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''Southern Comfort'' is a 1981 American
action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
Walter Hill Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 1 ...
and written by Michael Kane, Hill and his longtime collaborator
David Giler David Kevin Giler (July 23, 1943 – December 19, 2020) was an American filmmaker who was active in the film industry since the early 1960s. Career Television Giler's father Bernie (1908–1967) was a writer. Giler began his career collaborating ...
. It stars
Keith Carradine Keith Ian Carradine ( ; born August 8, 1949) is an American actor who has had success on stage, film, and television. He is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's film ''Nashville'', Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series '' Deadwood ...
,
Powers Boothe Powers Allen Boothe (June 1, 1948 – May 14, 2017) was an American actor. He won an Emmy in 1980 for his portrayal of Jim Jones in '' Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones''. He also played saloon owner Cy Tolliver on '' Deadwood'', "C ...
,
Fred Ward Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American actor and producer. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as '' Escape from Alcatraz'', ''Southern Comfort'', '' The R ...
,
T. K. Carter Thomas Kent Carter (born December 18, 1956) is an American actor. In films, he is mostly known for his many comedic performances, such as the street-smart Chester in ''Seems Like Old Times (film), Seems Like Old Times'' and the karaoke-singing ...
,
Franklyn Seales Franklyn Seales (July 15, 1952 – May 14, 1990) was an American film, television and stage actor. He was known for his portrayals of business manager Dexter Stuffins in the 1980s sitcom ''Silver Spoons'', and real-life convicted cop killer Jim ...
and
Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cro ...
. The film, set in 1973, features a
Louisiana Army National Guard The Louisiana Army National Guard (French: Garde nationale de Louisiane) is a component of the Louisiana National Guard, and the state's reserve force within the United States Army. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the ...
squad of nine from an infantry unit on weekend maneuvers in rural bayou country as they antagonize some local
Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...
people and become hunted.


Plot

In 1973, a squad of nine
Louisiana Army National Guard The Louisiana Army National Guard (French: Garde nationale de Louisiane) is a component of the Louisiana National Guard, and the state's reserve force within the United States Army. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the ...
soldiers convene in a local bayou for weekend maneuvers. New to the squad is Corporal Hardin, a cynical transfer from the Texas Army National Guard. He soon becomes disgusted with the arrogant behavior and attitudes of the men. A happily-married chemical engineer in his civilian life, Hardin wants no part of a date with prostitutes which PFC Spencer has arranged for himself and their squad-mates. Nevertheless, he hits it off with the amiable Spencer, and both find themselves to be the most level-headed soldiers in their squad. The nine soldiers set out on patrol and soon get lost in the swamp. They come across a seemingly-abandoned campsite with several canoe-type boats called
pirogue A pirogue ( or ), also called a piragua or piraga, is any of various small boats, particularly dugouts and native canoes. The word is French and is derived from Spanish , which comes from the Carib '. Description The term 'pirogue' does n ...
s. To continue onward, the Guardsmen need the pirogues to get across the flooded swamp. The squad's leader, Staff Sergeant Poole, a
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
veteran, tells one of his men to leave a note explaining the situation, and orders the soldiers into three of the four pirogues. As they set out across the bayou, a group of
Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...
hunter-trappers return and yell at the soldiers for having taken their boats. In response, PFC Stuckey fires blanks from his M-60 machine gun at the Cajuns, thinking it funny when the Cajuns take cover. The Cajuns return fire with live ammunition, killing Poole and sending the squad into a frenzy as they make their way toward cover. Sgt. Casper – the strict, inexperienced, and unpopular second-in-command – orders the squad to continue their "mission." They discover that Cpl. Reece has brought along a box of live ammunition for hunting purposes. Reece is forced at knife-point by Hardin to give up the live ammo, and Casper divides it evenly among the soldiers, in order to bolster their chances of defense. They reach the shack of a one-armed Cajun hunter-trapper, who speaks only French. Casper has him arrested as a
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
. The emotionally unstable Cpl. Bowden uses gasoline to ignite some TNT inside the shack, blowing it up, along with numerous provisions of food, fresh water, guns, and ammunition. The soldiers feel increasingly threatened. Hearing the barking of dogs, the Guardsmen presume they're about to be rescued. The dogs, however, belong to the Cajuns, who are now stalking the soldiers because of Stuckey's actions. The Guardsmen fend off the attacking dogs, only to find that lethal boobytraps have been set for them. Pvt. Cribbs is killed when he trips a spear-bed built into a spring-released cradle-frame, impaling him. The squad camps for the night. Overnight, Bowden begins to have a serious mental breakdown, refusing to speak to anyone or move. The group decides to tie him up for the night. The following morning, Reece tortures the one-armed Cajun by dunking his head in a fetid pond. Hardin discovers this and tries to stop it. Both soldiers get in a fight to the death with bayonets. As the men fight, Hardin gains the upper hand, and to his surprise, the one-armed Cajun screams in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
for Hardin to kill Reece. After Reece is killed, the one-armed Cajun escapes into the swamp. Stuckey, who was close friends with Reece, threatens to kill Hardin. As a helicopter passes overhead, the soldiers frantically try to signal it. Rushing headlong into the swamp after the chopper as it moves onward, Stuckey sinks to his death in quicksand. Having no confidence in Casper after his inept leadership, Spencer relieves him of command. They split up to search for Stuckey. Casper throws a homemade grenade at the Cajuns to no avail, then fixes his bayonet to his rifle and charges at them. Both he and PFC. Simms are shot dead. Spencer, Hardin, and the now-catatonic Bowden camp for the night. The following morning Hardin and Spencer are jolted awake by a freight train, and then realize that Bowden is missing. They move to the train tracks and find Bowden hanging dead from a bridge. The one-armed Cajun appears on the tracks overhead. In perfect English, he warns Spencer and Hardin to leave the Cajuns' territory while they still can. He gives them directions on how to escape the bayou, since Hardin and Spencer saved him from physical assault by Simms and Reece. Following the one-armed Cajun's advice, Spencer and Hardin follow a dirt road and end up hitching a ride with a friendly Cajun couple. They are driven to a
pig roast A pig roast or hog roast is an event or gathering which involves the barbecuing of a whole pig. Pig roasts, under a variety of names, are a common traditional celebration event in many places including the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Cuba. ...
at a nearby Cajun village. As Spencer happily mixes with the villagers, a wary Hardin sees the arrival of the three remaining hunter-trappers who massacred their squad. One of Hardin's would-be-killers chases him into a shed and wounds him in the arm. Spencer suddenly shows up, firing blanks at the Cajun as a distraction, giving Hardin the chance to stab him in the groin. The other two Cajuns arrive, and Spencer runs, leading them away from the injured Hardin. Spencer, hiding around a corner, hits one of the Cajuns in the face with the butt of his
M-16 The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...
, knocking him out. The remaining Cajun gives chase, but as he is about to shoot Spencer, Hardin grabs him from behind. This gives Spencer the opportunity to stab him to death with his bayonet. Leaving behind the village, Spencer and Hardin slip away unseen into the swamp. As the duo moves into the swamp, another helicopter arrives overhead and seems to stay in the vicinity. They get back to the dirt road just in time to see a
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
truck drive towards them. They look at each other, knowing they are finally safe.


Cast


Production


Development

Hill first wrote the script in 1976. At one stage it was known as ''The Prey''. According to Walter Hill he and
David Giler David Kevin Giler (July 23, 1943 – December 19, 2020) was an American filmmaker who was active in the film industry since the early 1960s. Career Television Giler's father Bernie (1908–1967) was a writer. Giler began his career collaborating ...
had a deal with
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
to "acquire and develop interesting, commercial scripts that could be produced cheaply. ''
Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'' (1979) was one of them, and ''Southern Comfort'' was another. We wanted to do a survival story, and I'd already done a film in Louisiana." They hired a writer, Michael Kane, to do a draft which Giler and Hill then rewrote. According to Hill, "No studio wanted to make it, but an independent guy showed up who had a relationship with Fox. Liked it, said he would finance it.""Interview with Walter Hill Chapter 7"
''Directors Guild of Australia'', accessed June 12, 2014
The film was financed by the Cinema Group. This was a company headed by William J. Immerman, whose head of production was Venetia Stevenson, daughter of director Robert Stevenson. The Cinema Group had raised a fund of $30 million to make movies, half of which was private, the other half which was publicly raised. ''Southern Comfort'' was their second film. (''
Take This Job and Shove It "Take This Job and Shove It" is a 1977 country music song written by David Allan Coe and popularized by Johnny Paycheck, about the bitterness of a man who has worked long and hard with no apparent reward. The song was first recorded by Paycheck o ...
'' was their first.)
Powers Boothe Powers Allen Boothe (June 1, 1948 – May 14, 2017) was an American actor. He won an Emmy in 1980 for his portrayal of Jim Jones in '' Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones''. He also played saloon owner Cy Tolliver on '' Deadwood'', "C ...
was cast after Hill and Giler saw him play Jim Jones in the mini series '' Guyana Tragedy''. Hill said the concept of Keith Carradine's character "was that he was one of nature's aristocrats – graceful, confident of his own ability and able to separate himself from other people with an amusing remark", whereas the character played by Boothe "is much more the rational, hardworking, self made individual" and as a result "just cannot believe the nature of the situation at first" whereas Carradine's can.


Shooting

The movie was shot in Louisiana over 55 days in the
Caddo Lake Caddo Lake (french: Lac Caddo) is a lake and bayou (wetland) on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana. The lake is named after the Caddoans ...
area outside Shreveport. Hill:
We were very aware that people were going to see it as a metaphor for Vietnam. The day we had the cast read, before we went into the swamps, I told everybody, 'People are going to say this is about Vietnam. They can say whatever they want, but I don't want to hear another word about it.'"
The film is supported by an atmospheric soundtrack by longstanding Hill collaborator Ry Cooder. The song "Parlez Nous à Boire", sung during the scene in the Cajun village at the end of the film, was performed by Cajun musician
Dewey Balfa Dewey Balfa (March 20, 1927 – June 17, 1992) was an American Cajun fiddler and singer who contributed significantly to the popularity of Cajun music. Balfa was born near Mamou, Louisiana. He is perhaps best known for his 1964 performance at th ...
. The film includes many actors, including
Fred Ward Freddie Joe Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) was an American actor and producer. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as '' Escape from Alcatraz'', ''Southern Comfort'', '' The R ...
and
Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cro ...
, who had one of their first big roles here. Hill later said he enjoyed the experience of making the film but that it was tough:
I was very proud of the actors in it. It was a tough movie to make, and they put up with a lot. They would probably tell you they put up with a lot from me. aughs.But they really did it without complaint. And I just thought I was very fortunate to have the cast that I had. Jesus, it was a hard movie to make... I think when you see the movie you can see that this one wasn't nightclubs in Vegas. But it was just very hard locations to get in there. Very hard to shoot. I remember so many times we'd only have a few minutes to set the camera because the bottom of the swamp would give way. And so, for your camera positions, you had to stage and shoot very quickly in many cases. It just was hard, and the weather was miserable. However, I will say this: If you choose to go make a movie in a swamp in the middle of winter, you probably deserve what you get. aughs.ref name="avclub"/>
"It was unbelievably tough", said Powers Boothe. "The actors would clamber out of the muck just in time to get back into it. The situation was even harder on the crew. They'd set up a camera platform and it would slowly sink into the bayou. Or with a tripod, one leg would sink. And how can actors hit their marks in two feet of water?... I have to give Walter Hill credit for making the three months as endurable as possible. We didn't lose our senses of humor until late in the shooting. Taking two weeks off at Christmas time helped keep our sanity." Walter Hill said the film was "not a simple action movie where the people chasing the other out there is bad":
It is clearly in a sense the kind of fault of our guys for getting into this situation. In the collective group, there are individuals who are not as highly evolved as the others. And the answers to the dilemma, I mean both nature's noblemen, those of higher character through some innate quality. And you have people that operate on a sliding scale downward to the brute level in their response to the situation that they have gotten themselves into. All of which I think is a kind of, war is terrible. It's a wartime situation. With mixed results and accompanying paranoia even by those who are the best and the brightest of the bunch... None of us are quite as good or bad as we construct them. ''Southern Comfort'' is trying not to be an easy drama.


Soundtrack

The music was done by Ry Cooder who had just worked with Hill on ''
The Long Riders ''The Long Riders'' is a 1980 American Western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the ''Best Music'' award in 1980 from t ...
''. Cooder later said:
Because my own musical fantasies and Walter Hill's film fantasies arc in sync, it's possible for me to score a film like ''Southern Comfort'' without understanding the first thing about its environment. All I had to do was think about this weird swamp, and the Cajun people that nobody knew about. I had to imagine what they were going to sound like, and I figured on the style of John Lee Hooker's music.


Reception

Walter Hill later said he was "always amazed" by the reception to the film. "The American reception was a real kind of nothing. But it was very nicely received around the world." He added that the movie "didn't make a fucking nickel anywhere. Foreign, domestic, anything... I was proud of the film... But I was disappointed in the lack of response. It was a universal audience failure... Usually you can say they loved it in Japan or something. I don't think anybody loved it anywhere." On the
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
website the film has received a positive reception from critics with an overall rating of 76% from 21 reviews. Roger Ebert rated it 3 stars, stating that it is "a film of drum-tight professionalism" but criticizing it for making its characters "into larger-than-life stick figures, into symbolic units who stand for everything except themselves.""Southern Comfort" By Roger Ebert ''RogerEbert.com'' Jan 1, 1981
accessed July 26, 2015
While he said that the stock nature of the characters reminded him greatly of the way Hill approached the gang members in '' The Warriors'' (to which he gave a 2 stars, thumbs down review) he also said that he would recommend ''Southern Comfort'' partly because he had overlooked good qualities of Hill's previous film over that issue, and that the atmosphere and pacing of ''Southern Comfort'' were so strong that he gave it a thumbs up. At the time critics regularly made reference to the film's plot similarities to John Boorman's 1972 thriller ''
Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapt ...
''.


Change of story under Iranian censorship

In the late 1980s Iranian state TV
IRIB The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; fa, صدا و سيمای جمهوری اسلامی ايران, ''Sedā va Sīmā-ye Jomhūri-ye Eslāmi-ye Īrān'', , formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian rev ...
broadcast the film, under the name "Operation Lagoon" (Amaliyate Mordab). The film was shortened to 95 minutes, and the story was changed. In the Iranian version, a group of US Army soldiers who opposed the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
are sent to a mission among man-hunters, equipped only with blanks. The soldiers are killed by man-hunters one after another as planned by US authorities. At the end, when the remaining two soldiers believe the US Army truck is coming to save them, the picture fades and a voice of constant shooting is heard, indicating the US authorities killed all the soldiers. The film was a huge hit among the Iranian audience. The Iranian film critics believed that the IRIB censored version made more sense considering the American government's alleged atrocities overseas.


See also

*
List of American films of 1981 A list of American films released in 1981. The Academy Award winner of Best Picture of 1981 was ''Chariots of Fire''. The highest-grossing film of 1981 was ''Raiders of the Lost Ark''. __TOC__ A–C D–G H–M N–S T–Z See als ...
* Survival film, about the film genre, with a list of related films * "
Amos Moses "Amos Moses" is a song written and recorded by American musician Jerry Reed. It was released in October 1970 as the fourth and final single from the album ''Georgia Sunshine'' and was his highest-charting single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, bowin ...
", 1970 song by
Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", " U.S. Male", "A Thi ...
about a one-armed Cajun poacher


References


Bibliography

* * * * *


External links

* * *
"Walter Hill: ''The Hollywood Interview''"
(September 8, 2009) {{Walter Hill 1981 films 1981 action thriller films 1981 independent films 20th Century Fox films American action thriller films American independent films 1980s English-language films Films scored by Ry Cooder Films directed by Walter Hill Films set in Louisiana Films set in 1973 Films set in forests American survival films Southern Gothic films Films with screenplays by Walter Hill Films shot in Louisiana Censored films 1980s American films