Is it really that good???

A couple of questions:

1) What was bad about the editing? Do you edit? Do you know about pacing, about tone, about timing? Editing is an art form in its own right, and Freeman Davis is an experienced, and well-respected editor who has worked with Walter Hill on many projects. There was nothing wrong with the editing.

2) The acting was pretty decent all the way through, sublime in places (Keith Carradine and Powers Boothe particularly) but remember that if any faults lie within the film it origfinates with the screenwriter. Actors act with what they have. It's hard to make a one dimensional character on the page live in three dimensions on the screen. Casper's character was a little like this, as was Bowden - neither really sang.

3) What exactly was 'bad' about the dialogue? Dialogue was in character, accurate for the environment and very much of the period. This is not supposed to be Shakespeare, nor Milton - language conveys meaning, and within the context of this story conveyed everything very well. Though things have moved on since the late seventies / early eighties in every aspect of filmmaking, writers are also now a bit more savvy about what goes on the page (or at least try to be). Perhaps the delivery was flat on occasion. Be a little more descriptive in why you think it was bad so we can understand your point.

4) Why was this a 'Deliverance' rip-off? Because it was set in the 'backwaters' of a state where hillbillys/rednecks live? If so there are a dozen or more movies you could level this criticism at. To be fair it's a pretty narrow perspective. It is nothing like Deliverance nor does it aspire to be. There are certainly echoes of theme running through it, such as "Don't go where you don't belong" but there are two very distinct jouneys undertaken by the characters set within each. Films are more about the journey of individual characters coming to terms with something about themselves that was different at story's start. A journey of discovery if you like, in which there are obstacles to be overcome become enlightenment is delivered. To understand this point is to say that every film has a similarity - so Forest Gump could also be a rip-off of Deliverance in that case. The truth is that Southern Comfort is not a rip-off of Deliverance but shares a common theme - the same theme that existed in Wrong Turn, The Hills Have Eyes and a whole lot more.

Southern Comfort is a classic piece of story-telling from a master story-teller. A great script, great acting (genrally), pacy, tense, and moody. It's a tough call when so much swamp is the backdrop. That's why you very rarely saw anything beyond a 'three-shot'. Oh that filmmakers should take a lesson in craft from Mr Hill. He's been at it a long time, and is a guru of action flicks - a title well earnt over decades of classic filmmaking.

If you feel you did not express yourself clearly please come back - I might have misunderstood something you said. My points are made because I myself am a working screenwriter and director and it's important to understand what films are all about, how they work, how they are constructed, and for what purpose, before levelling criticism about things you, in all likelihood, know little or nothing technically about - and I mean that in a gracious, onon-confrontational manner.

R

Speaking from a European perspective, one thing this movie does is give the lie to the oft-repeated Euro-mantra that Yanks have no sense of irony and don't do self-criticism. There is a segment (the tree-falling sequence) where the film wanders off into 'actioneering limbo', but most all of the movie is superbly rendered.

The shooting of the obvious 'Hero' (Peter Coyote) sets the tone for a long cynical (in the sense of realist) look at the foibles of American society. The fact that the whole film hinges around the Anglo-normal baffling and battling the Franco-abnormal emphasises the conflicts ripping away at the fabric of the great American divan - just beneath the clean sheets........

Alternatively you can see it as a good shoot-em-up.

Either way, America should be poud of this movie.




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