SALVADOR
(1985)
Director: Oliver Stone
Written by Oliver Stone and Richard Boyle
Starring:
James Woods: Richard Boyle
James Belushi: Doc (Dr. Rock)
Michael Murphy: Ambassador Tom Kelly
John Savage: John Cassady
Elpedia Carrillo: María
Tony Plana: Major Max Casanova
Colby Chester: Jack Morgan
Cindy Gibb: Cathy Moore
Valerie Wildman: Pauline Axelrod
Will MacMillan: Col. Hyde (intelligence officer)
Behind the opening credits there are documentary scenes of a massacre that took place on
the steps of the cathedral in San Salvador.
A TV reporter describes the scene as a shootout between leftist rebels and police.
[But it is a massacre of peaceful demonstrators.]
Richard Boyle uses a rooming house pay phone to try to get a job, which he doesn’t get.
Boyle is stopped for speeding. He is cited for numerous violations.
SALVADOR
Doc bails him out.
They go to the pound to pick up Doc’s dog, Bagel.
But Bagel has been put down.
Doc is outraged.
They go to Boyle’s apartment.
His wife has left. The apartment is trashed.
Boyle and Doc drive to Central America.
Along the way they engage in obscene and sexist conversation.
They are both very cynical.
As they enter El Salvador, they encounter a roadblock.
A body burns in the road.
Boyle says he is a friend of Col. Figueroa.
An officer drives them away in a jeep.
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They stop in a village (Santa Ana). Many of the villagers lie prone in the main street.
A young man is executed in the street with a shot to the head.
Boyle and Doc, fearing for their lives, are taken away in an armored car.
Col. Figueroa greets Boyle warmly.
Somehow, Boyle gets his car back.
Boyle finds his old girlfriend, María.
Her brother, Carlos, is with her.
She carries a baby girl in her arms.
María: “They told me you were dead.”
Then she says, “Still drunk? Still crazy?”
Boyle: “No. For you I stopped. No more alcohol.”
They kiss.
María: “I know you have another woman in the North.”
Boyle (in Spanish): “No, it’s over.”
Boyle and María lie in a hammock.
Boyle and Doc drive to a town.
Boyle finds an old acquaintance, John Cassady, a photographer.
Beggars accost them while they eat.
Boyle and Doc argue. Doc wants to go back to the States—immediately.
Doc storms off. Boyle tells John he’s just a hitchhiker he picked up in Guatemala.
Boyle and John go to El Playón, a dump site for death squad victims.
There are lots of bones and decaying bodies.
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SALVADOR
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Vultures lurk.
John says he wants to get a great photo like one a great photographer had taken.
“You gotta get close, Rich, to get the truth. If you get too close, you die.”
Boyle can’t take El Playón. He wants to leave.
John tells him that Tom Kelly is the new US ambassador.
Boyle knows him from Cambodia.
John tells him there will be an “election party” at the embassy.
Women look through picture books of those killed by death squads and the National Guard.
One gasps and cries as she recognizes a loved one.
Ramón Alvarez (Dir. Of the Human Rights Office and Spokesman for the Revolutionary
Democratic Front) tries to console her.
At the San Salvador Cathedral, Boyle recognizes Carmen Sanchez, who is working at a food
line in a refugee camp.
Boyle finds Ramón and begs him to introduce him to a rebel leader, Alvarez.
Carmen overhears. She tells him to come back next week and she will arrange it.
Boyle takes pictures while talking to a North American woman (almost certainly a nun) who
is serving in the food line.
She tells him that Cathy is around.
She says, “These are some of the survivors of the massacre at the Sumpol River.”
Cathy shows up.
Doc befriends a few boys in the camp, some with ugly scars and missing limbs.
The Embassy Party
Reagan, on TV, talks about halting terrorists’ infiltration into Central America.
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Doc asks Boyle, “Doesn’t it depress you that a straight man to a chimpanzee is gonna be
the next president of the United States?
Boyle is introduced to Col. Bentley Hyde, Senior Officer of MILGROUP and US advisor to
the Salvador Military.
He is also introduced to officials in USAID and a woman who represents the AFL-CIO.
Doc tries to make conversation with a young woman US soldier.
She rejects him as weird.
Boyle talks with Jack Morgan, US State Department analyst.
Morgan asks Boyle if he is trying to go out with the guerrillas.
Boyle says he will go out with anybody.
Morgan asks Boyle to show him any pictures he takes if he gets to the hills.
Boyle says no.
Morgan says Castro is supplying the guerrillas with weapons.
He says Nicaragua was first, El Salvador will be next.
Boyle says he is crazy.
Morgan introduces Boyle to Ambassador Tom Kelly.
Reagan is announced as president. The crowd applauds.
Boyle and Doc sit at a table with other journalists.
A well-dressed woman (Pauline Axelrod) talks about how Salvadoran leaders want
democracy and elections.
Boyle disagrees, obscenely.
She resents his remark.
Boyle: “I’ll tell you what I resent. I resent what I saw in Santa Ana the other day. It was a
kid shot in the head and hanged from a tank because he didn’t have his fucking
cédula…. What I’m saying is, if you’re gonna analyze the situation just analyze it right.
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If you don’t have a cédula on election day, stamped, you’re dead. Democracy, what
kind of democracy is it when you have to vote, and if you don’t vote you’re branded a
commie subversivo? I mean, people would vote for Donald Duck, Genghis Khan, or
whoever the local cop tells them to, because if they don’t [he holds up a picture of a
death squad victim] this is what happens to them.”
Pauline scoffs again and insults him for not being able to keep a job.
Boyle accuses her of hanging out at an exclusive hotel and writing her stories from there.
He also accuses her of kissing ass to get herself on TV.
When she gets up to leave, he apologizes in his own fashion: “I’m an asshole.”
Doc admits he put acid [LSD] in her drink.
Moments later, she breaks up in laughter trying to file a TV report. She collapses on the
embassy lawn.
[This is not what LSD does to people. The affects are much more serious.]
There is an abrupt scene change to men firing guns into the air from pickups at night.
In Spanish, a loudspeaker in one of the trucks announce that “Ronald Reagan has been
elected president.”
Major Maximiliano Casanova (identified in subtitle as a presidential candidate and the former
director of Salvadoran intelligence) addresses a group of men seated around a table
where they have just finished a meal.
“Finally, we have someone in the White House who [inaudible: listens to us?].
“These fucking priests who are poisoning the minds of our Salvadoran youth are gonna
be the first to bleed…. They are pig shit. And this Romero is the biggest pig shit of all….
And with this bullet [he holds up a rifle bullet] he will be the first to die.”
He names people to be avenged.
He also names people to be killed, including the US ambassador and Duarte.
“Who among you will rid me of this Romero?”
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Several men stand up. He chooses one of them, telling him he will be famous.
Casanova, accompanied by his wife and daughter, campaigns on TV.
Boyle talks to a restaurant owner, begging for favors.
In the TV commercial, Casanova talks about the deception of the Christian Democrats. He
uses a watermelon to demonstrate. It is green on the outside, red on the inside. He splits
the watermelon with a machete.
Young teen boys make fun of him at the restaurant where Boyle is visiting with María.
They dance around.
Boyle notices several very sinister men looking on and not smiling.
He makes the boys sit down.
Boyle says to an old woman, “It’s getting dangerous here.”
She says, “Yes, we’re living in a bad time. Like 1932 again, I detect a bad feeling in the
air.”
Boyle, María, Doc, and the boys leave the restaurant.
They are met by the sinister men, who are sitting on Boyle’s car.
The men threaten to cut their balls off.
Boyle buys them beer, but Doc drunkenly talks back to them. Boyle rescues them.
Boyle drops one of the boys in the countryside, where the boy says he is going to joing the
guerrillas.
When he gets back to María, she says that “they” have taken Carlos and Dr. Rock.
Doc is dragged from his cell, a pistol pointed at his head.
Boyle and Cathy rush in carrying a TV and a bottle of scotch.
Cathy bribes the comandante with cash.
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The police free Doc, but they won’t release Carlos.
Boyle and Cathy visit Ambassador Kelly.
Boyle and Kelly reminisce about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge.
Kelly: “It was a terrible thing they did to that country…. These guys running around in the
hills here [are a lot like] Pol Pot.”
Boyle: “With respect, ambassador, are they as bad as Major Max’s Mano Blanco?”
Kelly: “I don’t know. We’ve got a pathological killer on the right and God knows what on
the left….”
Boyle is there to talk about finding Carlos.
When Kelly says US intelligence agents can’t find him, Boyle says, “They’re lying,” and
explodes.
Cathy calms him down.
Boyle then asks Kelly to get a cédula for María.
Kelly: “That has nothing to do with us. She’s got to go back to her hometown.”
Boyle explains that she is from Morazón and she will be killed if she goes back there.
Kelly says he will do what he can, but he notes that there are thousands of people who
want his help to get a cédula.
Boyle proposes to María and tells her he has divorced his wife.
An Australian reporter (Peter) interrupts to tell Boyle that he is leaving and his employer has
agreed to hire Boyle.
María says she won’t marry him because she is Catholic and can’t marry a divorced man.
“And you’re a bad Catholic in many ways.” She runs through a list of his sins,
concluding, “And you lie…. What is good or decent about you? What redemption can
you expect?”
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Boyle: “Okay. You’ve got a point. I am a weasel.”
He says he will go to confession and to communion with her.
“We’ll go to Archbishop Romero. I know him. He likes me very much.”
María looks skeptical.
As Boyle, María, and Doc drive to the cathedral, they encounter a demonstration.
The officer who met Boyle and Doc as they entered El Salvador announces that the
demonstrators must leave the plaza in five minutes or there will be violence.
The leader of the demonstration says that they have permission for the demonstration
and shows the officer the papers to prove it.
The officer is unmoved. He repeats his ultimatum.
Boyle goes to confession.
It’s a comic scene. He is granted absolution.
Boyle joins María and Doc at mass.
Romero delivers the homily. It closes with his famous appeal to the National Guard.
Boyle and María take communion.
One of the communicants shoots Romero.
The congregation rushes from the cathedral as more shots ring out.
Boyle, María, and Doc escape.
Ramón rushes to help Romero.
He is arrested for the murder.
John Cassady rushes in to snap pictures.
He is arrested.
Casanova makes a speech.
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SALVADOR
He says the subversives killed Romero.
Boyle shouts out that Casanova is rumored to be leader of a death squad.
Pauline Axelrod asks Casanova if he can still count on the Catholic and women’s vote.
Boyle goes to find María.
Doc tells him that Carlos has been found, but he’s in bad shape.
In fact, he is dead.
María packs.
She accuses Boyle of being responsible for Carlos’ death.
Doc propositions a prostitute, insisting on a lower price.
Boyle drinks.
He tries to convince Cathy to talk María into coming back to him.
Cathy says she has to go to the airport the next day to pick up nuns returning from
Nicaragua.
Boyle admonishes her to he careful on the road to the airport.
He walks her to her motorcycle.
He turns to find himself surrounded by thugs.
They beat him up.
They are about to kill him when John shows up with his cameras.
Cathy leaves the airport with three nuns.
They are attacked and raped by a death squad.
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Kelly watches as their bodies are exhumed from shallow graves.
Pauline is there, too.
She tells Boyle that they may have run a roadblock and there was an exchange of
gunfire.
Boyle kneels over Cathy’s body. He slips his ring on her finger.
Boyle and other journalists accompany a guerrilla troop.
Comandante Martí, field commander of the guerrillas, explains their position and the
nature of a coming offensive.
Boyle asks when their offensive will take place.
Martí answers, “Before Reagan.”
Boyle photographs women guerrillas.
Boyle shows his pictures to officials at the embassy.
He wants a cédula for María.
The head intelligence officer says that he hasn’t shown them enough.
He says they have high-tech evidence that “this isn’t a civil war but outright communist
aggression.”
Boyle points out that evidence to that effect has not been made public.
“You’ve been lying about the number of advisers here. You’ve been lying about the
trainers in TDY. You’ve been lying about switching so-called humanitarian assistance
here to Salvadoran military coffers, and you’ve been lying saying this war can be won
militarily, which it can’t.”
Jack Morgan interrupts to ask what Boyle knows about plans for an offensive.
Boyle replies that he is not a spy, then launches into a soliloquy about his patriotism.
He says, “You’re the guys” who trained military officers [from Latin America] to torture
and kill.
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Then they sent them back here to set up Mano Blanco.
“What are death squads but the brainchild of the CIA?”
“You let them close down the universities, you let them wipe out the best minds in the
country, you let them kill whoever they want, you let them wipe out the Catholic
Church, and you let them do it because they aren’t commies.”
“You created a major Frankenstein.”
The intelligence officer says, “We can control him.”
Jack asks, “What about Pol Pot and Castro?”
Boyle repeats the question. “I don’t know if they’re better. All I know is some campesino,
who can’t read or write or feed his own family, has to watch them die of malnutrition, do
you think he gives a shit about Marxism or capitalism?
“Why are you guys here? You need a rerun or something? … All you’re doing is bringing
misery to these people, Jack. I don’t want to see another Vietnam. I don’t want to see
American get another bad rap.
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“I lost my hearing in this ear [points to his left ear] over there. What do you think I did
that for, $15 a photo from Pacific News Service? I did it because I believed in America.
I believe that we stand for something—for a constitution, for human rights, not just for a
few people but for everybody on this planet.
(Pleadingly) “Jack, you gotta think of the people first. In the name of human decency,
something we Americans are supposed to believe in, you gotta at least try to make
something of a just society here.”
Jack: “We do do a lot of good down here…. Whatever mistakes we make down here, the
alternative would be ten times worse.”
Boyle gives up. “Maybe I’ll just forge a cédula for my girlfriend.” He throws the photos on
the table. “They’re on the house.” He walks away.
The intelligence officer chases after him. He warns Boyle that his counterparts in the
Salvadoran intelligence service are not happy about journalists hanging out with terrorists.
“If they catch one, they’re going to make a lesson out of him.”
Pauline Axelrod interviews US soldiers.
The first one says, “We have orders not to speak to the press.”
The second one won’t give his name, either, but says he is from Long Island, NY.
She approaches a colonel” “Does this signal a buildup of US combat troops here in El
Salvador?”
Colonel: “Ma’am, these are not combat troops. They are trainers, officially authorized by
Congress. I have no further comment.”
Doc advises Boyle to go back to María. He goes off with his new girlfriend, Wilma.
John says there is action in Santa Ana.
Boyle says he will take him if he can stop in La Libertad. John agrees.
When he gets to La Libertad, Boyle is re-united with María.
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They get to Santa Ana in the middle of a gun battle.
Guerrilla reinforcements arrive on horseback.
John takes serious chances looking for his great shot.
The cavalry captures the National Guard.
At the US embassy, Jack and the intelligence officer tell Kelly that “the Sandinistas have
entered the war, sir. We have a report of major equipment being unloaded in the Gulf of
Fonsica.”
They say there is no time to confirm the report. Santa Ana has fallen. The country is
split in half. El Salvador will fall within 24 hours. Military aid must be restored
immediately. They want to order an evacuation of the embassy personnel.
Jack: “Do you want to go down in history as the man who lost El Salvador?”
Kelly, in disbelief: “That’s hardly the issue. We’re talking about human lives here. We’re not
playing some computer game.”
Guerrillas raise the FMLN flag.
They wipe out a small cell of National Guard, including the vicious officer who greeted
Boyle and Doc when they entered El Salvador.
Back at the embassy, Kelly agrees to restore military aid and release fuel and ammo
supplies.
The National Guard counterattacks in Santa Ana.
A guerrilla comandanta gives orders.
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Boyle comes across the comandanta executing prisoners.
Boyle: “You’ll become just like them. You’ll become just like them”
[It is important to point out that the FMLN did not execute POWs. This is a gratuitous
and inexcusable distortion by Oliver North.]
The fighting is close and fierce.
A helicopter arrives to bomb the town.
John takes a picture of an approaching fighter plane.
He is shot and seriously wounded.
Boyle tries to perform a tracheotomy.
John dies, proud of his shot.
Boyle is in a clinic being treated for wounds. Doc and María are beside him.
Doc has obtained forged cédulas for María and her baby.
Boyle, María, and Doc head for the border, with María’s baby and an unidentified boy.
Doc has decided to stay in El Salvador. He is along to ensure their escape.
Boyle tells Doc not to stay too long.
Border guards recognize the fake cédulas and passports.
Doc tries to reach the embassy by phone.
Boyle gets beaten up despite passing out money and a watch as bribes.
The guards take and destroy Boyle’s film. [Viewers are left to believe that it is Cassady’s
film that has been destroyed, but a postscript says the film was saved.]
The ambassador makes a threatening call to Salvadoran officials.
Boyle is about to be executed, but the gun does not go off.
As the second shot is about to be fired, the call comes to spare him.
Boyle drinks with his would-be executioners.
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Boyle, María, her baby, and the unidentified boy arrive in the US by bus.
They think they are safe, but the Border Patrol stops the bus.
The BP arrests María and the children.
Boyle resists, but he can only watch as they are driven away.
He is also arrested.
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