Entertainment
Time Is Running Out for Clint Eastwood Fans To Watch His $121M Gut-Wrenching War Drama for Free
Outside of Westerns, there’s nothing Clint Eastwood loved more throughout his career than a good war drama. Extra points if it was based on a true story. Well into his run as a director and even further into his time as the leading man, Eastwood starred in and helmed the 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge. Blending fact with fiction, the movie took very real stories of war and dramatized its characters, with Eastwood starring in the leading role of Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway — a no-nonsense United States Marine who gets called back to duty just short of his retirement. Compared to other similar hits from the actor and director, like Flags of Our Fathers and American Sniper, Heartbreak Ridge flies further under his celebrated collection of wartime fare. And, if you have any interest in seeing the movie without an expensive streaming subscription, you’d better run, not walk, to Tubi before December 1, when the title is slated to leave the free platform for good.
Many of Eastwood’s roles see him playing a stiff upper-lip cowboy or soldier, but his work as the close-to-retirement Marine in Heartbreak Ridge amplifies his stereotype even more. An old-school traditionalist, when Tom (Eastwood) is called back into duty to instruct a group of young marines in the ways of war, he accepts his position with a promise to whip them into shape at any and all costs. During their time together, the up-and-coming soldiers find that Tom’s intense training and unorthodox practices begin to grow on them over time. Eventually, the group is shipped off to the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983, where they’re all incredibly grateful for what they’ve learned from the wise and hardened Medal of Honor recipient.
‘Heartbreak Ridge’s Immense Audience Reaction
With Eastwood’s name attached, any title already has one up on the competition, and the same can be said for Heartbreak Ridge. With a $15 million budget, the guns a’blazin war film raked in viewers left and right, earning a box office total of $42.7 million by the time it left domestic cinemas, and a lifetime worldwide haul of $121.7 million. Overall that year, Heartbreak Ridge came in 18th place on the box office charts, with decade favorites such as Tony Scott’s Top Gun, Peter Faiman’s Crocodile Dundee, and fellow celebrated war epic, Oliver Stone’s Platoon, taking the top three slots for best earners, respectively.
Head over to Tubi before December 1 to see Eastwood in action as a no-nonsense Marine in Heartbreak Ridge.
- Release Date
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December 5, 1986
- Runtime
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130 minutes
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Gunnery Sgt. Tom ‘Gunny’ Highway
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Everett McGill
Major Malcolm A. Powers
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Moses Gunn
Staff Sergeant Webster
