Taps (1981)

Military cadets take extreme measures to insure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.

Director:

Harold Becker

Writers:

Darryl Ponicsan (screenplay), Robert Mark Kamen (screenplay)

Stars:

George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, Ronny Cox

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George C. Scott	...	General Harlan Bache
Timothy Hutton	...	Brian Moreland
Ronny Cox	...	Colonel Kerby
Sean Penn	...	Alex Dwyer
Tom Cruise	...	David Shawn
Brendan Ward	...	Charlie Auden
Evan Handler	...	Edward West
John P. Navin Jr.	...	Derek Mellott
Billy Van Zandt	...	Bug
Giancarlo Esposito	...	J.C. Pierce
Donald Kimmel	...	Billy Harris
Tim Wahrer	...	John Cooper
Tim Riley	...	Hulk
Jeff Rochlin	...	Shovel
Rusty Jacobs	...	Rusty

Storyline

An announcement that the venerable Bunker Hill Military Academy, a 141 year old institute, is to be torn down and replaced with condos sets off the young cadets led by their stodgy commander. Under the command of a student cadet major, the cadets seize the campus, refuse entry of the construction crews and ultimately confront the real military.

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Plot Keywords:

military | student | military academy | school shooting | playing taps | 

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Taglines:

School's out

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Kadetten von Bunker Hill

Filming Locations:

Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$93,005, 13 December 1981, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$35,856,053

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The cast of Taps, The Outsiders, The Breakfast Club and St Elmo's Fire would form the Brat Pack. The most successful actor to emerge from this group would be Tom Cruise; he would have the highest box office grosses of any actor in Hollywood. The most critically acclaimed would be Sean Penn, who would win two Oscars, for Milk and Mystic River.. Most of the other Brat Packers would fade into obscurity during the 1990s.

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Goofs

When taking inventory of the armory, the man counting the weapons states they are ".45 millimeter caliber 1911's". M1911 pistols are .45 caliber, meaning the bore is .45 inches in diameter, and not the metric measurement of 45 millimeters (a significantly larger measurement, to the point where they would be classed as artillery, rather than small arms). In countries which issued the M1911 (or copies), and to whom the Metric system was common, the cartridge was referred to as 11.43x23mm.

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Quotes

General Harlan Bache: [Bache is talking with Moreland and the outgoing Cadet Major, on the occassion of Moreland's ascendancy to the same rank for the next class] Honor. Burglar-proof, fool-proof, weather-proof, one hundred-proof.

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Connections

Spoofed in Mission: Improbable (2000)

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Soundtracks

Onward Christian Soldiers
(uncredited)
Music by Arthur Sullivan and lyrics by Sabine Baring-Gould
Heard during the opening credits

User Reviews

Mixed feelings

Having graduated from a military academy and later joining army ROTC myself it was almost like I was living back at my high school again. Especially due to the fact that I was a company commander my senior year and had my best friends as platoon leaders and XO. I got a much different take on the movie than most of you. It is one that was much more prevalent in the military academy I to than ROTC. Rather than a view of "misguided youths" (I would argue the point that they were misguided) I saw the movie as fight between the old and the new. The old conservative ways versus the post Vietnam War era generation. Whether to preserve conservative tradition or to continue with social liberalism. In the movie the fight was about tearing down the academy to build condominiums. In real life where I was, it was about turning our military academy into a normal prep school. In my case the fight didn't get violent, however like the cadets in the movie I picked the losing side.

In the movie I was heart broken that the governor would send troops to the school rather than try and work out a peaceful compromise when he saw the measure that people were willing to go to in order to protect their school. In real life I was very disheartened to see the old cadre of retired military officers get sacked and replaced by "soft" civilian administrators. It all hit a climax when one of my life's role models, a retired USAF Major and our companies tactical officer, spoke out against some of the changes being made and got himself sacked. For me that was George C Scott, Penn and Cruise were my friends and platoon leaders in my company and the crisis between the old ways and the new ways were very much the same. The movie reached out to me possibly more than any other. It was seeing my teenage self all over again.