Fact-based drama about cynical, drug-taking, burnt-out foreign correspondent Richard Boyle (James Woods) who visits El Salvador in the early 1980s to escape his personal problems – only to find himself in the middle of the bloody civil war ravaging the country.
Instead of reflecting the brutality and CIA-supported chaos of the guerrilla war in Central America by making his protagonist the film’s moral compass, director Oliver Stone throws Woods into the mêlée in search of Hunter S Thompson-like kicks with his DJ sidekick James Belushi.
It is through Woods, as the scales fall from his eyes and he marries a local girl (Elpidia Carrillo) in order to get her out of the country, that we come to appreciate what’s happening.
Violent and unrelenting, this represents somewhere many North Americans wouldn’t wish to go.
Richard Boyle
James Woods Dr Rock
James Belushi Ambassador Thomas Kelly
Michael Murphy John Cassady
John Savage Maria
Elpidia Carrillo Major Max
Tony Plana Jack Morgan
Colby Chester Cathy Moore
Cynthia Gibb
Director
Oliver Stone
Related Posts
Whistle Blower, The (1987) Michael Caine gives a full-bodied performance as a middle-aged Briton seeking the truth about the mysterious death of his son…
Platoon (1986) Establishing Oliver Stone's reputation as a truly outstanding filmmaker, the Oscar-winning (but inflammatory) Platoon gives absolute credence to the adage 'war is…
Sweet Kill (The Arousers) (1972) Former 50's teen idol Tab Hunter plays Eddie Collins, a handsome milk-drinking highschool gym teacher living at a beach house…
Howling, The (1981) Emerging as the first in a spree of 80's wolf movies, The Howling has it all: lupine howls drifting through dark woods,…
Drugstore Cowboy (1989) This provocative and downbeat drama set in early 1970s Oregon looks at the sordid life of four junkies who rob…
Videodrome (1983) A groundbreaking film, David Cronenberg's story about the horrible transformations wrought by exposure to televised violence wittily thematises the very…
Once Upon A Time In America (1984) It is 1920 and a band of adolescent Jewish thieves roam New York City's Lower East Side. The years pass…
When The Wind Blows (1986) In this adaptation of Raymond Briggs's chilling cartoon book, elderly British couple Jim and Hilda Bloggs build a shelter and…
