Salvador (film)

Salvador
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Oliver Stone
Produced by	Oliver Stone Gerald Green
Written by	Oliver Stone Richard Boyle
Starring	James Woods Jim Belushi Michael Murphy John Savage Elpidia Carrillo Cindy Gibb
Music by	Georges Delerue
Cinematography	Robert Richardson
Edited by	Claire Simpson
Distributed by	Hemdale Film Corporation
Release date	February 28, 1986 (1986-02-28)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$4.5 million
Box office	$1.5 million

Salvador is a 1986 American war drama film co-written and directed by Oliver Stone. Stone wrote the screenplay with Richard Boyle. It stars James Woods as Richard Boyle, alongside Jim Belushi, Michael Murphy and Elpidia Carrillo, with John Savage, and Cynthia Gibb in supporting roles.

The film tells the story of an American ex-IPN journalist and one-time author of the 1972 book The Flower of the Dragon: The Breakdown of the U.S. Army in Vietnam, covering the Salvadoran Civil War who becomes entangled with both leftist guerrillas and the right wing military while trying to rescue his native girlfriend and her children. The film is highly sympathetic towards the left wing revolutionaries and strongly critical of the U.S.-supported military, focusing on the murder of four American churchwomen, including Jean Donovan, and the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero by a death squad. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Woods) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Stone and Boyle).

Veteran photojournalist Richard Boyle has been taking his camera to the world's trouble spots for over 20 years; while he does good work, Boyle's fondness for booze and drugs, and his colossal arrogance, have given him a reputation that's left him practically unemployable. Broke and with no immediate prospects, Boyle and his buddy Doctor Rock, an out-of-work disc jockey, head to El Salvador, where Boyle is convinced that he can scare up some lucrative freelance work amidst the nation's political turmoil. However, when Boyle and Rock witness the execution of a student by government troops just as they enter the country, it becomes clear that this war is more serious than they were expecting. Increasingly convinced that El Salvador is a disaster starting to happen, Boyle eventually decides that it's time to get out; but he has fallen in love with a woman named Maria, and he doesn't want to leave her behind.