Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

A hard-nosed, hard-living Marine gunnery sergeant clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude.

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writer:

James Carabatsos

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Marsha Mason, Everett McGill

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Gunnery Sergent Thomas Highway
Marsha Mason	...	Aggie
Everett McGill	...	Major Malcolm Powers
Moses Gunn	...	Staff Sgt. Webster
Eileen Heckart	...	Little Mary
Bo Svenson	...	Roy Jennings
Boyd Gaines	...	Lieutenant Ring
Mario Van Peebles	...	Corporal Stitch Jones
Arlen Dean Snyder	...	Sergeant Major Choozoo
Vincent Irizarry	...	Fragetti
Ramón Franco	...	Aponte (as Ramon Franco)
Tom Villard	...	Profile
Mike Gomez	...	Quinones
Rodney Hill	...	Collins
Peter Koch	...	'Swede' Johanson

Storyline

1983. Tom Highway is a well-decorated career military man in the United States Marine Corps, he who has seen action in Korea and Vietnam. His current rank is Gunnery Sergeant. His experiences have led him to become an opinionated, no nonsense man, who is prone to bursts of violence, especially when he's drunk, if the situation does not suit him, regardless of the specifics or people involved. Because of these actions, he has spent his fair share of overnighters behind bars. Close to retirement, one of his last assignments, one he requested, is back at his old unit at Cherry Point, North Carolina, from where he was transferred for insubordination. He is to train a reconnaissance platoon. His superior officer, the much younger and combat inexperienced Major Malcolm Powers, sees Highway as a relic of an old styled military. Highway's commanding officer, Lieutenant Ring, the platoon leader, is also a younger man who has no combat experience, but is academically inclined and happy-go-lucky...

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Plot Keywords:

marine | military | gunnery sergeant | u.s. marine corps | uniform | 

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Taglines:

... the scars run deep.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

5 December 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Heartbreak Ridge

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,100,840, 7 December 1986

Gross USA:

$42,724,017

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$42,724,017

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jay Weston Productions, The Malpaso Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Debut film as a cinematographer for Jack N. Green. As such, it was also the first film that Green acted as a director of photography for Clint Eastwood. Previously, Green had worked as a camera operator for fifteen years for D.O.P. Bruce Surtees which including movies for Eastwood. Heartbreak Ridge (1986) was a promotion for Green by Eastwood and was Clint's regular lenser up until Space Cowboys (2000).

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Goofs

When Aponte turns over one of the dead Cubans at the bridge, the supposedly dead soldier moves his legs to make it easier for Aponte to roll him over.

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Quotes

Lieutenant M.R. Ring: [bumps into Highway] Excuse me, sir. I mean, Gunny. Sergeant Major
Choozoo: Sir. This is Gunnery Sergent Thomas Highway. He's been assigned to Recon Platoon.
Lieutenant M.R. Ring: Oh, outstanding, welcome aboard. Well, I have to hightail it men. I'm late for pre-SCUBA school.
[looks at Highway's ribbons]
Lieutenant M.R. Ring: Lord!
Highway: His Mama know he's playing Marine?
Choozoo: By the way, he's Lt. Ring. Your platoon leader.
Highway: Thanks a lot.
Choozoo: You didn't think you were just gonna tilt nipple to a bunch of no rank fuzz butts did you?
Highway: I guess not.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The opening Warner Bros. logo is black and white.

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Alternate Versions

Theatrical version included a scene where Gunny Highway stands in front of one of the soldiers at the target practice, forcing him to shoot straight. Reportedly, this scene doesn't appear in the video release.

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Connections

Featured in The Eastwood Factor (2010)

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Soundtracks

Secret Love
Written by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster
Performed by Jill Hollier

User Reviews

Vintage Clint!

Clint Eastwood is at his best in the role of "Gunny Highway." This is mostly a really excellent flick about patriotic values, military camaraderie and old grizzled military veterans. Gunny Highway comes across as the exact fellow you would want covering your ass in any tough situation you could possibly imagine. And Eastwood plays him perfectly with steely resolve, devotion, humor and a healthy touch of irreverence. Its great to see the transformation of Highway's squad, as well as the final moment of judgment for the totally hateful, obnoxious and bureaucratic Maj. Powers. (Oh, if only such b*****ds would get their deserved comeuppance in real life in such a manner, what a beautiful world it would be!)

The only real fault is the attempt to compare a minor police action in Grenada with Vietnam and Korea, "I guess we're not 0, 1 and 1 anymore." I mean, give me a break, Korea and Vietnam went on for years and killed millions! Grenada involved a couple of hundred casualties over a couple of days. Please! But I suppose in 1986 the American people were desperate for some kind of heroes. Its just that that kind of jingoism would have been much more appropriate after Desert Storm than Grenada. That being said, its still a very good movie with a fundamental message about values, loyalty and comradeship that we could easily have more of these days, besides, Clint is just great!