Heartbreak Ridge (1986) - Lots of deficiencies in Eastwood's weak Marine movie

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Bad memories of war are at play on this towering, fine poster for Clint Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge

A highly decorated Marine sergeant, who is getting near to retirement age, wishes himself back in action, as he gets a platoon of useless young Marines as his responsibility. At the same time he works to get back his beloved ex-wife.

 

Heartbreak Ridge is written by James Carabatsos (Heroes (1977)), with Dennis Hackin (Wanda Nevada (1979)) and Joseph Stinson (Sudden Impact (1983)) contributing uncredited work, and produced and directed by Californian master filmmaker Clint Eastwood (Play Misty for Me (1971)), whose 14th feature it is, and who also plays the protagonist.

Eastwood is hard as a granite rock in usual name-taking alpha male manner here, unfortunately in what is in more than one way a weak film. For one his character takes lots of abuse in Heartbreak Ridge, which comes off as less than credible, and partly he also gives plenty of abuse as Sergeant Tom Highway, (lots of "faggot"'s escapes Eastwood's lips here among other low insults), and they don't do anything good for the otherwise brotherly spirit that rests in the picture. 

The generally thick, vulgarity-based dialog covers a slow plot: The ex-wife string is not exactly exciting, and there is no real conflict in sight (a war for instance) for most of the film. When the sudden deployment in South-American Grenada suddenly arises, it is a strange and curt shift, wherein a few faceless enemies are shot, before a heroic welcoming home await Eastwood and the boys. The script and the actors never establish the Dirty Dozen (1967) type of tone and latitude that it seems the film should have had. Heartbreak Ridge is overlong, a good time for some (not people generally opposed to things military), but a slow serving. And its title remains unexplained.

 

Related posts:

Clint Eastwood: The Mule (2018) - Drug-runner true story proves another fine fit for screen legend Eastwood 

Sully (2016) - Eastwood's miracle landing biopic is inert and overrated  2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
American Sniper (2014) - Eastwood conveys an American man and myth in electric masterpiece  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess   
J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic   

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Gran Torino (2008) - Eastwood's actor persona comes full circle in absolute smash (co-producer/director/starring actor)
The Changeling (2008) or, The Christine Collins Story  

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]    
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Letters from Iwo Jima/硫黄島からの手紙 [Öjima Kara no Tegami] (2006) - The Japanese side of Eastwood's remarkable WWII two-parter   
Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Eastwood's Iwo Jima portrayal is captivating and profoundly moving 

Blood Work (2002) - Eastwood churns out uninspired thriller adaptation (producer/director/starring actor)

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Absolute Power (1997) - Eastwood stumbles with low-caliber thriller (director/co-producer/co-starring)

The Dead Pool (1988) - The highly entertaining last Dirty Harry movie (starring actor)
City Heat (1984) - Eastwood and Reynolds wrestle dispassionately in Benjamin's messy period affair (co-starring actor)
Tightrope (1984) - An undervalued Clint Eastwood sex killer thriller (starring actor)
Any Which Way You Can (1980) or, More Monkey Business! (starring actor)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) - Siegel, Tuggle and Eastwood's phenomenal prison escape thriller (starring actor)
Every Which Way but Loose (1978) or, Honky Tonk Monkey Business! (starring actor)

The Gauntlet (1977) - Locke/Eastwood cast sparks in corny shoot-em-up (director/starring actor)
The Enforcer (1976) - Eastwood teaches revolutionaries a lesson in third, less punchy Dirty Harry (starring actor)
The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Eastwood's mountain climbing dud (director/star)

High Plains Drifter (1973) - Eastwood cleans up red town in great western (director/star)
The Beguiled (1971) - Intense, erotic Civil War kammerspiel thriller (starring actor)  
Dirty Harry (1971) - Eastwood's great, signature renegade cop character comes to life (starring actor)
Coogan's Bluff (1968) or, Dopes and Hippies, Beat It! (starring actor)  

Hang 'Em High (1968) - Post and Eastwood make spaghetti in the West (starring actor)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - Leone ends his poncho trilogy with certified classic (starring actor)
For a Few Dollars More/Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (1965) or, Return of the Poncho Killer (co-starring actor)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho (starring actor)

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 15 mil. $

Box office: 121.7 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 8.11 times its cost)

[Heartbreak Ridge was released 5 December (USA) and runs 130 minutes. The plot was changed from focusing on the army to the US Marine Corps, as the army refused to cooperate: Eventually the Marine Corps also objected to their portrayal in the film. Eastwood is listed as having gotten 6-10 mil. $ for his performance and work all around the film. Shooting took place around June 1986 in California, including in San Diego, and in Puerto Rico. The film opened #2, behind Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, to an 8.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#4-#5), grossing 42.7 mil. $ (35.1 % of the total gross). The foreign numbers are not released, but if the 121.7 mil. $ gross holds true, Eastwood's tough guy star status had impressive sway globally in '86. It was Oscar-nominated for Best Sound, lost to Platoon. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Eastwood returned with Bird (1988); and as an actor in The Dead Pool (1988). Heartbreak Ridge is fresh at 68 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Heartbreak Ridge? 

Nick of Time (1995) - Good performances in taut Badham thriller

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A high-stakes dilemma  is attempted as baiting tag-line on this ocher-colored poster for John Badham's Nick of Time

A young male accountant has his daughter taken hostage in Los Angeles, and the kidnappers demand that he kills the state governor during her soon to begin campaign event! - What will he do!?!

Nick of Time is written by Patrick Sheane Duncan (The Pornographer (1994)) and directed by great English filmmaker John Badham (The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)).

It is a well-made, exciting thriller in Hitchcock style at times; one that creates a paranoid tension, which may make you wonder, if the plot is really merely the result of an insane protagonist's wild delusions.

Johnny Depp (Benny & Joon (1993)) and Christopher Walken (Kiss Toledo Goodbye (1999)) are good, and the film has sharp supporting performances from Charles S. Dutton (Threshold (2005-06)) and Marsha Mason (I Love Trouble (1994)) as the governor. Parts of the plot don't completely add up, but basically it is solid. The entire film takes place in real-time, (meaning that the plot plays out minute-for-minute in the total 90 minute playtime), and this is a high-wire act that also succeeds pretty well here.

 

Related post:

 

John Badham: Dracula (1979) - Badham's sensuous, exceptional adaptation

 

Watch a 4-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 33 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 8.1 mil. $ (North America only)

= Uncertain but likely a mega-flop (projected return of 0.45 times its cost)

[Nick of Time was released 22 November (North America) and runs 90 minutes. Depp was paid 5 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from April - June 1995 in Toronto, Ontario and in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #9, its highest placement, to a 2.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 8.1 mil. $. Regrettably the international gross numbers have not been made public. With a projected world total gross of 15 mil. $, the film ranks as a mega-flop. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Badham returned with Incognito (1997). Depp returned in Divine Rapture (1995, short) and theatrically in Donnie Brasco (1997). Nick of Time is rotten at 31 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Nick of Time?