Film - Heartbreak Ridge

When the editor's away, Steve Taylor-Bryant comes out play. With our esteemed Susan away from the office, Steve has decided to celebrate Clint Eastwood's birthday. Every day. For the whole week. Here's the next of his favourite Clint films...

There's war films and then just once in a while there's a war film that changes it up a little bit, that shows real boys being taught to be fighting men. It's not all bravado and bullets, it's hard training, it's run ins with superior officers, it's an excuse to cram as many quote worthy moments in as possible. Full Metal Jacket was one such film but with this being Clint week because nobody can stop me I'm cramming in the awesome yet slightly cheesy Heartbreak Ridge.

Top quote -

It means: Be advised. I'm mean, nasty and tired. I eat concertina wire and piss napalm and I can put a round in a flea's ass at 200 meters. So why don't you go hump somebody else's leg, mutt face, before I push yours in.

Synopsis - 

1983. Tom Highway is a well-decorated career military man in the United States Marine Corps, he who has seen action in Korea and Vietnam. His current rank is Gunnery Sergeant. His experiences have led him to become an opinionated, no nonsense man, who is prone to bursts of violence, especially when he's drunk, if the situation does not suit him, regardless of the specifics or people involved. Because of these actions, he has spent his fair share of overnighters behind bars. Close to retirement, one of his last assignments, one he requested, is back at his old unit at Cherry Point, North Carolina, from where he was transferred for insubordination. He is to train a reconnaissance platoon. His superior officer, the much younger and combat inexperienced Major Malcolm Powers, sees Highway as a relic of an old styled military. Highway's commanding officer, Lieutenant Ring, the platoon leader, is also a younger man who has no combat experience, but is academically inclined and happy-go-lucky.

Image/Synopsis – IMDb.