Taps (1981)
Director: Harold Becker
Starring: George C Scott, Timothy Hutton, Ronny Cox
Synopsis:
Cadets of a military school take over the campus when the school is threatened with closure.
Impressions:
I'd seen the third act of this film years ago and it was only recently that I saw it from the beginning. I have to imagine my perspective would be quite different seeing the movie before my time in the military. I can't exactly relate to military school types, but I definitely have more sympathy for them than the civvy dirtbags baiting them at the beginning of the movie. The timing of the film hits a sweet spot of post-Vietnam malaise where you don't have either the violent reaction of the Vietnam War or the upswing in patriotic fervor of the Reagan years. The siege of the school is tense and you've got a number of big name actors delivering pretty strong performances even when they were still rather young. There's a good dynamic going on with the core triad of Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn and Tom Cruise, and George C Scott is great as General Bache. I recommend giving this one a watch.
Rating:
Watch It