Salvador

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Salvador

R

1986

1h 57m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

90%

Tomatometer

31 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Unable to find work in America because of his penchant for booze and drugs, photojournalist Richard Boyle (James Woods) heads to El Salvador with his DJ friend Doctor Rock (James Belushi) to see if he can get a gig covering the country's ongoing civil war. Boyle decides it's time to flee the country when the violence escalates to a level that even he is uncomfortable with, but his relationship with an El Salvadorian woman (Elpidia Carrillo) complicates matters.

Critics Consensus

Despite its somewhat disjointed narrative, Oliver Stone's Salvador is a vivid and powerful political drama that sets an early tone for the director's similarly provocative future projects.

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Richard Combs

Sight & Sound

08/22/2022

Of Stone's two recent films, Salvador is the most remarkable, if only for its drive and sense of attack, its willingness to deal in current politics as directly as it does.

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Catharine Rambeau

Detroit Free Press

10/27/2021

8/10

Although it doesn't attain the stature of The Killing Fields, the film is an effective comment on the actions in Central America.

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Derek Adams

Time Out

06/24/2006

The polemic may seem obvious and at times laboured, but the action sequences are brilliant, and the film does achieve a brutal, often very moving, power.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Oct 26

3.5/4

The snatched-from-history moments are clearly punched across.

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Armond White

National Review

04/26/2024

It is Stone’s cynicism that recommends Salvador for contemporary viewing. No other American filmmaker this millennium dares Stone’s candor about the sins and absolute corruption of political journalism.

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Jordan M. Smith

IONCINEMA.com

11/03/2020

3.5/5

Still soberingly relevant today, this is a film that needs a critical revival and much deserved love and attention.

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Wayne K

@RT88290232 Apr 12

Released in the same year as Oliver Stone’s far more successful and acclaimed Platoon, Salvador begins by visually and auditorily machinegunning the audience with bleak images of the El Salvadoran Civil War, a conflict I wasn’t even previously aware of. Similar to 2017’s American Made, it depicts how US intervention in other countries battles is complicating at best and outright destructive at worst. There might be the odd dollops of political grandstanding at times, and not enough insight into the reason for the conflict or the people on either side, but the action is propulsive, stark and doesn’t shy away from the ugliness of war. James Woods makes for a suitably shifty protagonist, with the kind of vocal personality and mannerisms that he brought to Hercules' Hades, his admitted favourite role. It might lack the acclaim and staying power of Platoon, but it’s a film that’s as entertaining as it is shocking.

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Sean W

@TheLoneHessian Feb 7

Straight away pretending that these invading migrants are victims and not victimizing the places they’re going to. This is propaganda.

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ed m

@RT80499164 Nov 30

Good movie. James Woods is great. Of course, it's an Oliver Stone movie so you don't know what is true.

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 Sep 30

Has a raw journalistic excellence usually only seen in Nam films of this ilk. Interesting to focus the camera on another conflict the US were ill advised to enter into. There’s a lot to admire in this picture. Watched it on Amazon Prime.

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CodyZamboni Z

@CodyZamboni Sep 29

Brutal, raw, powerful, and ultimately, heartbreaking. Brought to vivid life by Oliver Stone.

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Robert B

@RT57877220 Jun 21

Classic in every way. Even Belushi shines. Must see.

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Oliver Stone

Director

James Woods

Richard Boyle

Jim Belushi

Doctor Rock

Michael Murphy

Ambassador Thomas Kelly

John Savage

John Cassady ('Newsweek' reporter

Elpidia Carrillo

María

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Synopsis

Unable to find work in America because of his penchant for booze and drugs, photojournalist Richard Boyle (James Woods) heads to El Salvador with his DJ friend Doctor Rock (James Belushi) to see if he can get a gig covering the country's ongoing civil war. Boyle decides it's time to flee the country when the violence escalates to a level that even he is uncomfortable with, but his relationship with an El Salvadorian woman (Elpidia Carrillo) complicates matters.

Director: Oliver Stone
Producer: Gerald Green, Oliver Stone
Screenwriter: Richard Boyle, Oliver Stone
Distributor: Polygram, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: Patsa Productions S.A., Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A., Cinema '84, Hemdale
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 23, 1986, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 57m