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, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$42,724,017

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$79,000,000, 31 December 1987

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

In the bar scene where Clint Eastwood first sees Marsha Mason after their estrangement, two men, one black the other white, are seen watching Mario Van Peebles' performance. The two men later stood up during a confrontation and gave USMC "oo-rahs". They both have military style haircuts. Both men were actually commissioned officers (1st Lieutenants) assigned to 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment (62 area-Camp Pendleton) where several of the scenes (O-course, rappelling, rifle range) were shot.

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Goofs

During the Grenada scenes, the slings on the Marines' rifles disappear and reappear for no apparent reason. All of these rifles would have a sling!

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Quotes

Highway: I can't fix it if I don't know what's broken.

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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

References Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)

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Soundtracks

Recon Rap
Written by Mario Van Peebles

User Reviews

Probably one of the most quotable movies of the 80's

Among my husband and his buddies, this movie is like Shakespeare -- they quote from it often and well, so often and well, in fact, that the quotes are just part of their vocabulary and the source is forgotten. It does have more than its share of witty quips, even for me, a lowly female ;).

I really do like this movie. It makes me miss the 80's, when it was still considered acceptable to be a patriotic American, and movies that glorified America and the military could be made without the felt need to apologize left and right. And of course Clint Eastwood is clever and attractive as always, as the hardcore Marine lifer who's trying to discover his tender side in time to reunite with his ex when he retires.