6 Things We Still Love About ‘Heartbreak Ridge,’ 30 Years Later

The movie opened Dec. 5, 1986, but it still has lessons for today.




Dec. 5, 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the Clint Eastwood classic, “Heartbreak Ridge.” Some of you millennial types may not have heard of it, much to your disadvantage, though perhaps the saltier ones among you are shouting “Ooh-Freakin’-Rah!” right now. “Heartbreak Ridge” might not be the entire reason I joined the Marine Corps, but it was probably the reason I was so excited to do it.

This film is probably the last major example of the classic war movie formula (spoiler alert!) — a unit of screw-ups gets tough new sergeant whom the troops hate until he earns their respect and eventually leads them successfully in combat.


Gunnery Sgt. Tom Highway, played by Clint Eastwood, is the leader, in what might be his meanest and most scowl-filled performance outside of 2008’s “Gran Torino.” Eastwood has apparently been a hardass 70-year-old for 30 years now.