As the guy who wrote up the Heartbreak Ridge item, let me begin a reply to Jonah by agreeing that it is not an exceptional piece of filmmaking (though Roger Ebert did give it three out of four stars).

Yes, Mario Van Peebles is awful even beyond being a cliché–as are the rest of the “rag-tag” bunch that Clint whips into shape. But it is quite fun to see Clint’s Gunnery Sgt. Tom Highway fire off more vulgar, macho one-liners in ten minutes than Arnold gets off in a whole movie. “Hippies,” as Gunny calls them, hate that kind of stuff. And to modern ears, Clint is shockingly un-PC toward liberals and what we know today as “protected” classes.

The movie is, at heart, an unapologetic celebration of the American fighting man–especially our Marines, who have no peer in the world. It also makes the point that often war is necessary, and must be fought the “right way”–all the way to victory.

Some examples of conservative-friendly themes/scenes:

· There is a conversation between Gunny Highway and his old war buddy from the battle of Heartbreak Ridge about how politicians didn’t let us win in Vietnam.

· A colleague notes that Highway, a Medal of Honor winner, “volunteered for every war that came down the pike.”

· Highway rips members of Congress for being “yellow” when it comes to fighting necessary wars.

· Highway is let off easy by a judge for a public brawl considering the Marine’s “commitment to the defense of this great nation.”

· A weasel-nosed superior tells Highway to not “be so Gung-ho.” “That’s what I am, sir,” Highway replies.

· Clint’s Highway urges one of his lazy charges to straighten up because, “maybe some communist bastard is going to make an appointment to pop you a new [anus] right in the forehead.”

· Highway really gets his killing on in Grenada, even finishing off a wounded Cuban lying defenseless on the ground. Only now will Gunny smoke a Cuban stogie that he pulled out of the dead commie’s chest pocket. He earned it.

· Highway’s men rip down a Cuban flag that was flying on a stick on a bridge–after killing all the commies first.

· Upon liberating the young Americans in Granada from the Cubans, they rejoice at hearing the words “U.S. Marines” and start yelling “Yea! Marines! Wooo!”

· Mario Van Peebles’s character asks Highway when they return to a hero’s welcome in the U.S.: “I guess all this marching bands and parades is old hat to you?” Highway–the Korean and Vietnam vet–responds stoically: “Tell you the truth, it’s the first time.”

And the movie ends with Clint walking triumphantly away, his girl on his arm, a band playing a martial song, and the American flag waving proudly.

Celebrating the liberation of Grenada has got to be worth something–especially given how that operation has been long-mocked mocked by the Left. This non-cerebral action movie’s treatment of communist Cuba is the anti-Che.

— James G. Lakely is managing editor of InfoTech & Telecom News at the Heartland Institute.