A former Marine Corps special operations team leader has weighed in on the inaccuracies in a Clint Eastwood war classic. As a box office hit that received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, the military expert Elliot Ackerman was reluctant to criticize the film, but he admitted he remains a fan despite its technical inaccuracies.

In a video for Insider, Ackerman particularly pointed out the film’s opening helicopter scene as being riddled with mistakes around genuine military strategy. This 1986 war drama, directed by and starring Eastwood, tells the story of Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway getting a group of inexperienced soldiers in shape for the American invasion of Grenada in 1983.

Elliot Ackerman:

It’s very tough for me to be critical of Heartbreak Ridge because I love this movie, but parts of it are not that realistic. The opening, when the helicopter flies down and they jump out of it into the water, that’s called helocasting. First of all, it’s somewhat unrealistic that you would insert in that way during the day. Usually, you would do that during the night so people couldn’t see you. But, furthermore, usually if you’re helocasting, you would typically do it with a boat.

The whole point of helocasting is that the helicopter drops you far enough away that nobody on the coast is going to know that you were there. They sort of pull up with the helicopters 150 meters off the coast, and then they just jump out in the middle of the day and swim in so everybody can see them. It looks cool, but it doesn’t really make a lot of sense.

[Describing a scene where the Marines are involved in active combat] You see, four of them are bunched together there. You wouldn’t want that. They’re into heavy firefighting, and Clint Eastwood just sort of says, “Cover me,” and runs off. It doesn’t seem like anyone knows what he’s doing. Typically, if you’re running through forest or vegetation like that, you’re going to have to have a lot of dispersion between Marines, at least five to ten meters if not more. It doesn’t seem like the most realistic.

They find this bulldozer, and one of my favorite characters in all of movies, Sтιтch Jones, “the ayatollah of rock ‘n’ roll-ah,” gets behind the bulldozer and charges at the machine gun position. You might think this is the most unrealistic part of the movie. It’s actually a little bit realistic; when we fought in Fallujah, we used D9 bulldozers… The idea that a bulldozer could be used in combat isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. So I’m going to rate this one a 7/10 because it’s Heartbreak Ridge.

What Heartbreak Ridge Got Wrong In Its Maritime Operation Scene

In Certain Scenes, Heartbreak Ridge Valued Style Over Accuracy

The Marine operation in Heartbreak Ridge was not very accurate, according to Elliot Ackerman, who took issue with the time of day, location, and execution of the mission. With soldiers disembarking from the helicopter in clear view of potential enemies, the way this operation played out meant they would have certainly been intercepted by enemy forces.

While this operation may have been entertaining from a cinematic viewpoint, when considering genuine military strategy, Ackerman stresses it doesn’t make any sense. This wasn’t the only issue that had been flagged regarding Heartbreak Ridge, as it’s been criticized (via Spy Culture) for glorifying the invasion of Grenada without properly exploring its political context.

A scene in which soldiers are taking part in active combat was also pointed out as not realistic, with the lack of communication between Eastwood’s character being far from accurate. However, the scene in which Corporal Sтιтch Jones (Mario Van Peebles) used a bulldozer surprisingly aligns with some military tactics Ackerman had experienced.

Our Take On Heartbreak Ridge’s Inaccuracies

Heartbreak Ridge Holds Up Well As An Entertaining War Movie

In a career filled with iconic Westerns, epic action movies, and compelling war films, Heartbreak Ridge remains an excellent addition to Eastwood’s filmography as an actor and director. While there are certain aspects of the movie that can be criticized from an accuracy or political point of view, Gunnery Sergeant Highway remains one of Eastwood’s most compelling protagonists.

The issues flagged by experts like Ackerman highlight the importance of viewers watching war movies with a critical eye and realizing that they rarely stand up to rigorous factual scrutiny. This was also the case for other movies Ackerman spoke about, like Jarhead, Full Metal Jacket, and another Eastwood film, Flags of Our Fathers.

Heartbreak Ridge stands as a high point of Eastwood’s output during the 1980s, and although war movie buffs looking for documentary-level realism will be left disappointed, it’s still an incredibly compelling film. While Heartbreak Ridge was far from accurate in every scene, Ackerman did give the movie some credit and awarded it a rating of 7/10.

Sources: Insider, Spy Culture