Hill's next film was going to be adaptations of "The Last Good Kiss" (by James Crumley) and then "Red Harvest" (by Dashiel Hammett). However neither were made. Instead Hill did "Southern Comfort", originally written in 1976. It was an intense "Deliverance"-style thriller about a group of U.S. Army National Guardsmen (including Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe and Fred Ward) on weekend maneuvers in the Louisiana bayou who find themselves fighting for survival in the swamps after offending some local Cajuns. The film was seen by many as an allegory for America's involvement in the Vietnam War, although Hill denies this is the case.