Deliverance on steroids? Metaphor for Vietnam? Or just an entertaining and suspenseful action movie?A disparate bunch (is there ever any other kind) of National Guardsmen on a weekend maneuver wind up lost in a Louisiana swamp. A prank with blanks goes wrong and people start to die. Apparently you don't mess around with Cajuns, or if you do, you pay the price.
It's a steep price, and so the movie is one of those "who's going to be alive at the end?" affairs along with everything else. It's also "anyone can die at any time." It's just a question of how, since the Cajuns are quite inventive.
And finally this is an "it ain't over till it's over" movie. The last act is a good one. Like last week's movie, this one was directed by Walter Hill, and while it's not in the same league with Hard Times, it's a good bit of fun on its own. The cast includes Powers Boothe, Keith Carradine, and Fred Ward, but just about everybody's good. Check it out.
9 comments:
One of my favorite Walter Hill movies. Everything works. Puts all these dumb summer blockbusters to shame. Real writing, real acting, real directing.
I would have never expected Keith Carradine to have such a long career. He still shows up regularly on TV.
He's very good in this one.
Much of this was filmed in northeast Louisiana, some of it near my hometown of Shreveport. The helicopter flying was all done by a friend of mine's father.
Some fine music, too. Ry Cooder's score is fantastic, and that cajun party at the end sounds just fine.
I should've mentioned the score. You're right. It's great stuff.
I like Walter Hill's films very much and this is a beaut. Scared the whotsits out of me when I first saw it and I still dream about it from time to time.
It's probably hard to find what with the Confederate battle flag on the cover.
I don't know if it's still available with that cover.
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