Southern Comfort

Walter Hill's 1981 survival drama sends a platoon of weekend-warrior National Guardsmen into the Louisiana swamps for a training exercise, which they complicate by stealing canoes from Cajun trappers and then opening fire on them. The locals—-unaware that the redneck idiot who shot at them was just using blanks—believe they have been invaded and respond accordingly by hunting down the intruders one by one. Wise-guy Spencer (Keith Carradine) and new recruit Hardin (Powers Boothe) are the only guardsmen smart enough to realize that they are way out of their depth, especially after their commander, Poole (Peter Coyote), is killed. While it carries echoes of Deliverance, this film is very much a Vietnam allegory as underprepared American soldiers become lost in the foliage and outmaneuvered by a guerrilla army that is coordinating a campaign of terror while remaining hidden in the jungle. But Hill doesn't overplay this symbolism, instead keeping the focus on the dynamics of undisciplined battle virgins tearing their unit apart with fear, arrogance, and a misplaced sense of vengeance. Ry Cooder's eerie and haunting score only intensifies the paranoia as the city boys flail around in the swamp. Fred Ward, Lewis Smith, and T.K. Carter costar as other members of the dwindling squad, while Brion James plays a one-armed Cajun the men take captive. Transferred from a very good new HD digital master, this Blu-ray/DVD Combo edition features extras including a “making-of” featurette and a stills gallery. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)