SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981)

Southern Comfort (1981)
Directed by: Walter Hill
Written by: David Giler, Michael Kane, Walter Hill
Starring: Fred Ward, Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe

SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981)
Directed by Walter Hill

Powers Boothe stars as Charles Hardin, newcomer to the Louisiana National Guard after being transferred from El Paso, Texas. He quickly gets to know the rest of his rag-tag fellow soliders, including confident city guy Spencer, played by Keith Carradine. Being a summer military exercise, the only weapons the group are carrying are knives and machine guns loaded with blanks so when one of the redneck Louisiana soldiers, Stuckey, decides to joke around with the local Cajuns with his machine gun, the Cajun settlers retaliate which leads the men fighting for their lives. The Cajuns, however, are just one of their problems as cracks start to appear within the group. The men start to turn against one another and one mentally unstable guardsmen loses his mind completely, putting the rest of the squad at risk. All this, coupled with the uncomfortable, harsh and dangerous environment of the Louisiana swamps, which masks their human enemy as well as being their natural foe, creates a knife-edge atmosphere throughout.

Walter Hill directed and co-wrote Southern Comfort which has been likened to 1972 film, Deliverance, but also bears some resemblence to Hill’s previous film, The Warriors, as both sets of groups must tackle dangerous obstacles and enemies in a bid to return home, or in Southern Comfort’s case, English-speaking parts of Louisiana.

The acting in the film isn’t remarkable but there are a few stand out characters to be noticed, such as Boothe’s monotonous Texan, Carradine’s prostitute-mad but sensible Spencer, Les Lannom’s textbook, wimpy Casper, Fred Ward’s fiery-tempered Reece and of course, Brion James’ one-armed Cajun Trapper. To be fair, each of the Louisiana guardsmen have their own personality that is distinguishable from the next, but those mentioned above were the actors that created their roles into believable characters.

Southern Comfort is quite a slow burner but delivers some brilliant scenes, mainly involving traps laid out for the guardsmen by the Cajuns. The last 20 minutes of the film is when the nail-biting tension reaches its peak as the ever-dwindling squad battle their way through the swamp in hope of reaching the interstate, or at least a way out of the overgrown, eerie surroundings in which they are being hunted. It’s not as gripping as some movies but there’s enough action to keep you watching along with a likable cast.

For the first time, Southern Comfort arrives on Blu-Ray on 26th November 2012 and whilst it may not be the cleanest of transfers, it’s still better than what VHS would have to offer. The sound is standard 2.0 with the opening scenes a bit muffled, but the audio does get clearer. Despite it’s lack of 5.1 surround sound audio, the wildlife rustling through the trees, the footsteps splashing through the murky water and Cajun sounds of slide-guitar ring boldly, embracing you into the squallid swamp sceneario. This new release comes with an added bonus of a newly commissioned 45 minute interview with director Walter Hill called ‘Will He Live or Will He Die?’, which is available on both Blu-Ray and DVD versions of Southern Comfort.

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