Salvador

While Salvador wasn't Oliver Stone's first film (a pair of offbeat horror stories preceded it), it defined his style of fiercely dramatic, politically oriented filmmaking, staked out his territory as one of the major directors of the 1980s and 1990s, and remains one of his strongest works to date. ...more

Salvador may be Oliver Stone's best film, even if it is one of his least known and commercially disappointing. Released in the same year as Stone's more acclaimed Platoon, Salvador takes a rare, politically volatile subject -- the U.S.-backed war in El Salvador -- and gives audiences a thrill-a-minute ride through the eyes of its unlikely protagonist, photographer Richard Boyle (James Woods). The reliable Woods is terrific, given room to roam by Stone in a complex and unforgiving role, and James ...more