1981 - SOUTHERN COMFORT, Deliverence meets a Vietnam War metaphor

Manly filmmaker Walter Hill the director of such manly films such as 48 Hours, Hard Times, The Driver, The Warriors, Extreme Prejudice and Red Heat, released this little gem about some National Guard soldiers the "Weekend Warriors" training in the Louisiana Bayou.

These good old  boys get themselves into a whole heap of trouble with the local Vietcong Cajuns.  Since the film is set in 1973 the comparisons to the Vietnam experience which was still pretty fresh in every one's mind were obvious.

Hill's a get right to the point kind of filmmaker, the action scenes are tough and his male characters either measure up or they don't.  Hill doesn't have a lot of time for all that sissy female stuff when there's people to shoot or shove a knife into or slug in the face.  In the extreme world of Walter Hill you either measure up or you'll be pushing daisies.  Hill is like Howard Hawks with an overdose of testosterone, a big overdose of testosterone.

Southern Comfort's a good action film but I'm not certain what point it actually has to make about the Vietnam War.  By the time the United States pulled out of Vietnam it was pretty much assumed that we really had no business being over there and didn't exactly know what the hell we were doing there in the first place.  Then again many people in this country has been trying to rewrite the history of that war to show it in a more favorable light for years.  Southern Comfort is not really concerned with these kind of sensibilities. 

Still, this film is extremely well made and well acted.  It certainly held my interest till the end.

The on location filming in the Louisiana Bayou country in what looks to be winter or fall is pretty impressive and must have really sucked for the actors and the technicians behind the camera.

105 minutes.