Heartbreak Ridge (1986) on Netflix
Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway, a career Marine, takes over a platoon of slackers at his old unit. The men resent his methods, and his ex-wife Aggie remembers their dysfunctional marriage.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.8/1052,976 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
After tours in Korea and Vietnam, Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway requests a transfer back to his old Marine unit at Cherry Point, North Carolina, where he is handed a reconnaissance platoon of slackers to train. His new superior, Major Malcolm Powers, regards him as a relic of an older military, while the platoon's leader, Lieutenant Ring, has no combat experience. The men, among them the would-be rock musician Stitch Jones, resent Highway's harsh methods and question why they need them in peacetime. Powers' assistant, Staff Sergeant Webster, is Highway's rival. Highway also tries to win back his ex-wife Aggie, a bar waitress whose Marine-hating boss, Roy Jennings, is courting her.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
The Defense Department originally supported the film but withdrew its backing after seeing a preview in November 1986, taking issue with the profanity and with the depiction of Eastwood's character shooting a wounded Cuban soldier in the back, which would constitute a war crime. The Marine Corps were also forbidden by the Department from promoting the film.- The Army read the script and refused to participate, due to Highway being portrayed as a hard drinker, divorced from his wife, and using unapproved motivational methods to his troops. The Army called the character a "stereotype" of World War II and Korean War attitudes that did not exist in the modern army.
- The original screenplay had Highway's squad rerouted to Grenada after being sent to Lebanon to replace marines killed in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, but the Department wanted the plot point removed despite its historical accuracy. Eastwood relented only after calling it "altering history".
- The Marine Corps first cooperated with the film project by allowing much of the filming to be done at Camp Pendleton, and planned to use it to promote its "Toys for Tots" campaign, but upon viewing a first cut it quickly disowned the film because of the language.
- Screenwriter James Carabatsos, a Vietnam War veteran of the 1st Cavalry Division, was inspired by an account of American paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division using a pay telephone and a credit card to call in fire support during the invasion of Grenada.
- The sequence involving the bulldozer is based on a real event during the invasion of Grenada involving Army General John Abizaid, former commander of US Central Command.
- Heartbreak Ridge carries an odd distinction in the history of film sound: it was the 1,000th film to be released in Dolby Stereo.
