Heartbreak Ridge

1986

2h 10m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

1.1K

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War

Drama

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.

Directors

Clint Eastwood

Writers

James Carabatsos(screenplay by)

Joseph Stinson(screenplay by)

Dennis Hackin(screenplay by)

Stars

Clint Eastwood

Marsha Mason

Everett McGill

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Top cast

Clint Eastwood

Gunnery Sgt. Tom 'Gunny' Highway

Marsha Mason

Aggie

Everett McGill

Major Malcolm A. Powers

Moses Gunn

Staff Sergeant Webster

Mario Van Peebles

Corporal 'Stitch' Jones

Little Mary Jackson

Roy Jennings

Lieutenant M.R. Ring

Sergeant Major Choozoo

Fragetti

Private Aponte

Profile

Private Aponte's Wife

Major G.F. Devin

Private Quinones

Private Collins

'Swede' Johanson

Colonel Meyers

Directors

Clint Eastwood

Writers

James Carabatsos(screenplay by)

Joseph Stinson(screenplay by)

Dennis Hackin(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Given the amount of homophobic/erotic banter going on here, it might have been more memorable if Clint Eastwood had actually had a gay character save the day in this otherwise bland and forgettable version of the “I wanna be your drill instructor” movie. He’s the sergeant who is returned to active duty, much to the chagrin of his boss “Powers” (Everett McGill) who reckons he’s an old relic that ought to be put out to pasture, or better yet - put in jail. He is given a recon squadron to knock into shape, and that is obviously going to be quite a task. They care for authority and discipline even less that he does (unless he’s wielding it, of course) and with the lively “Stitch” (Mario Van Peebles) - with whom our gunny has some previous, and the mighty “Swede” amongst their ranks, they have no intention of toeing his line. Jeopardy? Don’t be daft. There isn’t an hint of the stuff as this rapidly becomes something akin to, but much less funny than, “Private Benjamin” (1980). Everyone goes mega gung-ho and it all culminates in a full scale, all out, assault on the Cuban-staffed, Soviet-armed, rebels on Grenada. Now there are a few funny scenes here - not least their hapless lieutenant (Boyd Gaines), who has no more active duty experience than I have, trying to call in a missile strike using a landline and a credit card, but the rest of this is about as formulaic as you can get. Eastwood owns it, but it’s all too derivative - there’s even an ex-wife (Martha Mason) to win back, and Oliver Stone it isn’t.

Geronimo196729 Mar, 2025