One Good Movie 9

Hey friend,

Time to retire to the basement and watch a picture your dad once selected from the shelves of Dollar Video.

Is this week’s movie about Vietnam?

Sure, but that’s an easy read. There’s more going on here.

I love the lost in the woods sub-genre.

The lodestar is Deliverance.

But like the slasher, the survival film offers a myriad of paths to rework convention into hearty entertainment.

The director is Walter Hill. His movies are frequently Westerns, placed in new environments.

Hill is both a mathematician and poet when it comes to action. He draws sharp, unfussy characters. His exposition is spare. His title sequences are mini-masterpieces.

He is a grand dramatist forever working in the sleazy, disrespected arena of genre filmmaking.

Southern Comfort

Louisiana Army National Guard soldiers perform weekend maneuvers in the local swamp.

Powers Boothe. Keith Carradine. And a murderers row of character actors.

Things go bad in the bayou.

Let me know what you think.

-Guy

Epilogue

What were you doing when you were 16?