Heartbreak Ridge | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

Audience Reviews

Eye C Mr. Eastwood is not an actor's director, so if the actor aren't good so the picture ain't good either. I think this is the closest of a comedy from the director's filmography, but it doesn't delivers. Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/24 Full Review Deborah S I don't care what others say, I enjoy any movie with Clint Eastwood in it. I had to watch this two times before I could totally understand the movie. Clint Eastwood is Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway who is getting close to retirement. Marine life is all he has ever known after serving through 2 wars when he is assigned to whip his unruly troops into shape in readiness for the invasion of Grenada. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/12/23 Full Review Shellie G I liked this movie and it kept me engaged. I have watched several times. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/05/23 Full Review Ola G In 1983, Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Thomas "Tom" Highway (Clint Eastwood) finagles a transfer back to his old unit, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, Second Marine Division. En route, he meets fellow passenger and aspiring rock musician Corporal "Stitch" Jones, who borrows money from Highway for a meal at a rest stop and then steals his bus ticket, leaving him stranded. When Highway finally arrives, his new commanding officer, Major Malcolm Powers, seeing him as old-fashioned, assigns him to the Reconnaissance Platoon (part of his assault battalion) which by coincidence includes Jones. The platoon's previous sergeant, awaiting his retirement, had permitted their inactivity, but Highway quickly enacts a rigorous training program. Their desperate plan to intimidate him with resident body builder "Swede" Johanson, just released from the brig, fails after Highway easily overpowers Swede in a fight. Their conditioning provides positive results, and they develop esprit de corps and respect for Highway. Highway repeatedly clashes with Powers and his assistant, First Platoon Staff Sergeant Webster. They deplore Highway's unorthodox training methods (such as firing an AK-47 over his men's heads to familiarize them with the weapon's distinctive sound). Seeing Highway's platoon as simply a training tool for a supposedly elite First Platoon, Powers proceeds to arrange for First Platoon to beat Highway's men in every field exercise. However, Highway's old comrade-in-arms, Sergeant Major Choozhoo, and his nominal superior officer, the college-educated and well-meaning but awkward and inexperienced First Lieutenant Ring, support him. After learning of his Medal of Honor award during the Korean War, Highway's men gain further respect for him, becoming unified against their perceived common enemy...Reaction to the film was generally positive. Among reviews, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times, gave the film three stars and noted how the film has "as much energy and color as any action picture this year, and it contains truly amazing dialogue." Ebert also complimented director Eastwood mentioning how he "caresses the material as if he didn't know B movies have gone out of style." Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post agreed saying, "Those with an endless appetite for this sort of tough-man-tender-chicken melodrama will enjoy watching Clint go up against these young punks and outrun, outshoot, outdrink and outpunch them, in the process lending an idea of what it means to be a . . . Marine." Another Washington Post staff writer, Rita Kempley, offered a different view, commenting that it was "always fun to see misguided machismo properly channeled into service of God, country or the National Hockey League. Isn't that the trouble with combat movies these days? From Top Gun to First Blood to Clint Eastwood's entertaining action drama Heartbreak Ridge, the empty-foxhole syndrome makes for non-endings." The staff at Variety added to the encouraging reviews, saying that the film "offers another vintage Clint Eastwood performance. There are enough mumbled half-liners in this contemporary war pic to satisfy those die-hards eager to see just how he portrays the consummate marine veteran." Vincent Canby of The New York Times expressed his satisfaction with the film, writing that "Eastwood's performance is one of the richest he's ever given. It's funny, laid-back, seemingly effortless, the sort that separates actors who are run-of-the-mill from those who have earned the right to be identified as stars." In terms of negative feedback, reviewer Derek Smith of the Apollo Movie Guide wrote that there was "not enough substance to Gunny to make him interesting enough to be the central character of a film, and since the movie offers nothing new or fresh, it just feels dull and uninteresting." Rotten Tomatoes consensus states: "With Heartbreak Ridge, director Clint Eastwood gets one of his best performances out of himself, even if the story struggles to engage." Several writers have described the film as imperialist propaganda glorifying the American invasion of Grenada without explaining any of the history or politics surrounding it; the only information the audience is given about the war is that the Marines are rescuing American hostages and that there are Cubans on the enemy side. In Vietnam Images: War And Representation (1989), James Aulich and Jeffrey Walsh wrote that "Heartbreak Ridge dehistoricises actual political and economic conditions, omits many issues of imperialism or colonisation, and represents the Grenada events as a straightforward triumph of American manhood." (via Wikipedia)Been wanting to re-see this one for a long time, however it was hardly a treat. Most likely one of Clint Eastwoods worst films in my book. As said above, it´s a flagwaving imperialist propaganda glorifying the American invasion of Grenada without explaining any of the history or politics surrounding it. The acting is poor, the script is wishy washy, paperthin stereotypical characters, strange editing and honestly there´s nothing to like with "Heartbreak Ridge". Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/28/23 Full Review Stephen D Pros:Clint EastwoodCons:Terrible movieToo slapstickyNot at all realistic Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/01/23 Full Review Red T It's Not Bad. The acting by Clint is good and he's the best thing in this but overall it's above average. Most of the soldiers in the unit just blend in except Jones. When they are killed I honestly felt nothing and really didn't even know who died because of how much they blended in. Aggie is good also. The music is just ok and boring and not used enough. This should've had more music use especially in the second half battle. It wasn't intense enough. The cinematography wasn't bad either with decent camera work and a memorable setting. But many scenes felt unneeded in the grand scheme of things and oddly enough some more scenes felt needed with personal development of the soldiers of the unit. Or it should've focused more on the battle which isn't bad either but not intense or memorable enough to stand out. The editing and pacing aren't bad either. This does a fairly good job weaving Gunny's personal story, the unit, and the battle together but under-develops the unit's story and the romance feels like it doesn't have enough of a payoff, and the battle as stated should've been better and longer. but it hits it all enough to keep you interested the whole way but the payoff isn't as strong as I was hoping. Overall this is something I'd watch in the background again while doing something. Any Eastwood fan or War movie fan of 80's films will definitely like this enough and its worth checking out if your either of those. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Heartbreak Ridge

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