Southern Comfort (1981)

 

               “Southern Comfort” was directed by Walter Hill. It was his only war film. He co-wrote the screenplay. The film was shot at Caddo Lake near Shreveport, Louisiana. It was a difficult shoot that lasted 55 days. It was filmed in the winter, so the environment was wet and cold. (What I call “soccer weather.”) The miserable conditions caused many in the cast and crew to get the flu. Was it worth it? The movie was a bomb, but critics were mostly kind.

               In 1973, a squad of nine National Guardsmen go on a routine survival test in a swamp. Because it’s near the end of the Vietnam War, the group reflects the Army at a low point. The men lack discipline and several have attitude problems. And they are National Guardsmen. “We do important things like beating up college kids and tear-gassing n------.” It’s heterogeneous squad. It includes a ghetto black, a ladies’ man, a serious Hispanic, a dumbass troublemaker, a serious, incompetent leader, the new guy who doesn’t want to be there, and the cautious guy. (But none are from Brooklyn.) There’s a lot of dysfunction, naturally. To give you an idea what National Guardsmen did on their one weekend a month, PFC Spencer (Keith Carradine) has arranged for some prostitutes (“whores de combat”) to meet them. Before that happens, they “borrow” three pirogues (Cajun canoes) to cross a bayou. When the owners see them and start yelling obscenities, one of the men fires his M-16 at them. They don’t know he is firing blanks, so they return fire, killing him. It’s lost patrol time and not only are they lost, but they are being chased by coonasses who know the swamp. One of the men has some live ammunition, so they won’t go down without a fight. Neither side is innocent as things escalate. The film is squarely in the “who will survive?” subgenre.

               “Southern Comfort” is a flawed, but entertaining movie. It’s basically an excuse to watch a cat and mouse game with a variety of deaths. There is little character development because all the characters are stereotypes. The acting is fine from a cast with some fine actors, but they don’t have to work very hard because we already know the men. Hill insisted the movie was not a commentary on the Vietnam War. He might not have been trying, but the film certainly gives that impression. If you have seen Vietnam War movies that have dysfunctional units, try one that makes the platoon in “Platoon” look like a Boy Scout troop. The Louisiana National Guard did not get a boost in recruitment because of it. Speaking of Louisiana, the plot made it the best location for a movie that has primitive natives who don’t like strangers. Don’t get lost in a Louisiana swamp! Surprisingly, no one dies from a snake bite. But one does die from quicksand. (Remember back when that was a major cause of death in movies?) Surprisingly, the film does not demonize the Cajuns. This is not “Deliverance”.

GRADE  =  C