Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Samuel L. Jackson | ... | Richard Greener | |
Sam Waterston | ... | Daniel Chamberlain | |
Mason Adams | ... | Henry D. Hyde | |
Val Avery | ... | Gen. Sherman | |
Eddie Bracken | ... | Maj. Charles T. Alexander | |
Gene Canfield | ... | McIntosh | |
Robert Clohessy | ... | Dan Broyles | |
Al Freeman Jr. | ... | Old Johnson Whittaker | |
Ken Garito | ... | Cadet Lewis Ostheim | |
Greg Germann | ... | Vernon Bailey | |
John Glover | ... | Maj. Asa Bird Gardiner | |
Brad Greenquist | ... | Dr. Beard | |
Peter Maloney | ... | Capt. William Smith Michie | |
George Martin | ... | President Rutherford B. Hayes | |
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Scott Paetty | ... | Cadet George Burnett |
The story of Johnson Whittaker, one of the first African-American cadets admitted to West Point. Tied down and beaten by his fellow cadets, Whittaker was court-martialed on the grounds that he staged his own assault to avoid taking a philosophy exam. His defense attorneys consisted of a racist and a Harvard Graduate who squabble over how best to present his defense. Written by Keath <keath@webtv.net>
This was a very good film. The acting was superb and the cinematography was good. The guy who played cadet Wittaker was so good I am amazed he never got an award for his appearance. There is just one problem with the film that kept bugging me for the entire film. The movie is supposed to be about a cadet from the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, and it was supposed to have several flash backs to the that prestigious Academy, but apparently the makers of this film made these scenes not at West Point...but at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA. IT is because of that simple, yet major, error that I was unable to give this movie a higher rating. Those who see this movie be for warned. What you are looking at is not West Point but the Virginia Military Institute...which, for all you Civil War buffs, was and still is known as "The West Point of the South."