David Robbins
© 2017


We’ve talked before about how every now and then an actor or actress we like will pass on and we frown and sigh and wish it weren’t so.

I sighed when I read that Powers Boothe died. I liked his acting, a lot. You might remember him from the stellar Western TOMBSTONE. He played Curly Bill. Or his turn in SIN CITY or maybe as Philip Marlowe or DEADWOOD or his Emmy-winning role as Jim Jones in THE GUYANA TRAGEDY. He was in a lot of things.
[Powers Boothe back before his hair turned grey. I can relate. :)

There’s one role of his I’d like to give you a heads-up on. It’s more than likely you haven’t seen it or even heard of it since it came out way back in 1981. Directed by Walter Hill (ALIEN, THE WARRIORS, many more), it costars Keith Carradine. You might know him from his recent stint as Penny’s dad on BIG BANG THEORY or his superb portrayal of Wild Bill Hickok in DEADWOOD or any of his many other roles.

The name of this terrific movie you might have never seen? SOUTHERN COMFORT.

It’s an action flick about a squad of Louisiana National Guardsmen who take part in weekend maneuvers in the bayou and everything that can go wrong does, to the extent they find themselves being hunted by some locals who are upset the Guardsmen took their pirogues without asking. It doesn’t help that one of the Guardsmen shoots at them as a prank---with blanks. The locals decide to shoot back---with real bullets.


[Yes, that is Fred Ward with the knife at his throat. You might know him from TREMORS or REMO WILLIAMS.]

The movie becomes a sustained chase through the swamp, with the lost Guardsmen, most of them city boys, struggling to stay alive.

Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine are great. Boothe is mesmerizing with his intense persona of a man driven to his limits by the stupidity of others. The final ten minutes or so, when their relentless pursuers close in, makes for riveting suspense.

The movie was shot on location, which adds to the realism. And the score, by Ry Cooder, is sensational. Over the years the film has gained a dedicated following. On Rotten Tomatoes it garnered an 88% rating.
 [The Guardsmen when they see a helicopter and are desperate for help.]

It should be noted that some took the film as a metaphor for the Vietnam War, which it was never intended to be. Read what Walter Hill has to say. It’s not about Vietnam or ‘war’ per se. It’s about what happens when people do stupid stuff, make assumptions based on that stupid stuff, and then set out to kill each other based on their false assumptions. In other words, it’s about ‘life’. You see it in the news every day.

So if you’re up for a cool movie with a more profound subtext than your usual Hollywood fare, snag a copy of SOUTHERN COMFORT. You might be glad you did. And don’t blame me if that haunting Ry Cooder score sticks in your head for a long time to come.