By Blake Stilwell
Every generation of U.S. military veterans seems to get some form of the “veterans versus corrupt authorities” story.
For the World War II generation, it was very real. After finally coming home to McMinn County, Tennessee, after the war, they found it had been taken over by a corrupt local government that would arrest them on trumped-up charges and steal their hard-earned savings. When they couldn’t oust the government by legal means, they used their military training and forced the conspirators out in the so-called “Battle of Athens” — a victory that historians have characterized as the only successful armed rebellion in the U.S. since the American Revolution.
The Vietnam generation has its own action hero take on this story, but theirs is entirely fictional. In “First Blood,” John Rambo takes a long trip to visit some buddies from his old Special Forces unit in Vietnam only to find that most of them had died, some from exposure to Agent Orange. While he’s trying to get food in a small town, the local sheriff harasses and unlawfully arrests him; the situation escalates quickly, and Rambo soon finds himself at war with the local government.
Netflix’s new movie “Rebel Ridge” is somewhere between the Battle of Athens and “First Blood.” It’s supposed to be a work of fiction, but what precipitates the fight against corrupt authorities is something that can actually happen in real life — and has.
In “Rebel Ridge,” Marine Corps veteran Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre, “Old”) is called upon to post bail for his cousin in the small town of Shelby Springs when a local cop stops him and takes his cash savings. Richmond goes to the police station to report the cops but, when he names Officer Evan Marston (David Denman, “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”) while filing a complaint, he is confronted by Marston’s partner, who helped steal the money. Left with no viable legal recourse to get his life savings returned, he enlists local court clerk Summer McBride (AnnaSophia Robb, “Because of Winn-Dixie”) to help uncover a conspiracy of corruption. He then goes to war with the local cops to get his money back.
“Rebel Ridge” also features Don Johnson (“Miami Vice”) as police chief Sandy Burnne and James Cromwell (“The Green Mile”) as the local judge. It’s a movie that keeps with the American cinematic tradition of one man going around town kicking everyone’s ass for the greater good, joining “First Blood,” “Road House” and both versions of “Walking Tall” (the 1973 Joe Don Baker original is superior, by the way).
“Rebel Ridge” writers may not realize just how important Richmond’s military experience is: As “Terminal Lance” creator Max Uriarte pointed out on X (formerly Twitter), they use the term “‘MCMAP’ [Marine Corps Martial Arts Program] like it was his unit,” which may betray a misunderstanding of the military culture. But for Buford Pusser, the real-life vigilante-turned-sheriff depicted in “Walking Tall,” the experience was crucial. Pusser used his Marine Corps training (and a series of wooden clubs) to wage a one-man war against McNairy County, Tennessee’s authorities, as well as the local gangsters.
When describing the new Netflix movie, director Jeremy Saulnier (“True Detective”) said, “This film isn’t at all a piece of sh–.” This may feel like an underwhelming endorsement, but that level of candor and honesty is rare for directors talking about their own work. “Rebel Ridge” is probably much better than this quote leads us to believe.
Filmmaking aside, “Rebel Ridge” is also a grim reminder and a warning that, yes, local police officers might take your life savings just because they can, as they did to veteran Stephen Lara in Nevada in February 2021. The Nevada Highway Patrol seized nearly $90,000 of Lara’s life savings, claiming it was drug money despite having no evidence to support that claim. Lara even had bank receipts to support his claim that he was not a drug trafficker, but that didn’t seem to matter.
Although Lara is a Marine Corps veteran, he was unable to go to war with the Nevada Highway Patrol or U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (which coordinated with Nevada to seize Lara’s money). Since they stole his money, he presumably had to go to work to feed his family instead. It took months, a lawsuit from the nonprofit Institute for Justice and (thankfully) body cam footage to get his money returned. It’s both a reminder to keep your receipts and that not every veteran is a one-man army hell-bent on vengeance.
“Rebel Ridge” streams on Netflix starting Sept. 6, 2024.
