|
|
Salvador
on DVD (1985)
|
|
| Starring: |
James Woods, James Belushi, John Savage, Michael Murphy, Elpidia Carrillo, Tony Plana, Valerie Wildman |
| Director: |
Oliver Stone |
| Studio: |
MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time: |
117 mins |
| Certificate: |
 |
| User collections: |
Hard hitting but little known movies, On the Road Again, great political films, The Revolution Will Be Televised - Or Watched on DVD |
| Genres: |
Action/Adventure, Thriller |
| Languages: |
English |
| Dubbed: |
Italian |
| Hearing-impaired: |
English |
| Subtitles: |
Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish |
| Released: |
10/09/2001
|
Brief synopsis of Salvador
Oliver Stone's first overtly political film, SALVADOR is a passionate protest against the savagery unleashed by fascist thugs in El Salvador during the early 1980s with the complicity of the U.S. government. It stars James Woods as combat photojournalist Richard Boyle, an erratic, cynical character with a taste for all things chemical. Hearing rumors of war, he and Dr. Rock (Jim Belushi), another free spirit, head for El Salvador by car. After viewing a right-wing officer's collection of severed ears and photographing a corpse-strewn garbage dump with ace photographer John Cassady (John Savage), Boyle realizes that the situation is much worse than advertised in the American press. He recognizes familiar faces among the ubiquitous U.S. military brass and CIA personnel from his stint in Vietnam, but they're predictably reluctant to discuss the reasons for their presence, especially with the outrageous Boyle. As the journalist becomes involved with a Salvadoran native named Maria (Elpedia Carrillo) and observes the selfless dedication of his humanitarian worker friend Cathy (Cindy Gibb), compassion and outrage slowly begin to replace his cynicism. When Boyle swears to the dying Cassady that he'll get his crucial photos out of the country, he realizes that he must also try to get Maria out before she too becomes a statistic. Woods gives a brilliantly incendiary seriocomic performance in this wild, lacerating, and bitterly observant film.
|
Related
Critics Reviews
Radio Times
Oliver Stone's first major film also made a star out of James Woods, who gives a stunning, Oscar-nominated performance here as a zapped-out journalist who heads down to Central America in search of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. What he finds is a nation in chaos with death squads, CIA spooks and the media circus in full cry. He also finds redemption. Stone's message is “No more Vietnams”, delivered in a ferocious, pseudo-documentary style that plunges us pell-mell into the middle of street fighting where tracheotomys are performed with ballpoint pens and where photographers get high on carnage. “I made it as if it was the last movie I'd ever make,” said Stone, explaining the film's now-or-never urgency.
Variety
"...Stone has gotten a great deal of visual and political material up on the screen, and it's all worth grappling with..."
Time Out
In 1980, Richard Boyle, an American journalist on the skids, drove down to Salvador, believing the place would provide...
Read more on www.timeout.com
See all 4 Critics Reviews »
Members Reviews
Reviews Voted Most Helpful
Most Recent Reviews
|
|
