Salvador Movie Review

If for no other reason than the hilarious sequence where James Woods as Richard Boyle pays his first visit to the confessional in 32 years, Salvador would be ingrained in my consciousness forever. But Salvador, co-written by Boyle and based on his own experiences as a photojournalist in El Salvador, gets underneath my skin for its entire 123-minute running time. Boyle is unsparing of his own flaws, and Woods may have missed out on an Oscar because he didn't try to weaken its searing honesty in any way. James Belushi is also very good as Doctor Rock, and if you want your heart tugged all the way down to your toes, check out Cynthia Gibb's performance as Cathy Moore. Woods as Boyle develops a conscience in spite of himself in this gritty account of life in El Salvador in 1980–81.

1986 (R) 123m/C James Woods, James Belushi, John Savage, Michael Murphy, Elpidia Carrillo, Cynthia Gibb, Tony Plana, Colby Chester, Will MacMillan, Jose Carlos Ruiz, Jorge Luke, Juan Fernandez, Valerie Wildman; D: Oliver Stone; W: Oliver Stone, Richard Boyle; C: Robert Richardson; M: Georges Delerue. Independent Spirit Awards ‘87: Best Actor (Woods); Nominations: Academy Awards ‘86: Best Actor (Woods), Best Original Screenplay. VHS, LV, Closed Caption