*** possible spoilers ***
Just watched this movie. The whole thing was GREAT, but the ending... WOW... It was so damn tense... right from when they saw the black truck and ran to it, then got taken to the village. That sense of waiting for something horrible to happen. Very creepy. In fact, I'd rate the final section of this movie up there with the best horror movies.
Excellent film.
I just saw this movie and was thinking of commenting on the ending as well. Fantastic. I would lump the one-armed Cajun standing on the railroad tracks in with the ending. I think that's the point I decided that I really liked this movie. The editing and pacing built great tension. Not too fast, though. I especially liked it when Hardin watches the local folk's festival from the window while Spencer is dancing. Like you said, Creepy.
shareThe most tense last twenty minutes of any film EVER!!
Brilliant.
I agree. Great sequence in the village. So disturbing. This sequence justifies the whole movie.
sharei didn't like the film to much even though it kept me all the way to the end... however, the last twenty minutes i definatly agree were so tense, you really dont no what to expect?? great ending, definatly made the film for me
shareI just love the way the shockingly raw and savage violence at the end is brilliantly counterpointed by the lively and happy Cajun music. Plus the editing of this whole sequence is exceptionally sharp and snappy.
Q: What's the biggest room in the world? A: The room for improvement.
I've read what everyone has to say about the ending and find it all interesting. Some dismiss it as being nothing significant, others believe there's something more troubling and disturbing meant within. I have seen this movie so many times I can't put a figure on it. I watched it last week and again got to the ending and again I pondered. I come down on the side of there being some meaning at the conclusion when it goes into slo-mo and the noise of the helicopter gets exaggerated. Myself, I'm really not sure. But I do know there is something "conspiracy-based" about it. Why did Powers Boothe say "What the hell's going on? I'll make it real simple" then he details all of the things that have happened that just don't seem right...don't add up, like being transferred from El Paso to Louisiana. I even considered at one point that the army were using the other soldiers as "expendable" whilst putting Powers and Keith through gruelling survival training, in order to single them out for something elite, for special operations (like the S.A.S., Seals etc..) But I really don't know. That's what's good about it. All of our interpretations are all different. Which is healthy.
One final thing though. I agree with one person who noted how blase and indifferent the Cajuns were whilst the two soldiers were clearly troubled (although Keith was remarkably held together - which again made my paranoia rear it's head thinking he had some knowledge). But significantly for me...the Cajun holds up the triangle without a smile and strikes the metal almost like signifying a completion of something.......
It's easy to read too much into things, especially when elements within a movie seem ambiguous, and in fact often that ambiguity is there specifically to create conversation points. Screenwriters love ambiguity - it's a way to engage audiences long after the final credits role.
In the case of Southern Comfort, from the perspective of a screenwriter, there is no real ambiguity at all. The close up of the military truck, it's status as an army vehicle hidden until the extreme close up of the designation number and 'star', is there to create the impression that the vehicle may be just another Cajun vehicle and that salvation is still far away. Having just survived one Cajun experience the threat of yet further confrontation is what this sequence is all about. It threatens to continue the story; threatens to reveal that Hardin and Spencer are still not in the clutches of safety. It is shot in slo-mo to emphasis the 'punch' of the end sequence and is why the film finishes once military recognition of the vehicle is achieved.
Spencer is a city-boy, portayed as intellectually superior to the others in his squad. There is nothing implied in his role to suggest he is being primed for Special Ops - that is reading way too much into the narrative. Similarly with Hardin - his transfer is not qualified. For all we know he moved to Louisiana for work (remember National Guard are part-timers)and with his military reserve status would automatically have been 'transfered ' to a local unit to see out his reserve list term or enlistment period. There is no suggestion that he was there for an ulterior purpose. If that were the case, his entire persona would have been a falsification - being as it was that he seemed a reluctant soldier.
The narrative is not that complex and anyone who thinks otherwise is reading way too much into what is a simple storyline. National guard units, as are Territorials in the UK, are made up of individuals from all walks of life, willing to give up their civilian status, in part, to serve in the military. They have many and varied reasons for so doing, and as a consequence the 'battle' of personalities in Southern Comfort was a significant, and realistic factor in generating the tension.
The whole thing was supremely well written and directed, but audiences seeking something more subversive in the narrative would do well to remember that as an analogy for the Vietnam experience, this film came only four years after the final withdrawal of US forces from Saigon (1977 if my history is accurate) and seems to reflect the filmmaker's personal feelings about the US government's foreign policy of the preceding decade.
All round a fantastic piece of filmmaking.
R
* Metaphor not analogy. apologies. It's late!
R
Great great great film, god bless for 80's flicks
shareSPOILER ALERT! great movie, I've loved it since I first saw it in the mid 80's. To be honest, and I know you are just toying with all the different ideas you have but the ending, it's pretty straight forward. They see the truck with the army star (or whatever it is) and this lets the audience know that they made it out safe...simple. It's sort of a loose take on Warriors (same director) except in the swamp instead of the city.
GREAT MOVIE!
I always thought this movie was an allegory for Vietnam. Please don't jump down my throat, I'm a Brit, not too clued up on such matters. The whole premise of alien territory and constantly being out of their depth, literally in Stuckey's demise (with his role being the main provocateur).
This film left a massive impression on me as a teen, and having just seen it again, it's impact is no less. The amazing final reel has the sense of suffocating paranoia of the finest 70s movies, comparable to The Wicker Man (original obviously) where you are almost cloying at the screen to help them.
The serial number on the truck, held in freeze frame at climax USA 22877, in our date system would mean 22nd Aug.'77. Does this have any relevance to the States' withdrawal from Vietnam? Just asking. If it's not allegorical, it's still a fantastic stalk 'n slash movie.
Luv 'n stuff,
Hymie
The withdrawal from Vietnam was finished by '75. It's always possible that number had no particular significance.
share
First saw this film on TV when I was a kid. It scared the hell out of me and I remembered nearly everything in detail. All except the NAME of the film!!!! A few months ago it was on a movie channel by chance when i turned it on, they were just about to borrow the boats...
Well, it ended up being the best RE-seeing of a film I´ve ever had.
And hell yes, the last 20 minutes of Southern Comfort are pure cinematic gold. I now own my own copy.
Im with you 100 % mate ! its fairly obvious its the US army and they have arrived just in time ... plus you hear the helicopter blades ... that ain't the canjun's !
Awesome movie and one of the best of the 80's !!!
Important to remember, of course, that this is your own opinion/interpretation. We really don't know for sure. Unless you wrote it?
shareI'd say it's pretty sure, and no, I didn't write it either. But how many Army trucks are going to be driving around in that area that don't actually belong to the Army, or are driven by non-Army personel?
shareAlso two other points:
1) the helicopter is settling into a landing approach - hence the drop in rotor speed which if you listen carefully decreases as you watch.
2) The truck passes camouflage netting emplacements that partially obscure it in camera.
Clearly the inference is that Spencer and Hardin have made it back to the rallying-point / base from whence they originally set off.
It's clear cut really and not an issue for debate (unless its debate for its own sake).
R
Touche', Rasbenek! :)
shareI agree with you that it is an army truck, in fact that's obviuous and I don't understand why some posters here doubt about that fact ! But I don't agree when you say that Spencer and Hardin made it back to the rallying point.
shareThe inference is that - it's not factual because we don't actually see any identifying images from the opening scenes in the last scene. The other thing to ask is this - the swamp isn't a usual place for a permanent military base - yet it can be a base for the purpose of an exercise. The initial objectives in the film are part of an exercise. When the exercise is officially over a base is all packed up and everyone goes home. If the exercise is still on, then the camp remains. The squad were in the swamp all of three nights - the camp would not break (ie the exercise would not be over) until all troops were accounted for. Therefore you can safely bet that the camp was the one constructed for the exercise ie the rallying point from the opening scene. It's a logical inference from the information provided on the screen.
R
So...why did the camera focus on the Cajun at the end. He struck the cowbell as if to signify the end of something. His face was serious too.
And why did Powers say he wanted to know what was going on as he suspected something was, like, 'planned' in some way. The catalogue of events?
I thought the reason for Hardin's transfer from Texas to Louisiana Guard was because his work brought him to Louisiana?
shareTook me a while to find the cowbell/triangle bit. That was just the end of the song.
Hardin (Boothe) was paranoid by that point when he asked what the hell was going on. The stress had got to him.
That Cajun village was not the rallying point. It was just where the search for the missing squad had got to. I imagine they were going to ask the Cajuns if they'd seen Bravo Team.
shareExactly. People buy police surplus vehicles and such but its required by law to remove the markings, even though they are still quite obvious from the paint and so forth. Don't see too many people cruising around in used military trucks with the markings still in place.
Also, the chopper was buzzing right overhead, leading one to believe it was a joint search, ground and air.
I interpretted Hardin as the audience stand-in.
We were supposed to see this unit primarily through his eyes. We were not supposed to "identify" with the national guardsmen (much).
Rather, we were outsiders to this screwed up little operation, just like Hardin. So we were supposed to essentially identify with him and feel the same sense of "jeez, what have I gotten myself into?" right off the bat.
So they made him an out-of-state misfit. Like the rest of us were as we watched this disaster unfold.
Also, considering the vietnam metaphor, he was definitely representing the "draftees." All he wanted to do was survive and get home; it never seemed he wanted to be there in the first place.
Actually, Hardin was a chemical engineer and mentioned his company relocated him from Texas to Baton Rouge, hence, he would have been reassigned to the local guard.
[deleted]
I think you've been affected by Hardin's paranoia. He was a long way from home, with a bunch of jerks, in a hostile environment doing an exercise he saw no point in, and the next thing you know they're being hunted by furtive civilians. After a period of stress with no sleep or food he imagines a bigger picture - that's what your mind does. It's remarkable how many viewers seem to want to join him in it.
The Cajuns at the village were blasé and indifferent because they didn't know any better. They didn't know there had been murder out in the woods. They had no reason to be tense or troubled. We see the scene thru the eyes of the soldiers, who don't know if these people are in cahoots or if danger still lurks nearby (eventually it did). The Cajun singer was apparently a real one who they used in that role, and I imagine when he did the triangle shot he'd probably already done three takes and it's not surprising if he was no longer smiling. It just signified the end of the song.
"Just watched this movie. The whole thing was GREAT, but the ending... WOW... It was so damn tense... right from when they saw the black truck and ran to it, then got taken to the village. That sense of waiting for something horrible to happen. Very creepy. In fact, I'd rate the final section of this movie up there with the best horror movies."
You are right. The last sequence is very good and much better than anything that happens before. It is somehow a summary of the movie with high intensity. The sequence begins - not surprising - with a bad decision of the "soldiers". Instead of following the instructions of the one-armed man they stop a truck that takes them to the next town. This is a wrong decision since the soldiers think they would have a telephone in the town - which is not the case.
In the whole movie the soldiers do not not know what they are doing because they are completely unexperienced.
The sequence is creepy because we know that they aren't save yet. This ambiguity is brillantly orchestrated. For sure a Highlight in Hill's career.
-------------------------
They don't give you the leads, they don't give you the support, they don't give you dick. (Dave Moss)
Hardin says that he was tranferred to Louisiana by his job; nothing to do with his military service. Once in Lousiana, he has to work with their Guard.
I took his asking Spencer "What the hell is going on?" to mean that as a newly-arrived Texan to a native Louisianan he was basically asking, "This is your state, do you have some really twisted customs here that I don't know about?"
So glad that so many people are talking about this movie. It is one of my all-time favorites.
Just watched the movie myself and loved every minute of it, which i didnt expect to since i never heard of it and thought it would be just another run-of-the-mill 80's horror/thriller. I am shocked i never heard of it, i think its a great film, the acting, cinematography, sound and the pace which the film builds up the tension until those nerve wrecking last 20 minutes was Excellent. Also i thought everybodies reactions to what was happening seemed very realistic unlike other war films.
It would be great if i stumbled across films of this quality every night, but anyway i am glad to see it been praised on here and i am gonna add it to my collection asap.
PS, this came from the same guy who just made Alien Vs Predator Reqium!!!
"Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgement"- Don Corleone
The most underrated of all the underrated films of Hill's most creative (pre-"48 Hours") period. I saw this movie at a preview screening a week before its theatrical release. The ending left me stunned, but I can't say how other audience members reacted to it. That is, other than to say they were silent and seemed rather glum as they filed out of the theater. At the time, I was writing reviews for a weekly paper in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. I wrote a glowing review of "Southern Comfort," in which I singled out the power and ambiguity of the ending for special praise. To me, the ending seemed a pretty obvious evocation of the Vietnam War. As someone else wrote, we were not far removed from our collective angst over that war in 1980. A "foreign" swamp, a bunch of green American soldiers up against an enemy and a culture they could not understand, and that final helicopter sound was one anyone familiar with newsreel footage or fictional films about Vietnam would have instantly associated with that war. If I recall, the film was a commercial failure. Hill's later work was never quite this intense. I do think there were flashes of his early brilliance in "Geronimo: An American Legend," in the same way that there were flashes of Peckinpah's brilliance in "Major Dundee." I suspect like that film, "Geronimo..." as released was not the film Hill turned in to the studio.
shareSuch a great movie! It transcends generations. I was just given this great W.Hill movie as a gift from my 20 y.o.daughter. She loves the movie and so does my oldest daughter who is 29 y.o. I first saw this movie way back in the early 80's on HBO. Its just one of those hidden obscure underrated Hollywood gems. I also love the Warriors by W. Hill. As far as the ending is concerned...for a while there I thought I saw a civilian driving the military truck. Implying that the Cajuns had killed more National Guardsmen and not just Bravo Squad members. That doesn't explain the Helicopter though. Also, I've always thought that the entire Cajun village knew who the soldiers were and what they had done. Who knows? Maybe I'm just being paranoid like Powers Booth. LOL
shareWhen we first got HBO in the early 80s, it seemed like this movie was on every night, and it seemed like I watched it just as often. I have always interpreted the ending to infer that the Cajuns killed other National Guardsmen as well and they were in the Army truck. I watched this movie last night for the first time in over twenty years, and I was able to freeze frame my DVD, and I swear it looks like the driver of the truck has a white beard. Perhaps I saw what I wanted to see, but to me Hardin and Spencer are just minutes away from their demise.
shareThe mystery continues! I also freezed framed the DVD but I still couldn't tell. I believe I saw the driver wearing military fatigues (back then they were called fatigues not BDU's) but not sure. The look on Hardin and Spencer's faces in that last shot, to me at least, imply that they're just minutes away from their demise also. Good to hear from another Southern Comfort fan.
shareI just watched this great movie again on Encore. The ending has always been the most wonderful part of the movie for me too. However, every time I've seen it I DO WONDER.....we can never see the faces of the drivers of the military trucks...in fact, we can not see anything inside the trucks...it has always left me wondering ....could it be the the Cajuns have stolen the trucks? Maybe that is why the movie just stops there. It leaves me wondering if the two soldiers actually get saved, OR....are they going to end up hung upside down on a tree and gutted? Hmmmm Just wondxring.
shareOh yes, I watched the ending over and over and you can find so many messages in it. The number on the truck coming towards them is by the way the same as on the truck that delivers them to the starting point at the beginning of the movie.
Would the cajuns have come after Boothe if he hadn't run away?, did the villagers know what had happened?, or was the whole thing a preparation for a feast like at the ending of 'the Wickerman'?
We don't even know if the two were saved or not, a great haunting ending that i've showed to friends many times.
There is no conspiracy in what is going on. The reason the ending is so abrupt is because of all the loose ends that are left over.
First, they lost most of their squad. There is definitely going to be a number of questions about that. One of the survivors killed another of the squad in self-defence, and the guy with him is a witness that may or may not say that it was such. Both survivors are facing possible court martials.
Not to mention stolen and destroyed property, violation of a number of civil rights and three dead Cajuns (one in the forest, two in town). The one-armed Cajun and the guy knocked over the head are definitely going to testify. There are also going to be questions from nearby municipalities and the parish about what the hell was going on. Something like this happening would have been a huge black eye on the National Guard, especially coming at the tail end of Vietnam (for the record, we finally left in 1974).
Personally, what would you do if someone took your property and fired at you with a machine gun? The Cajuns obviously did not know they were blanks. If I realized that I was miraculously alive after that, I can guaranty I would want to blow someone's head off as well.
There is enough left over to make a second movie on the court cases alone.
[deleted]
To me, its clear that Spencer and Harden are killed at the end of the film Southern Comfort - there is no rescue and no happy ending. Its not a mystery at all, but it is a conspiracy. Why? as the one armed Cajun says, "It's simple...this is OUR home...no one *beep* with us...". The conspiracy is that even elements of the Louisiana National Guard are hunting (to kill) the lost, undisciplined and reckless Guardsman because, as Harden says at the party, basically, "They have to kill us, we are the only witnesses". Let me explain...
As some have pointed out, the town seems indifferent and blaze to the Spencer and Harden who are clearly lost and in Hardens case injured from the dog attack and the knife fight with Reece - dried blood being visible on his Fatigue jacket. Aside from the beer and southern hospitality shown to them at the party, the people ignore them (the girl who dances with Spencer come across slightly vampish, yet puts Spencer at ease - Harden doesn’t buy it).
We know that the one armed Cajun knows why they are being hunted, even though he was probably not there during the 2nd incident - canoe stealing, Stucky firing blanks at the Cajun Hunters and the Sgt. being shot at in the head - (the first incident was when Reece cuts the fish net in half). Yet the one arm Cajun says at the train bridge, "My buddies aren’t as nice as me..." so he knows what is going on and his buddies are hunting them and why. Word travels fast in the swamp apparently.
If the one armed Cajun knows what the Guardsmen did, and when the Cajun hunters show up at the town from their canoe they talk to the pig truck driver, its a safe bet that most everyone in the insular community with no telephones also knows what’s going on as well. Spencer says that the townsfolk are "the good Cajuns..." but Harden knows better and is paranoid for good reason.
This would also explain the helicopter and the Army truck and the ending, but lets go back to Stuckeys death to understand...
The helicopter first appears after the first firefight between the Cajun Hunters and the Squad, right after Spencer and Harden appear to shoot one of the Hunters who trips or falls behind a tree. Sgt Casper’s tells the squad to retreat and fall back, breaking enemy contact. Moments later the helicopter flies straight up to the Squads position, hovers and turns away - Sgt Casper says there was no place to land in the trees - clearly the helicopter sees the squad yet turns away with Stuckey giving chase, alone, through the swamp. Unfortunately for Stuckey, the helicopter leads him directly into a patch of quick sand where Stuckey drowns. If you go watch the scene again like I did, you'll note that when Stuckey hits the quick sand, the helicopter turns towards him, hovers and descends making the ominous sound with the rotor blades. Clearly, the helicopter pilot watches Stuckey drown.
Later, Harden says that, basically, "...they sent only one helicopter...(to search)". Spencer jokingly replies at "What did you expect they would send the National Guard?".
The last we see of Harden and Spencer, they flee the town after knifing and bayoneting two of the Cajun Hunters knocking out with a rifle butt a third. As they flee we see the town for the last time - you'll see that the hangman noose loops are cut, (It was those hangman noose loops that Harden noticed before he grabs the knife at the party) presumably after one of the pigs was cut down after the pig skinning. Its easy to imagine what would have happened to Spencer and Harding had they stayed at the party longer! Also, the Cajun singer rings the triangle bell once (dinner time perhaps or something more...). So when the helicopter shows up again, the triangle gets rung and the chopper flies directly at the surviving guardsmen, turns and flies slowly away - with Spencer and Harding giving chase, at this point the helicopter turns towards them again and descends with the same ominous rotor blade sound we saw before. The parallels to Stuckeys death are obvious because the helicopter leads them to the truck then turns.
At this point they see the Army truck - astute viewers knew this was an Army truck right away but most took a moment to understand this after the Army decals on the truck became visible. Some people think there was camouflage netting and a camp or rally point set up on the road, we can assume that Spencer and Harding knew it was an Army truck instantly (the same that brought them to the exercise in the beginning of the movie come to find out, thanks bloggers).
So Spencer and Harden see the truck and the helicopter descending, but looking at the scene again, the last shot we see, they look at each other then towards the truck. Spencer clearly has fear in his eyes, terror really and the now shot by a rifle Harden, exhausted, looks like he is thinking "What in the hell is going on here?" Remember earlier when Harden asked Spencer to explain just what the hell is going on - Spencer replies that, basically, "weird people were trying to kill us".
So we can infer that the Cajun Hunters had 2-3 days to tell people about what the Guard Squad had done and why they were to be killed, that Spencer and Harden had to die to protect not just the Hunters but the Townsfolk and their people - some of whom just happen to also be serving in the Guard as well. Spencer (from the City) and Harden (from Texas) were both outsiders and the only living witnesses and had to be killed to protect all Cajuns essentially. "It's simple. This is OUR home...no one *beep* with us".
We can also assume that the bodies are never found and the 9 guardsmen just disappear during the exercise in the swamp. Investigators cannot get leads from any of the Cajuns and no clues emerge as to what happened - a true conspiracy reaching into maybe the highest levels of the Louisiana Guard. I personally think this movie is less about Vietnam and more about the US Army of the mid 70's (undisciplined) the clash of personalities and cliques that form inside any Army Unit as well as a creepy window into one of our own, unique, American subcultures. The moral of this story is simple - when in the South show some respect!
You're a good observer but I think you've read far too much into that. Especially the conspiratorial end parts.
shareTo me, its clear that Spencer and Harden are killed at the end of the film Southern Comfort - there is no rescue and no happy ending. Its not a mystery at all, but it is a conspiracy. Why? as the one armed Cajun says, "It's simple...this is OUR home...no one *beep* with us...". The conspiracy is that even elements of the Louisiana National Guard are hunting (to kill) the lost, undisciplined and reckless Guardsman because, as Harden says at the party, basically, "They have to kill us, we are the only witnesses". Let me explain...
As some have pointed out, the town seems indifferent and blaze to the Spencer and Harden who are clearly lost and in Hardens case injured from the dog attack and the knife fight with Reece - dried blood being visible on his Fatigue jacket. Aside from the beer and southern hospitality shown to them at the party, the people ignore them (the girl who dances with Spencer come across slightly vampish, yet puts Spencer at ease - Harden doesn’t buy it).
We know that the one armed Cajun knows why they are being hunted, even though he was probably not there during the 2nd incident - canoe stealing, Stucky firing blanks at the Cajun Hunters and the Sgt. being shot at in the head - (the first incident was when Reece cuts the fish net in half). Yet the one arm Cajun says at the train bridge, "My buddies aren’t as nice as me..." so he knows what is going on and his buddies are hunting them and why. Word travels fast in the swamp apparently.
If the one armed Cajun knows what the Guardsmen did, and when the Cajun hunters show up at the town from their canoe they talk to the pig truck driver, its a safe bet that most everyone in the insular community with no telephones also knows what’s going on as well. Spencer says that the townsfolk are "the good Cajuns..." but Harden knows better and is paranoid for good reason.
This would also explain the helicopter and the Army truck and the ending, but lets go back to Stuckeys death to understand...
The helicopter first appears after the first firefight between the Cajun Hunters and the Squad, right after Spencer and Harden appear to shoot one of the Hunters who trips or falls behind a tree. Sgt Casper’s tells the squad to retreat and fall back, breaking enemy contact. Moments later the helicopter flies straight up to the Squads position, hovers and turns away - Sgt Casper says there was no place to land in the trees - clearly the helicopter sees the squad yet turns away with Stuckey giving chase, alone, through the swamp. Unfortunately for Stuckey, the helicopter leads him directly into a patch of quick sand where Stuckey drowns. If you go watch the scene again like I did, you'll note that when Stuckey hits the quick sand, the helicopter turns towards him, hovers and descends making the ominous sound with the rotor blades. Clearly, the helicopter pilot watches Stuckey drown.
Later, Harden says that, basically, "...they sent only one helicopter...(to search)". Spencer jokingly replies at "What did you expect they would send the National Guard?".
The last we see of Harden and Spencer, they flee the town after knifing and bayoneting two of the Cajun Hunters knocking out with a rifle butt a third. As they flee we see the town for the last time - you'll see that the hangman noose loops are cut, (It was those hangman noose loops that Harden noticed before he grabs the knife at the party) presumably after one of the pigs was cut down after the pig skinning. Its easy to imagine what would have happened to Spencer and Harding had they stayed at the party longer! Also, the Cajun singer rings the triangle bell once (dinner time perhaps or something more...). So when the helicopter shows up again, the triangle gets rung and the chopper flies directly at the surviving guardsmen, turns and flies slowly away - with Spencer and Harding giving chase, at this point the helicopter turns towards them again and descends with the same ominous rotor blade sound we saw before. The parallels to Stuckeys death are obvious because the helicopter leads them to the truck then turns descending ominously once again. Leading the bait to the trap.
At this point they see the Army truck - astute viewers knew this was an Army truck right away but most took a moment to understand this after the Army decals on the truck became visible. Some people think there was camouflage netting and a camp or rally point set up on the road, we can assume that Spencer and Harding knew it was an Army truck instantly (the same that brought them to the exercise in the beginning of the movie come to find out, thanks bloggers).
So Spencer and Harden see the truck and the helicopter descending, but looking at the scene again, the last shot we see, they look at each other then towards the truck. Spencer clearly has fear in his eyes, terror really and the now shot by a rifle Harden, exhausted, looks like he is thinking "What in the hell is going on here?" Remember earlier when Harden asked Spencer to explain just what the hell is going on - Spencer replies that, basically, "weird people were trying to kill us".
So we can infer that the Cajun Hunters had 2-3 days to tell people about what the Guard Squad had done and why they were to be killed, that Spencer and Harden had to die to protect not just the Hunters but the Townsfolk and their people - some of whom just happen to also be serving in the Guard as well. Spencer (from the City) and Harden (from Texas) were both outsiders and the only living witnesses and had to be killed to protect all Cajuns essentially. "It's simple. This is OUR home...no one *beep* with us".
We can also assume that the bodies are never found and the 9 guardsmen just disappear during the exercise in the swamp. Investigators cannot get leads from any of the Cajuns and no clues emerge as to what happened - a true conspiracy reaching into maybe the highest levels of the Louisiana Guard. I personally think this movie is less about Vietnam and more about the US Army of the mid 70's (undisciplined) the clash of personalities and cliques that form inside any Army Unit as well as a creepy window into one of our own, unique, American subcultures. The moral of this story is simple - when in the South show some respect!
P.2
My last post on the Southern Comfort movie ending pointed out that its really was not a mystery, but was a conspiracy. From reading some of the many IMBD posted reviews and the critics, I feel now that a lot of people just don’t get “it.” -the ending of the movie, and what it means-
And this is what would answer the unknowing skeptical critics who also say the dialogue and jokes and characters were canned and clique, which imHo was not what I thought. I served 11xB Infantry US Army and know a little something about this. I thought halfway through the first time seeing it in over 20 years (really the first)how believable the comments and characters were.
Some critics objected to stereotyping and unbelievable errors on the part of the Soldiers. Some missed some key details. All in the movie make many dumb mistakes, realistically portrayed I thought. The critics and non get “it”’ viewers cynical disbelief of the about how dumb the soldiers were, was however, premature. The Soldiers all individually made errors in judgment, including Spencer . When he usurps command, the smart new Squad Leader, who at least admitted that he was also responsible for stealing the canoes, said he wanted to at the time separates Casper and Simms, to look or Stuckey and of course they are then easily killed off unknown to Spencer the new Squad Leader. He abandons them after he realizes his plan for shooting blanks in the air was also foolish because they were attracting the Hunters. (who knew there location at all times anyway and knew they were not going to be able to escape hence the mind games).
. The critics also said that the Cajuns Hunters must have been clairvoyant and it was unbelievable how they could set traps how they couldn’t have set up the traps in the vast swamp knowing the location movements, etc. Understanding the real ending also helps to understand how this was possible. Bowden predicted and foreshadowed when he said basically all 9 of them were already dead at the end of the prayer during the burial of Cribbs and SSgt Poole. Although all the men reach there own collapse mentally right before they are killed, manifest in 9 characters ways. this would explain Bowden’s complete nervous breakdown so early as he was the first to realize they were all doomed.
Many thought that the one armed Cajun was actually helping them escape, when he said “Haul Ass” maybe he was but note that he directed them to a dirt road. not the interstate. Yet he knows this road is patrolled and under surveillance of the Hunters and Townsfolk. Since the mind games toyed with the Soldiers and told them that they will not be allowed to escape, despite the fair treatment given to him by Spencer and Harding. Note the 2 pigs on the way to slaughter metaphor here. Mind games continue, why not direct them to the party when you could have murdered them the night before when the trapper probably murdered the tied up and catatonic Bowden while the others slept on guard duty. Harden knows and says at the party that they cant be left alive to become witnesses and sees that the pig truck driver talks to and already knows the hunters. The Cajun community in the area, not just the hunters themselves, all knew who the soldiers were and knew they where in deep trouble (i.e., to be killed) as demonstrated by the behavior of the townsfolk.(see my last post).
I now realize the mystery, gee whiz and sullen reactions, how people felt at the ending, and how actually few people say the worst case scenario and most believe they were rescued, this ambiguity was created by the screen writers to shield the audience from the real ending. Maybe for wide spread circulation, R ratings, ticket sales, it was better story line that way, more thrilling and yet still get the message and story out because the real ending is much, much more disturbing.
The stark truth, to the perceptive viewer, sadly,as sympathetic as we identify some maybe to to be, they are all already dead. Their own mental breakdown happens as the credits roll. When we see the American Army 5 pointed star on the truck in the last scene we think safety - yet this pentagram symbolizes the evil that happens to strengthen the collective be it the US Army or The Rural American insular, cult -like community. When the film came out in 82, some Americans were beginning to become aware of Satanic Ritual Abuse in small town America (most but not all claims were debunked). Infamous “File 18”, published privately in 1986 by and for American Law Enforcement Officers estimated “40,000 - 60,000 ritual homicides in America each year.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_18). This is no indictment or slur on the proud, honorable Great American Cajun community - it is a larger tale of what happens sometimes to outsiders and in all communities and as a warning to us all.
When people disappear and this is done with the full knowledge of many prominent members of a community, this is a conspiracy. the townsfolk behavior, triangle ringing -and as we have seen the Cajun trappers had Cajun Guard assistance. (Who finished the job we can infer).
This is what makes the film so plausible because though the film is fiction we do know these events and conspiracies happen as they have for thousands of years, though our biased suburban modern western values shield us from the true reality. Sometimes there is no escape once you *beep* up. The analogy is no less true with Vietnam than it is today, as one is reminded when watching Reece waterboarding the One Armed Trapper. The reality is all of us have been as arrogant, stupid, reckless and disrespectful as the Soldiers were, this alone is enough to get into serious trouble so the message of the movie transcends Vietnam or any local event in History. This is the many-fold untold story, the conspiracy, the too shocking for audiences truth. We must be warned because all are capable of hive mind atrocity wanton disregard and disrespectful, stupidity. Though we can deny - like Simms at his death.
I'm no expert on the American military but I don't think there is any such thing as "Cajun Guard".
shareStrange nobody got the ending?
You see the olive rescue truck (& Chopper) repeatedly in slow-mo in the ending and the shocked survivor, Powers Boothe & Keith Carradine stairs shocked at the truck and the number on the side 22877 (or whatever, havnt watched it for some time, but u get the general idea)
this is the same truck they came in at the beginning, it is THEIR truck.
And theyre sure as f did not base camp in craptown from start, on the other hand I don't know anyone who beleives that it is an army camp in the end including you guys. Just stating the obvious.
The swamprats or rednex or whatever theyre called got the truck and chopper!
(Personally I think it's kinda stupid joke that theyre flying the chopper)
It is also clear rednecks aint seen Powers & Keith, which place them left in the same f:d place as they just thought they'd escaped.
It is up to You as a watcher deciding the odds of the guys hauling their asses intact outta craptown, being damaged goods'n all.
Well they got both the road and the railway to follow out of there and theyre sorta likeable protagonists and they seemingly took out most of the grumpy canooless hillbillys that popped up during privatizing time.
This is quite clearly the ending, no other interpretation possible.
If you use the rewind button or whatever you will see the number of the truck an appalling quantity of times showed up your...face.
/Silverbullit (And I am not native english tongue, pardon my poor english mates)
If everything is going well - then your obviously overlooking something...
I loved the film and the ending was a suitable climax which kept you hooked and thinking beyond the credits.
HAving watched the film a few times my own interpretation was that they knew both friend and foe were bearing down on them but they weren't sure which was which and their fate was undecided when the film ends. For sure the army trucks logo does not mean they chose the right path.
Ultimately the viewer decides on the ending.
Great film, watched it last night. The ending was perfection. The last 20 minutes in the village were intense. Hardin knew they were far from safe and Spencer thought he was paranoid. Its a creepy village and you knew something wasnt right, the film was directed brilliantly you could almost feel their fear as if you were beside them.
Isolated in the middle of nowhere in the mercy of crazy Cajuns, miles from safety. The dash at the end out of the village, I was that into the film I could almost feel the relief they would of felt seeing that USA army truck.
Brilliant film.
Cormac, Im from England and I also watched it on Sunday night, on Beeb 2.
I still enjoy the film now when its on telly even though Ive got it on dvd!!
1981 was a brilliant year for films and Im always surprised that this film doesnt seem to get mentioned up there with the more popular titles.
As for the ending, I do desperately want the two soldiers to escape and thats the ending I choose to go with anyway. The slow-mo helicopter and truck sequences were there for excitement, and I think it all added a nervy ending to what was a great film.
They arrived to the National Guard base in the truck. They marched out of the base and into the swamp which is clearly shown. So your theory doesnt work because the truck was left at the base to begin with.
share