Review Detail
8.0 1 10
(Updated: July 08, 2022)
Overall rating
8.0
Audio/Video Quality
5.0
Audio Editing
8.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
I must confess i hadn't seen HR for at least twenty years before viewing Wraith's edit. I purchased the bluray over 10 years ago and it has just been sitting on my shelf in its wrapper with the fifty or so other movies you buy in sales - with all intention to re-watch- but never do.
Heartbreak Ridge for me, was another film on rotate in the 80's amongst other war movies of the time like Platoon, Hamburger Hill and Full Metal Jacket. I had a particular fondness for Gunney Highway's banter and sledging and my mates & I would often recite quotes from the film - quotes of the time that probably now seem draconian, and as Roger Ebert once reviewed, some people maybe offended by the "scatological and ancestral generalities" of Highway's speech but as juveniles we relished it like the naughty school boys we were.
When reviewing, i always watch the original alongside the edit , however this time Wraith advised me to watch his edit first, which i did, before having a quick skip through my bluray to remind myself of the scenes Wraith had omitted - i can honestly say that i am glad i took the editors advice.
Not only has Wraith achieved a goal by reducing the unnecessary overly long length of Heartbreak Ridge -he has also taken prominent character Stitch Jones (a musician that is kind of crap Prince meets Michael Jackson all wrapped up in the musical cliches of the time) and reduced his screen time to the level of his comrades - - no favouritism in Recon platoon... and this editing choice enables the viewer to focus on the hard drinking loser that is Gunney Highway ...after all this edit is named after him.
I am hard pressed to say i re-watched Heartbreak Ridge / Gunney Highway with nostalgic eyes and it is a product of its time , therefore a new or maybe younger viewer may not give it as much forgiveness - but if you can switch your brain off and excuse the somewhat low budget climatic battle scenes and the sexual orientated slurs - then just maybe you will find something in the movie you enjoy... for want of a better word.
The editing is the usual Wraith standard - so nothing to add technically but the source is from DVD and therefore don't expect to be blown away by the picture quality. A new HD upgrade would be great but watching the edit on my 65" TV almost gave it the VHS quality i so fondly remember from back in the day.
“You can run me, you can starve me and you can beat me and you can kill me. Just don't bore me.” ......and Wraith's edit of Hearbreak Ridge certainly didn't bore me.
Heartbreak Ridge for me, was another film on rotate in the 80's amongst other war movies of the time like Platoon, Hamburger Hill and Full Metal Jacket. I had a particular fondness for Gunney Highway's banter and sledging and my mates & I would often recite quotes from the film - quotes of the time that probably now seem draconian, and as Roger Ebert once reviewed, some people maybe offended by the "scatological and ancestral generalities" of Highway's speech but as juveniles we relished it like the naughty school boys we were.
When reviewing, i always watch the original alongside the edit , however this time Wraith advised me to watch his edit first, which i did, before having a quick skip through my bluray to remind myself of the scenes Wraith had omitted - i can honestly say that i am glad i took the editors advice.
Not only has Wraith achieved a goal by reducing the unnecessary overly long length of Heartbreak Ridge -he has also taken prominent character Stitch Jones (a musician that is kind of crap Prince meets Michael Jackson all wrapped up in the musical cliches of the time) and reduced his screen time to the level of his comrades - - no favouritism in Recon platoon... and this editing choice enables the viewer to focus on the hard drinking loser that is Gunney Highway ...after all this edit is named after him.
I am hard pressed to say i re-watched Heartbreak Ridge / Gunney Highway with nostalgic eyes and it is a product of its time , therefore a new or maybe younger viewer may not give it as much forgiveness - but if you can switch your brain off and excuse the somewhat low budget climatic battle scenes and the sexual orientated slurs - then just maybe you will find something in the movie you enjoy... for want of a better word.
The editing is the usual Wraith standard - so nothing to add technically but the source is from DVD and therefore don't expect to be blown away by the picture quality. A new HD upgrade would be great but watching the edit on my 65" TV almost gave it the VHS quality i so fondly remember from back in the day.
“You can run me, you can starve me and you can beat me and you can kill me. Just don't bore me.” ......and Wraith's edit of Hearbreak Ridge certainly didn't bore me.
L