Clint Eastwood upholds the American macho myth here as director and star of this drama about the US Marines' invasion of Grenada.

He plays a barking sergeant, cajoling and wet-nursing young recruits into battle readiness.

It's thin material that seems to run even longer than the invasion itself, but, at that time, Hollywood was obviously pushed to find a recent confrontation that the Americans had actually won.

Eastwood also wrote one of the film's background songs.