As more than a few observers have noted, USMC Recon is a creme de la creme fighting unit, on par with any ultra-selective military branch you can imagine. They simply do not accept goofballs. Tom Villard, Boyd Gaines, and Mario Van Peebles may be fitting choices for Porky's or One Crazy Summer, but certainly not a hardcore combat picture. Still, the gravest technical errors can be overlooked if brilliant storywriting or performances warrant doing so, but is either evident here? Clint deserves credit for amusing audiences as the rock-hard drill instructor, demonstrated by his "I've drank more beer, pi**ed more blood, and banged more qui** than all you numb nuts put together" tirade. His acting and directing methods, however, tend not to change much from film to film. I remember watching Heartbreak Ridge on TV and confusing its slow-moving battle footage with that of The Eiger Sanction, while having dreaded flashbacks, in the wake of the obligatory Eastwood hick-town bar scene, of Every Which Way But Loose.
Review of Heartbreak Ridge
