One of my all time favorites.

Instant Favorite.

hyped garbage

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Oliver Stone directed this account of real life photographer Richard Boyle(played by James Woods), who is nearly broke, so decides to go to war-torn El Salvador for the story, taking his friend "Doctor Rock"(played by James Belushi) with him. While there, he forms an uneasy alliance between the guerrilla forces, who want their photographs taken to the U.S. newspapers for publicity, and the government military forces, who want the photographs for identification purposes, though the situation will eventually become too dangerous for him to deal with... James Woods is excellent, bringing to life a rather seedy character, and helping this otherwise seedy film as well.

Oliver Stone is a Legend. He has made remarkable films throughout his career and I have been his biggest fan since ages. 'Salvador' is a yet another winner from this legendary storyteller! 'Salvador' takes place in 1980, where a sleazy war photo-journalist Richard Boyle, played by James Woods, goes to cover the bloody civil-war happening in El Salvador. His journey is full of bloodshed. He goes to cover this war, which he begins to hate. He not only loses hope in himself, but also loses his soul. Oliver Stone handles this gritty & gruesome journey with effortless ease. In each & every shot, the director understands the subject & executes each detail superbly. Screenplay by Richard Boyle himself & Stone is in sink with the structure of the film throughout.Performance-Wise: James Woods is Terrific. He is the soul of the film. Jim Belushi is damn good. Michael Murphy is effective. John Savage leaves a mark. Others lend good support. On the whole, A Must Watch!

As jobbing photojournalist Richard Boyle (James Woods) and his friend Dr. Rock (James Belushi) guzzle booze and drugs in a red convertible on their journey south of the border, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were watching a sort of Fear and Loathing in El Salvador. But where Hunter S. Thompson journeys into the heart of the American Dream, Oliver Stone's semi-biographical thriller explores its outward reach as franchiser to the Third World. What emerges is an exposé of the superpower's influence in creating a late-twentieth-century Heart of Darkness.No sooner do Boyle and Dr. Rock settle into the roles of the partying gringos than they find rifles pointed at them at a military roadblock. 'Whatever you do Doc', warns Boyle, 'don't get on the ground.' The first in a series of tense, sweaty set-pieces, Boyle must defuse the situation, armed only with a couple of knock-off watches and his oily charm. It is in these scenes of forced laughter with grave locals that the self-confessed 'weasel' Boyle excels; his defining characteristic appears to be his knack for self-preservation. It is a role perfectly suited to its star: no one balances sleaze with intensity quite like James Woods.Leeching and lying his way through encounters with acquaintances and enemies, Boyle is a strange, flawed protagonist. He lacks the maverick talent traditionally bestowed on the anti-hero, which is here embodied in old friend John Cassady (John Savage), a photojournalist fiercely committed to the ideal of the world-changing shot. But as Boyle bears witness to the atrocities committed and hypocrisies inherent in the country's Civil War, he becomes more impassioned with every picture he takes. Where he is initially concerned with staying off of the dreaded ground, he grows to stand up for those who are stuck there.Stone shoots the movie much like a war-photographer, capturing the atrocities as an outsider, and wisely reigns in the visual excess that would come to define much of his nineties work. 'Gotta get close to get the truth', Cassady intones as he climbs over a mound of corpses, 'You get too close, you die'. Stone's camera stays eye-level with his protagonist, casting from above the American gaze over a people who live on their knees, or else are strewn lifelessly across the landscape.Behind the brutal military regime that tries to suppress the (equally brutal) peasant guerrillas sits the U.S. government. Their presence as 'advisors' lends a sense of futility to the battle-scenes: no matter how bravely or well each side fights, Stone suggests, the outcome will ultimately be decided amongst Americans in an office far removed from the battlefield. Boyle professes his patriotism in a climactic speech that fails to convince, in spite of Woods' best efforts; channelling the outspoken Stone himself, he reserves his most damning accusations for the government of his homeland.Despite slipping into the preachy and manipulative at times- a distressing scene involving a group of nuns is particularly heavy-handed, regardless of whether it is based in fact- this is an effective, tense thriller, with some interesting contemplations of journalistic and political responsibility. As much character piece as polemic, Salvador is highly recommended, for Woods' wired performance in particular.

"It's 1980. Young men, women and children are being brutally killed in a bloody civil war in El Salvador. It's a horrific setting… but a perfect one for Richard Boyle, a sleazy war photojournalist whose career needs a jumpstart. Armed with his camera, Boyle joins the front lines in an attempt to capture atrocious-but-valuable images of the pain and horror. But with each picture he takes, he catches a tragic side of humanity that ignites his long-buried compassion. And, he unexpectedly discovers something that will change him forever: his soul," according to the synopsis.The promotional material also mentions well-deserved "Academy Award" nominations for James Woods (as Richard Boyle) and the writing team of director Oliver Stone and Mr. Boyle (this is his story). So, it should be noted that two Stone films - "Salvador" and "Platoon" (both released in 1986) - were competing for annual awards attention that year. Stone arguably deserved to be nominated for "Salvador"; but, since he wasn't, the "Best Director" Oscar for "Platoon" was assured.This film is marvelously done, with its main flaw being a tendency to lean too far into "Cheech & Chong" territory. Perhaps, the "Dr. Rock" (James Belushi) and "John Cassady" (John Savage) characters could have been combined - this would have added incalculable dramatic impact to the final scene between Mr. Woods and Mr. Savage. Robert Richardson's superb cinematography is also on display; Stone, Richardson, and their crew create a tremendous visual picture.******** Salvador (2/28/86) Oliver Stone ~ James Woods, James Belushi, John Savage