Southern Comfort (DVD)

_Southern Comfort_ is not just the name of the most effeminate of whiskeys (for true men like their’s burning and horrible tasting) it’s also a 1981 film by Walter Hill director of _The Warriors_.

The film follows a small squad of Louisiana National Guard on a training exercise through the Louisiana swamp lands - the bayou. It’s a friendly crew of men all casual about their duty and not taking the exercise completely seriously. The cool ...
...arranged for some prostitutes to meet them at the end of the trail so they’re all keen to get it over with.

Things progress pretty normally until their commander, Poole, seems to have got them lost. They’re at the edge of deep lake/river/big water thing with no way across. Luckily, they spot some boats beside a poachers den. The allure of some Louisiana hookers prevails of proper military practice and they decide to commandeer the boats ... more

Southern Comfort is not just the name of the most effeminate of whiskeys (for true men like their’s burning and horrible tasting) it’s also a 1981 film by Walter Hill director of The Warriors.

The film follows a small squad of Louisiana National Guard on a training exercise through the Louisiana swamp lands - the bayou. It’s a friendly crew of men all casual about their duty and not taking the exercise completely seriously. The cool guy of the team, Spencer (played by Keith Carradine), has arranged for some prostitutes to meet them at the end of the trail so they’re all keen to get it over with.

Things progress pretty normally until their commander, Poole, seems to have got them lost. They’re at the edge of deep lake/river/big water thing with no way across. Luckily, they spot some boats beside a poachers den. The allure of some Louisiana hookers prevails of proper military practice and they decide to commandeer the boats to get to the other side. The Cajuns show up before they’re clear of the den though, the men jeer at them but things go too far as Stuckey, the joker of the group, fires blanks at the Cajuns to scare them. But as this film proves - do not f**k with Cajuns. One of them shoots back with real bullets and kills their commander, Poole.

The men panic and fall into the water and scramble onto the other bank. Things have gone horribly wrong. This is only meant to be a training exercise, they’re not meant to be in combat and these are only the national guard not experienced soldiers. Their radio equipment got ruined in the water and their commander had the map and compass when he fell in so they’ve no way of finding their way out. To make things worse their next in charge is a rather useless man called Casper, who doesn’t seem to have an discretion and wants to play everything by the book.

They aim to get out of the swamp lands as quickly as they can but that’s easier said than done. Some of the team seem to lose it a bit. They capture a Cajun and destroy his house but now a whole group of unseen Cajuns are after them and picking them off one by one in this American jungle. There’s dissent within the group as well. Some of the men lack any sort of discipline and some are just useless and some are completely gone in the head.

What I thought

This is one of those films I saw ages ago but it always stayed with me and I always wanted to see it again. Then luckily enough I saw it for £3 in a second hand DVD shop. It’s an excellent film. It’s a war film, a film of survival and interestingly a film about Vietnam.

The Vietnam bit I completely missed at first and to be honest I had to look for it the second time but when you know that it’s intention is to allegorise Vietnam you start to pick it up. For one we have the psychologies of the various guards men. There’s the soldier Reece, a needlessly violent, psychopathic feral character who beats and tortures the captured Cajun needlessly, there’s the Texan Hardin who sees the Cajuns as real people but struggles with the brute Reece. Then there’s Stuckey who dumbly follows Reece about, obeying everything he says. Bowden goes completely mad and just completely shuts down after a while, refusing to talk or do anything. The leadership is completely ineffective both Poole and Casper get them lost and into trouble and it’s only when Spencer has them abandon the military façade and act like real people that they get anywhere.

There’s also the fact that this wild jungle and these faceless killers are America and Americans. Demonised and dehumanised Vietnamese at the other side of the world they’re not but here we have a very similar situation just a few miles from New Orleans.

Though the film isn’t so heavy in pushing the Vietnam issue that it’s devoid of entertainment. Like I said I didn’t notice the Vietnam thing the first time. I liked it for the plain idea of these men fighting for survival on limited means in this wild land. It’s like The Northwest Passage with Spencer Tracy or it’s noted for being like Hill’s other film The Warriors with a band of men being constantly under attack on their way to escape.

The acting was all superb and the main members of the cast all went somewhere from here. Notable cast members were Keith Carradine as Spencer and Powers Boothe as Hardin. My only complaint is that the guy who played Reece, Fred Ward, was clearly a Charles Bronson wannabe in looks and acting but played his role well and there are no complaints to be found with the rest of the cast at all. The film was tense especially at the end and I loved the scenes where the Cajun party and music being intertwined with the lasts men’s final attempts to escape where especially well directed and suspenseful stuff.

Of Importance

The Cajun they capture is meant to be one armed but it is very, very obvious that he just has his arm hidden down the inside of his coat unless he’s a very broad lopsided man.

The men are all in a hurry to get the exercise over with so they can have a go at the Lousiana prostitutes. I’ve been to Louisiana and I’ve seen their prostitutes and I think they should have been glad of any delay.

Cajuns kick ass.

Painting a red cross on your chest and blowing stuff up is fun but will make your friends wonder about you.

One of life's mysteries - How do you tie up a man with one arm?

Who I'd Punch

The Cajun, in the beard.

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iELHwo0XSaU

Written by Phelim McC. Don’t steal it, or I’ll go all Cajun on your ass
 

...less