Heartbreak Ridge
Heartbreak Ridge | |
---|---|
Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
Written by | James Carabatsos |
Produced by | Clint Eastwood |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Jack N. Green |
Edited by | Joel Cox |
Music by | Lennie Niehaus |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 130 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | English Spanish |
Budget | $15 million[1] |
Box office | $121.7 million[2] |
Heartbreak Ridge is a 1986 American
The title comes from the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge in the Korean War, in which Eastwood's character had been awarded the Medal of Honor.
Plot
In 1983,
When Highway arrives, his new commanding officer, Major Malcolm Powers, seeing him as old-fashioned, assigns him to the
Highway repeatedly clashes with Powers and his assistant, First Platoon Staff Sergeant Webster. They deplore Highway's unorthodox training methods (such as firing an
Highway attempts adapting his mindset to romance his ex-wife Aggie, a barmaid at a local tavern who is dating the establishment's Marine-hating owner, Roy. He resorts to reading women's magazines to attempt to understand the female mind. Initially resenting their failed marriage, Aggie tentatively reconciles with Highway.
The
Ring and Highway advance on the position, but come under fire from two armored cars and infantry. The platoon hides inside an abandoned building, but when the Cubans attack, platoon radioman Profile is killed and his radio destroyed, impeding direct communication. Ring proposes making a long-distance call to
Major Powers arrives with Webster, reprimands Ring and threatens Highway with a court-martial. However, the commanding officer of the regiment to which Powers' battalion belongs, Colonel Meyers (a veteran who served in the same battalion as Highway in the Vietnam War), arrives by helicopter and after listening to Powers' and Highway's reports, commends Highway and punishes Powers with transfer back to his former support unit for discouraging the Recon Marines' fighting spirit.
Highway and his men are warmly received upon returning to the States, with the 1st Marine Division Band playing the official Marine Corps march. Jones informs Highway that he is going to re-enlist and make a career in the Corps, while Highway confides to Jones he is taking mandatory retirement. Aggie is waiting for him in the stands, and the two of them walk off together to start Highway's retirement.
Cast
- Gunnery SergeantThomas "Tom" Highway
- Marsha Mason as Aggie Highway
- Everett McGill as Major Malcolm A. Powers
- Staff SergeantLuke Webster
- Eileen Heckart as Mary Jackson
- Mark Mattingly as Franco "One Ball" Peterson
- Bo Svenson as Roy Jennings
- First LieutenantM.R. Ring
- Mario Van Peebles as Corporal "Stitch" Jones
- Arlen Dean Snyder as Sergeant MajorJ. Choozhoo
- Lance CorporalFragetti
- Ramón Franco as Lance Corporal Aponte (as Ramon Franco)
- Tom Villard as Corporal "Profile"
- Mike Gomez as Corporal Quinones
- Rodney Hill as Corporal Collins
- Peter Koch as Private "Swede" Johanson
- Richard Venture as Colonel Meyers
- Peter Jason as Major Devin
- John Hostetter as Officer Reese
- Nicholas Worth as Jail Binger
- J.C. Quinn as the supply sergeant
Production
Screenwriter James Carabatsos, a Vietnam veteran of the
However, the Army read the script and refused to participate, due to Highway being portrayed as a hard drinker, divorced from his wife, and using unapproved motivational methods to his troops, an image the Army did not want. The Army called the character a "stereotype" of World War II and Korean War attitudes that did not exist in the modern army and also did not like the obscene dialogue and lack of reference to women in the army. Eastwood pleaded his case to an Army general, contending that while the point of the film was that Highway was a throwback to a previous generation, there were values in the World War II- and Korean War-era army that were worth emulating.
Eastwood approached the
Marines who viewed the film cited numerous issues with the way they were portrayed. Major Powers, the battalion's inexperienced S-3 Operations Officer, is repeatedly shown disparaging and insulting Gunny Highway, as well as showing blatant favoritism regarding "his" Marines of the First Platoon. In reality, this would not have happened, given Highway's Medal of Honor. Much of the "training" done before the Grenada invasion was highly inaccurate, including the fact that Highway's Marine Recon unit did not have a Navy corpsman to deal with his men if injured. Even on a relatively small budget, the technical advice was poor. The Defense Department originally supported the film, but withdrew its backing after seeing a preview in November 1986.[4] Eastwood was paid $6 million for directing and starring in the film.[5]
Beginning in summer 1986, Heartbreak Ridge was filmed at Camp Talega (the location of the
The sequence involving the bulldozer is based on a real event during the invasion of Grenada involving Army General
The film was the 1,000th to be released in Dolby Stereo.[8]
Music
The
Reception
Critical response
Reaction to the film was generally positive. Among reviews,
In terms of negative feedback, reviewer Derek Smith of the Apollo Movie Guide wrote that there was "not enough substance to Gunny to make him interesting enough to be the central character of a film, and since the movie offers nothing new or fresh, it just feels dull and uninteresting."[14]
Heartbreak Ridge holds a 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews. The site's consensus states: "With Heartbreak Ridge, director Clint Eastwood gets one of his best performances out of himself, even if the story struggles to engage."[15] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted score of 53 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[16] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[17]
Several writers have described the film as "
Accolades
The film won the BMI Film Music Award for Lennie Niehaus and the Image Award in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Mario Van Peebles. The film also received a nomination, from the Academy Awards for Best Sound for Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, Vern Poore and Bill Nelson.[22]
Box office
At its widest distribution in the United States, the film was screened at 1,647 theaters grossing $8,100,840 in its opening weekend. During that weekend, the film opened in second place behind Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.[23] Revenue dropped by 41% in its second week of release, earning $4,721,454.[24] During its final weekend showing in theaters, the film grossed $1,040,729. It went on to take in a total of $42,724,017 in ticket sales during a seven-week theatrical run[24] and a worldwide total of $121.7 million.[2] It ranked 18th at the box office for 1986.[25]
See also
References
- ^ a b Hughes, pp. 200–201
- ^ The Wrap. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-8131-9018-1.
- ^ At Least Some Marines Are Gung-ho For 'Ridge' - Los Angeles Times, 3 December 1986
- ^ Munn, p. 212
- St. Petersburg Times, September 3, 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-7190-3187-8.
- ^ Mead, Bill (March 25, 2011). "Forty years of cinema innovation: Hollywood & FJI celebrate a Dolby milestone". Film Journal International. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
- Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
- ^ Attanasio, Paul (December 5, 1986). 'Heartbreak Ridge'. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
- Washington Post. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
- ^ Variety Staff, (January 1, 1986). Heartbreak Ridge Film Review. Variety. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (December 5, 1986). FILM: CLINT EASTWOOD IN 'HEARTBREAK RIDGE'. The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
- ^ Smith, Derek (May 24, 2003). Heartbreak Ridge Archived 2006-03-14 at the Wayback Machine. Apollo Movie Guide. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
- ^ "Heartbreak Ridge (1986)" – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
- ^ Heartbreak Ridge Reviews, Metacritic, retrieved 2022-04-02
- ^ "Home". CinemaScore. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
- ISBN 9780669340884– via Google Books.
- ^ "'We Should be Concerned Where and How DOD Policy and Criticism of DOD Might be' – Pentagon File on Heartbreak Ridge". 10 July 2019.
- ISBN 9781349199167– via Google Books.
- ISBN 9780820495453– via Google Books.
- ^ "The 59th Academy Awards (1987) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
- ^ Heartbreak Ridge. Box Office Mojo. Weekend results for December 5–7, 1986. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
- ^ a b "Heartbreak Ridge". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
- ^ 1986 Domestic Grosses. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-1-84511-902-7.
- Munn, Michael (1992). Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books. ISBN 0-86051-790-X.
External links
- Official website
- Heartbreak Ridge at the Internet Movie Database
- Heartbreak Ridge at the Movie Review Query Engine
- Heartbreak Ridge at AllMovie
- Heartbreak Ridge at the TCM Movie Database
- Heartbreak Ridge at the American Film Institute Catalog