Southern Comfort [DVD]

This is a review of the 2019 Region B2 Blu-ray from Second Sight Films. Regarding comments in other reviews about the quality of this disc, we found the picture good but not as sharp as one might expect on Blu-ray, and the sound OK but not brilliant. This is not a cheap product, so one might expect better.Walter Hill is a California-born screen-writer, director and producer with a long list of films to his credit, largely high-octane Westerns and action movies, such as ‘The Long Riders’(1980) and ‘Extreme Prejudice’(1987). With David Giler, he founded Brandywine Productions, which bought the option on ‘Alien’(1979); Hill and Giler were heavily involved in the screenplays and production of the first 4 Alien films. In 1981, they asked writer Michael Kane to produce a 1st draft of a ‘survival story’ that would be cheap to make, which they then re-wrote; Giler produced, and Hill directed. They chose to make it in Louisiana, which Hill was familiar with.‘Southern Comfort’ (the title was used under an agreement with the drinks manufacturer) is, like the earlier and more famous John Boorman film ‘Deliverance’, a horror-adventure set in the backwoods of rural America. Both are predicated on the collision of urban Americans (ostensibly civilised) arriving in unfamiliar and hostile terrain, with rural back-woodsmen. In fact, this film is an unmistakable allegory relating to the US military’s disastrous mismatch of a war in South East Asia. The film pits a group of 9 Louisiana National Guardsmen, out in the Bayou on exercise, against a shadowy group of local Cajun hunters. For Cajuns, read the Vietcong, shadowy resistance fighters in the jungles and villages of Vietnam.The movie was filmed during December around Caddo Lake, a vast area of wetland on the Texas-Louisiana border. It produces one of the most miserably monochrome vistas of any film I can recall. The characters spend their entire time wet and muddy, and half of it walking or wading in murky water. It must have been a beast to film, for both the actors and the crew.The sheer brutal physicality of the landscape sets the scene admirably for the action. The choreography ~ now you see it, now you don’t ~ is excellent. The suspense is fed by superbly atmospheric music from the musician and songwriter Ry Cooder. And the ensemble cast, many then unknown, enter into the spirit of the action with gusto. Only Keith Carradine was previously well-known, in ‘Nashville’(1975) and ‘The Long Riders’. He and Powers Boothe (who had a distinguished film and TV career, particularly in series such as ‘Deadwood’, ’24’ and ‘Nashville’) are good.This is a nicely creepy film, with a chilly, disturbing feel. It should be watched with a large mug of Hot Chocolate to hand!

Good to see this 80s classic on Prime. Vintage Ry Cooder of course on slide guitar providing atmospheric soundtrack with some kick up cajun courtesy of Dewey Balfa. Sensitive animal lovers beware graphic close up live shots of hogs being slaughtered on screen about 15-20 mins towards the end. Otherwise gripping ‘deliverance’ feel film of Louisiana Army National Guard squad having a FUBAR time with a few of the locals they p*ssed off.

Walter Hill has been responsible for some sublime movie-making such as 48 Hours, The Warriors, the cruelly ignored Crossroads, and this...his finest hour. Far superior to the often compared Deliverance, Powers Booth and Keith Carradine turn in sterling performances as National Guardsmen lost in deep Louisiana trying to fight their way to safety from local backwoodsmen.The Ry Cooder soundtrack simply adds to the menace as the squadron are picked off one by one in the unforgiving Southern swamps. A masterpiece which has stood the test of time, as suspenseful as the first time I saw it 35 years ago. See it, just see it.

On the surface, Walter Hill's Southern Comfort is your standard survival/war movie, a gormless platoon of soldiers getting lost in territory and then picked off one by one by a wily foe.Scratch away, and Southern Comfort becomes more than your usual, standard action fare. This is Hill's take on the Vietnam war, but this time Americans are confronting fellow Americans, with the Cajun woodsmen standing in for the North Vietnamese, the hapless platoon's technical superiority no match for the Cajun's woodcraft.As with any good war film, the true heart lies away from the action scenes, the interplay between the platoon members switches from cosy familiarity to weariness, to hostility, as the fight for survival becomes more pronounced, Hill cleverly subverting the action genre tropes, as the pillars of American society crumble, and the odd balls rise to the occasion.The cinematography is also worth noting - the great primordial swamp of Louisiana never looking more dismal...or green.With a great Ry Cooder soundtrack adding some icing to the cake, Southern Comfort is Hill's masterpiece, the high watermark of a distinguished career.

A fantastic film with an absolutely brilliant final scene. Casting and acting are superb throughout and the tension is kept high in every scene. I would also recommend that you look at the interview with Walter Hill (film director) as part of the extras.

Average picture quality and the original cinema release was more widescreen if I remember correctly. The soundtrack is poor and is barely stereo. The moody atmosphere created by Ry Cooder's guitar playing and sound effects are lost due to the lack of a 5.1 soundtrack. Second Sight Films should go back to the drawing board and produce a decent transfer to Blu Ray because this cult film by Walter Hill deserves it.

Saw this film when it was first released here in England. A timeless classic which is still quite capable of putting many modern films of this genre in the shade. The inimitable Ry Cooder supplies the soundtrack what very little there is of it. Atmospheric, suspenseful film without the romance and all that smooching stuff that so often ruins films these days. What a relief. Watchable and entertaining.

08/01/21 1100am it was a fine film when i initially saw it. kindda made some inroads into my psyche. then i went and bought said film, then i had said film stolen...now i have bought myself another copy. i am watching this now - and although not the deep and meaningful film thriller it was back in my formative years - i still think, seeing as i have gone out and bought myself another copy of deliverance (maybe the rural types find these films too close for comfort... lol?), that it is still a worthy film to view. thanx.