Southern Comfort (1981, Walter Hill)

Sometimes, two films are released with such similar plots and structure that it is hard not to compare the two. For example, Deep Impact was released in the same year as Armageddon, and since the latter was released first, it is the former that looked derivative. Unfortunately, the case with Southern Comfort is that Deliverance was released first, and is the better film. Despite the fact that, other than having similar settings and a similar plot structure, the two films are nothing alike. In fact, the tagline for Southern Comfort was, "Not Since Deliverance…"  Which just goes to show that the film's marketers were as aware as the public.

The film is set in 1973, and a squad of undisciplined members of the Louisiana Army National Guard are meeting in the Bayou's swamps for weekend manoeuvres. Corporal Hardin (Powers Boothe) has transferred from the Texas National Guard, and within moments of arriving he finds he is disgusted with the behaviour and arrogance of his new squad. Nevertheless, he befriends PFC Spencer (Keith Carradine), who seems to be the only level headed member of the group, other than Hardin. In the swamp, the squad decides to steal several pirogues (cajun canoes), and as one may imagine, this does not please the local gun-totin' Cajun swamp dwellers. However, the nail in the coffin is when PFC Stuckey (Lewis Smith) fires blanks from his M60 machine gun at the Cajuns as a prank. The threatened Cajuns fire back, killing the squad leader. Now, the unprepared group of National Guardsmen must fend for themselves in the unfamiliar terrain, as they are hunted for their sport.

According to the director, Walter Hill, this is not a metaphor for Vietnam. He reportedly told his cast before filming began that, "People are going to say this is about Vietnam. They can say whatever they want, but I don't want to hear another word about it." Although, it is not hard to see it as such, especially when considering that the plot revolves around a group of poorly trained young men fighting in a terrain in which they are unfamiliar. Regardless of whether the parallels to Vietnam are intentional or not, this is an excellent survival horror movie.

Firstly, Walter Hill understands genre cinema. He is credited as either a producer or executive-producer on all four movies in the Alien franchise, and he has directed anything from buddy-comedy cop movies (48 Hours/Another 48 Hours) to Westerns  (the pilot episode of Deadwood). If there is anyone who can direct a movie such as this, it is Hill. He can direct tension to perfection, and he understands that survival horror relies on the fragility of its characters, and how the unknown situation eventually causes a few of them to breakdown. Although, some credit has to go to the cast, especially Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine as the two leads,  like Hill, they have a good history with genre cinema, often lending a gruff gravitas to what many considered "B-movies". They are the kind of character actors that seemed to be everywhere in the late seventies and early eighties, and then seemed to vanish into obscurity. One wonders whether it was Hill's influence as an executive producer and director of HBO's seminal Western, Deadwood, that got Boothe and Carradine such juicy parts on the show?

Although, as good as Hill's direction is, the real star here is the music by Ry Cooder and the swamp of Louisiana itself. Director of photography Andrew Laszlo films the swamp in such a menacing fashion, with each zoom and pan making the swamp look thicker. It creates a fantastic sense of dread among the audience, as one starts to question every little thing they see. Ry Cooder's use of steel guitar is also used to great effect, creating an atmosphere which is so thick, one could cut it off the screen with a knife. 

Perhaps the only downside to the film is that it will be forever associated with Deliverance, which unfortunately has led some to believe that it is merely being derivative. While, I must admit, that Deliverance is the superior movie, Southern Comfort is still an extremely successful genre film. It is arguable that Southern Comfort is more successful at keeping a consistent tone throughout the movie, as even when two of our heroes look as though they will be rescued, the tone is still kept incredibly tense. If I had one wish for this movie, it would be that it finds an unbiased audience who can judge it for its own merits, and see it for the tense thriller that it is. Admittedly, the film has picked up a cult following, but I hope in that in the future more people will buy the DVD and give it a second life in home theatres.

7/10