My review was written in May 1987 after watching the film on HBO/Cannon video cassette.
"Opposing Force" is a strong, fascinating film about overzealous military training techniques which unfortunately lacks a third act, concluding most unsatisfactorily. As a result, pic, previously titled "Clay Pigeons" and "Hell Camp", received only a test booking by Orion last August in San Antonio, Texas ahead of its current home video availability.
Tom Skerritt toplines as a major who enrolls in a special escape & evasive training program in order to prepare for a return to active duty as a pilot after years on a desk job. The training is run by Anthony Zerbe, who has beome sadistic in his post, meting out both physical and psychological torture to the mainly young soldiers, as adminsitered by his basically good-guy aide Richard Roundtree.
The catalyst to a showdown is the presence of Lisa Eichhorn as a femme lieutenant, the first of hr sex to be accepted into the program, even though women have yet to be authorized for combat. When she arrives, Zerbe goes off the deep end and in addition the the usual physical abuse (which the soldiers accept begrudgingly as part of their expected rigorous training) he rapes he, in order to "prepare her for waht the enemy would do". Finding out that Eichhorn has been raped by the commandant, Skerritt drops his cool demeanor and goes on the warpath, organizing an escape and setting up a violent showdown with the authorities.
For most of its length, the picture doesn't pull any punches, depicting a gruelling, war games-style environment to test and weed out the soldiers. Gil Cowan's script, forcefully directed by Eric Karson, raises many serious issues, including the limits to which raining can orf should simulate actual combat, the danger of adopting the enemy's inhuman tactics in order to compete and the difficulties in attempting to treat women as equals in a military situation. Final reel, however, degenerates into melodramatics and shootouts, with a terrible, abrupt freeze frame/voice-over ending that unsuccessfully shifts from an objective presentation to the Eichhorn character's subjective, wishy-washy point-of-view.
Cast cannot be faulted, punchng home the drama forcefully. Zerbe offers a finely shaded performance to what might have been a monster role, even delivering somewhat convincing arguments to justify his brutal behavior. Skerritt is solid as the hero forced to take action, while Roundtree brings out the duality of his pivotal role, the enforcer who nevertheless has a moral code. Eichhorn is outstanding in handling an unglamorized, both physically and emotionally demanding assignment.
Tech credits, including atmospheric lensing on Filipino and Miami locations are top-notch. Too bad an organic ending synthesizing the material did not round off this sleeper.
"Opposing Force" is a strong, fascinating film about overzealous military training techniques which unfortunately lacks a third act, concluding most unsatisfactorily. As a result, pic, previously titled "Clay Pigeons" and "Hell Camp", received only a test booking by Orion last August in San Antonio, Texas ahead of its current home video availability.
Tom Skerritt toplines as a major who enrolls in a special escape & evasive training program in order to prepare for a return to active duty as a pilot after years on a desk job. The training is run by Anthony Zerbe, who has beome sadistic in his post, meting out both physical and psychological torture to the mainly young soldiers, as adminsitered by his basically good-guy aide Richard Roundtree.
The catalyst to a showdown is the presence of Lisa Eichhorn as a femme lieutenant, the first of hr sex to be accepted into the program, even though women have yet to be authorized for combat. When she arrives, Zerbe goes off the deep end and in addition the the usual physical abuse (which the soldiers accept begrudgingly as part of their expected rigorous training) he rapes he, in order to "prepare her for waht the enemy would do". Finding out that Eichhorn has been raped by the commandant, Skerritt drops his cool demeanor and goes on the warpath, organizing an escape and setting up a violent showdown with the authorities.
For most of its length, the picture doesn't pull any punches, depicting a gruelling, war games-style environment to test and weed out the soldiers. Gil Cowan's script, forcefully directed by Eric Karson, raises many serious issues, including the limits to which raining can orf should simulate actual combat, the danger of adopting the enemy's inhuman tactics in order to compete and the difficulties in attempting to treat women as equals in a military situation. Final reel, however, degenerates into melodramatics and shootouts, with a terrible, abrupt freeze frame/voice-over ending that unsuccessfully shifts from an objective presentation to the Eichhorn character's subjective, wishy-washy point-of-view.
Cast cannot be faulted, punchng home the drama forcefully. Zerbe offers a finely shaded performance to what might have been a monster role, even delivering somewhat convincing arguments to justify his brutal behavior. Skerritt is solid as the hero forced to take action, while Roundtree brings out the duality of his pivotal role, the enforcer who nevertheless has a moral code. Eichhorn is outstanding in handling an unglamorized, both physically and emotionally demanding assignment.
Tech credits, including atmospheric lensing on Filipino and Miami locations are top-notch. Too bad an organic ending synthesizing the material did not round off this sleeper.