Sleazoid journalist becomes engagé in El Salvador, ca. 1980-81. He also becomes the vehicle for the filmmakers' political convictions, or in other words The Straight Truth -- or in the words of the caricatured American military advisor: "wild, left-wing commie crap." This comes ill from a man who had gone to the country in the first place only to escape his creditors and to experience the nightlife ("Where else can you get a virgin to sit on your face for seven bucks?"). James Woods immerses himself in the sleaze with obvious relish, and there is an air of quasi-Hunter Thompson-esque braggadocio about the drugs, the drinks, the whores, the near-misses with death -- not to mention the advantageous comparisons to Sydney Schanberg in Cambodia. Keep in mind, if you start to wonder what was "intended," that Richard Boyle, the real-life reporter on whom this character was based, had a hand himself in writing the script. He may willingly call himself a "weasel" and an "asshole," but does he really believe it? With Jim Belushi and John Savage; co-written and directed by Oliver Stone. (1986) — Duncan Shepherd
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