Produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge allowed him to work out all of his feelings and opinions about the military. Set during a time of peace, most of the film follows an old but tough American Marine who, after ignoring many of his colleagues’ suggestion to retire, inherits a reconnaissance unit full of misfits, half-wits, and bad attitudes. Eastwood does a good job in pulling humour out of some tense situations as well as adding a nice little love story on top, but unlike some of his better works such as Unforgiven, it doesn’t amount to much in the end.
Eastwood plays Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway, or “Gunny” as everyone calls him, who begins to look back on his life once he realizes his career as a Marine is nearly over. What he sees is an impressive military record and a failed marriage caused by his intense devotion to his job. As he reflects on his past mistakes, he also begins training his unit the only way he knows how. While his ‘in your face,’ tough guy style doesn’t sit well with the unit at first, they ultimately come to respect him for his experience, intelligence, and fairness. The interplay between Gunny and his men makes for some pretty funny moments as they push him to the limit time and again.
Along their road to maturity, the unit faces the challenge of not only proving themselves to Gunny, but also to all the other units who have long considered them a bunch of jokers. Eastwood, with his typical gruff, manly persona, represents the unit well, helping them along the way while never giving them the satisfaction of knowing that he really cares. Most of his emotion is devoted to his efforts to rekindle things with his ex-wife. He is forced to compromise to earn her love – something he is not too fond of doing. He is at a crossroads, where he must balance his career as a Marine with his love life. As he says time and again to his unit, he must adapt to the situation.
Gunny’s experiences with his unit, as well as his love life, help him become a well-rounded character. This makes Heartbreak Ridge interesting as a character study, but many of the scenes involving the recon unit, including scenes of combat, seem dull and uninteresting by comparison. Although he is fully explored, there is 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.
