjoy.