Taps
Sometimes, you might come upon a movie with a completely outlandish and wholly unrealistic premise because the process of telling the actual story itself results in opening an entire Pandoraâs Box of morality questions and societal probabilties related either directly or indirectly to that very story. While rare, this type of movie does come along occasionally as it did here in 1981 with this drama about a siege being staged at a military school by its very own cadets, toplined by Oscar winner George C. Scott proving that the producers meant business by casting the actor who had legendarily played Patton once again as another General, albeit this time the one heading up the fictional Bunker Hill Military Academy itself along with Timothy Hutton who was fresh off his own Oscar win for Supporting Actor as the top ranking cadet at the school. But the real casting coup (and reason for the filmâs continuing fanbase) was in Sean Penn (in his first ever movie role) and the one and only Tom Cruise (in his second) as the other top cadet officers following Huttonâs lead. Scottâs top billing which comes mostly because of his massive stature is a bit misleading as his General Bache only plays into the first 35 minutes of the film (with his removal being the catalyst for what comes after), but during his abbreviated screentime, he (as expected) gives a nice little demonstration of what real dramatic acting is all about, having the newly promoted Hutton up to his quarters where he casually and colorfully describes what itâs like to go through the actual rigors of combat, but right off the bat we can see precisely where the problem lies. General Bache only takes the time to be around and become acquainted with a very select few of his cadets, appearing to most of the others as being almost a mythical figure looking down upon them during the parades and other drills, a sentiment that is NOT shared by the local civilian townsfolk and in particular, the military schoolâs Board Of Trustees who have grown tired of allowing the school to shoulder on out of some sense of bygone tradition and instead have now authorized the sale of the property to land developers so that they can now commence with the building of condominiums, a move that makes them richer but nonetheless is one that they went forward with doing without even consulting the General himself (probably because they knew what his answer would be). Bache lays all of his disgust out to Hutton in regards to how greed overcomes having any real sense of honor but (much more importantly) when addressing the entire student body on the matter he openly and recklessly tells them that with the whole year which they have left before the closure that they must now âfightâ to save their beloved school with no real clear indication of what the specific plan to do so might entail, a testimony as to how a respected figure using so called âfighting wordsâ with the vaguest indications of exactly what that means can be very dangerous. Of course, the local civilian townsfolk look upon the cadets themselves with rather hostile intentions to begin with, leading to a brawl where the General himself winds up accidentally shooting a kid dead (and itâs his fault). Disgraced, dishonored, hauled off to jail and finally reported as having suffered a massive heart attack which leaves him in critical condition, the board decides to revoke their one year grace period and close the school immediately and here is where the story jumps ship from reality as having taken the stance that their beloved General, their cherished school and themselves have been completely railroaded because of greed and resentment, Hutton and the others seize all of the weapons on the premises and then fortify and lock the campus completely down, driving out every civilian already within and demanding to have their own sitdown with the Board to reasonably discuss ways to save the school. Worse, while on a run for food and supplies prior to the lockdown, Cruise winds up flipping out and discharging his weapon in public before ramming a police car while escaping from an angry mob of townspeople. Now with all the positions around the perimeter being manned and the cops outside begging these kids to surrender, Hutton himself has assumed command of this âmilitary operationâ with Penn and Cruise as his aide de camps and what a contrast these two make with Penn playing the voice of reason who makes it clear that he is only a part of this because Hutton is his best friend and roommate while Cruise is a more gung ho super alpha male who regularly bullies around the younger kids and has committed to this entire thing 110% because of his hatred of the civilian attitudes towards them (but then again, this is not all that uncommon among certain military types). All indications are that Hutton should just end this thing since his âdemandsâ are not (and never would be) taken seriously and since this wasnât really the end of the world for anybody involved (except for Bache himself whose killing of an unarmed civilian would almost certainly be considered a disgrace for any American serviceman) with the only thing they really needed to worry about was in figuring out which military school they were now going to transfer to, the whole thing feels like a severe overreaction on the part of the student body with Hutton (having actually met with Bache in private and shared some of his brandy with him like Oh. My. God. heâs now a rock star to the others) relying on constant usage of and reference to the Generalâs name to motivate the others knowing all too well of their own worshipful idolizing of Bache (whom as stated was played by the same guy who played Patton) as their apparent martyr figure whose downfall they must avenge, even fighting through a confrontation with his own dad (Wayne Tippit), himself an Army Sergeant who tells Hutton that Bache was always kind of a pathetic joke in military circles to begin with (hence his heading up an academy full of kids) but still Hutton refuses to be swayed. Finally (FINALLY), cold hard reality comes knocking in the form of The National Guard led by a Colonel (Ronny Cox in surprisingly the filmâs best performance) who is reasonable and accommodating but nonetheless is still willing to look Hutton in the eye and tell him some real facts like 1) the outside world is NOT looking at them as fighting for a good cause but rather as homegrown terrorists (true) 2) there is a strong belief that many of the cadets are actually hostages being bullied and intimidated into going along with this (true especially as it relates to Cruiseâs treatment of them) and 3) the fact that Hutton has authorized having children as young as 12 years old standing posts and holding weapons with live ammo is completely unacceptable (the major flaw of Huttonâs plan as none of the kids who were that young should ever have been allowed to be involved which makes Hutton a disgrace). At one point, Cox even looks Hutton in the eye and is stunned to realize that not only is Hutton NOT crazy, but rather completely misled and misguided by whatever military values that he thinks he is following which squarely puts the blame on the school itself (or rather Bacheâs leadership or lack thereof) for why things have turned out so grotesquely (a real soldier accepts the way of things good or bad and simply moves on). What it comes down to is that Hutton and the others have fully embraced the FANTASY of being soldiers without ever knowing what it was like to really serve in The Armed Forces or in an actual war with the only thing that they really accomplished was in hastening their own schoolâs demise. Even as Hutton accepts advice from his best friend Penn (who is just trying to ensure that everyone gets through this without getting hurt) and Cruise (who is ready, willing and able to have everybody wind up dead in order to see this through), at one point he even says that heâs ânot willing to fight other peopleâs warsâ if his own personal cause means so little to the outside world in a story where arguments can be made that constant military drilling at a young age can lead to brainwashing, misguided idol worship can lead to bad decisions and even the tendency to have anger and resentment towards those who donât serve the same codes of honor as you do can wind up ruining your own life, all served up on a nice cold plate with a great cast and somber overtonesâŚ
8/10