Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Clint Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge is genuine nonsense from start to finish. The military unit in this movie is absurdly silly. This is ostensibly somewhat of a comedic film, so I guess that works well enough, but Heartbreak Ridge also has pretensions of being a serious movie about masculinity, the military, war, and the true meaning of discipline or some such bullshit. All of it is so cartoon-like though, it feels impossible to take seriously. 

Of course, one of the central features of Eastwood’s directing career is that he is interested in deconstructing and exploring US American masculinity and military and law enforcement regulations. But unlike a later film like Gran Torino or Flags of Our Fathers or even an earlier movie like Unforgiven, this 1986 nonsense actually believes in those values and questions them only in the most superficial ways. Heartbreak Ridge is a cheap, silly version of Eastwood’s later, more critical work. 

Marsha Mason is luminous in this, and I adored her and Eileen Heckart, but this movie annoyed the hell out of me.

(I saw Heartbreak Ridge because it was the final film from Oscar season 1987 on my list, and I am a completist.)