Southern Comfort (film)

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Southern Comfort
Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Walter Hill
Produced by	David Brown Michael Tolkin Nick Wechsler
Written by	Michael Kane Walter Hill
Starring	Keith Carradine Powers Boothe Fred Ward Peter Coyote
Music by	Ry Cooder
Cinematography	Andrew Laszlo
Editing by	Freeman A. Davies
Distributed by	Fine Line Features
Release date(s)	September 25, 1981 (U.S.A. premiere)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Southern Comfort (1981) is an American drama film directed by Walter Hill, working from a script by Hill, longtime collaborator David Giler, and Michael Kane. It featured Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Alan Autry, Les Lannom, Peter Coyote, T. K. Carter, Fred Ward, Lewis Smith, Carlos Brown, Franklyn Seales and Brion James.^[1]

The film, set in 1973, features a Louisiana National Guard squad of nine on weekend maneuvers in rural bayou country.

1 Plot
2 Background
3 Cast
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Members of a patrol of Louisiana Army National Guardsmen are meeting in the Louisiana swamps for weekend maneuevers. Corporal Hardin (Boothe), a cynical transfer from the Texas National Guard is displeased with the brutishness and arrogance that his new squad exhibits. Somewhat befriending PFC Spencer (Carradine), the two seem to agree that they are the only level-headed soldiers in the squad.

While patrolling single file through the swamp, the squad gets disoriented, but soon comes across pirogues, or cajun canoes, at a seemingly abandoned camp site. They steal the canoes and wind up frightening and angering local Cajun hunters who return to the site as the squad steals them. Pfc. Stuckey (Smith) fires blanks from his M-60 machine gun at the Cajuns as a prank. The frightened Cajuns fire back, killing squad leader Staff Sgt. Poole (Coyote). The second in command, Sgt. Casper (Lannom), orders the squad to continue their mission, but with only a few live bullets between them, they are vulnerable. They continue down the bayou until they reach the shack of a local Cajun hunter and poacher (Brion James). They arrest him and then an emotionally unstable soldier Cpl. "Coach" Bowden (Autry) blows up the house. The soldiers begin to get more paranoid while lost in the swamps. Upon hearing dogs, they think they are rescued, however, the dogs belong to the Cajuns who are hunting the soldiers. The soldiers beat off the attack dogs and moments later nearly run into a bear trap set for them. Pfc. Tyrone Cribbs (Carter) walks into a booby-trap containing spikes that kill him. The soldiers decide to stop for the night and bury the two dead soldiers. In the morning, Cpl. Hardin sees Cpl. Lonnie Reece (Ward) trying to get the captured Cajun to talk by dunking his head in the water. When Hardin tries to stop Reece, the two soldiers get into a fight and Hardin kills Reece with a bayonet. The Cajun prisoner escapes.

The soldiers grow tired of Sgt. Casper due to his strict military regulations and inability to lead them out of the situation, so Pfc. Spencer takes command. The soldiers head for the interstate, but discover that the Cajuns have dug up the three dead soldiers and tied them all to a tree. Horrified, the soldiers walk over to them until they run into more Cajun traps, this time in the form of falling trees. The soldiers manage to evade the trees, but not the Cajuns, who are still nearby and firing at them. Seeing a helicopter, the soldiers scream for its attention. Pfc. Stuckey, who had initally fired blanks at the Cajuns causing the whole crisis, runs for the helicopter, but is caught in quicksand and drowns. The soldiers split up and search for him. Seeing a group of Cajuns, Sgt. Casper throws a makeshift hand grenade, presumably killing one Cajun. He then fixes his bayonet to his rifle and charges at them. Both he and Pfc. Simms (Seales) are shot dead. The remaining group of Pfc. Spencer, Cpl. Hardin and Cpl. "Coach" Bowden (who has been disarmed and tied up) manage to kill one of the Cajuns and escape. They find a place to sleep.

The next morning, Pfc. Spencer and Cpl. Hardin awaken to discover a train track close to where they had slept. However, they also find the body of Cpl. "Coach" Bowden hanging from the bridge. Their escaped Cajun prisoner makes an appearance on the bridge and tells the two to be on their way. He gives the two directions on how to get out of the swamp and warns them not to continue asking so many questions.

Apparently ignoring the man's threats, the two make their way to a dirt road. There, the pair get a ride and are brought into the next town. They wash up and hang around where the local Cajun community is celebrating. Cpl. Hardin sees what he thinks is some of the Cajuns who were attacking them getting off a boat at the jetty in the town. Pfc. Spencer tells him he is paranoid and not to worry as even if it was them they could not do anything in a crowd. Cpl. Hardin still thinks it's them and walks outside. He walks away from the celebration until he is approached by one of the Cajun hunters. He enters a Cajun shack and is shot through the shoulder by the Cajun, who then stands over Cpl. Hardin and prepares to kill him. Pfc. Spencer runs in and distracts him by firing blanks. The Cajun turns to kill Pfc. Spencer, when the injured Cpl. Hardin suddenly stabs the Cajun in the groin. The pair try to escape, but are being followed again by one of the Cajuns who had been tracking them in the forest. They run back into the woods, where they see a helicopter above them. They see an army truck coming towards them and then they look at each other, realizing they are saved.

[edit] Background

The movie stands as a subtle critical allegory of American military presence in Vietnam, though it functions as an action piece.

The film is supported by an atmospheric soundtrack by longstanding Hill collaborator Ry Cooder. The song "Parlez nous à boire" in the end part (in the Cajun village while dancing was going on) was sung by Cajun musician Dewey Balfa.

Title
The title was meant ironically, and its use was licensed by the makers of the spirit liquor of the same name.