REVIEW: Taps
This being October, month of Halloween, I'd planned on exclusively reviewing horror movies and other films befitting the holiday season. Unfortunately, I forgot about that when I went to pick a movie to watch last night, and somehow managed to choose Harold Becker's "Taps," the 1981 military-academy-gone-awry movie starring George C. Scott with the youngsters Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, and Tom Cruise in one of his rare 'villainous' roles. While it isn't a horror film, it was a nice change of pace to see something with a more serious bent to it. I guess I really don't have to see flesh-eating each night as I've been thinking I do.
The film takes place at the Bunker Hill Military Academy, where Hutton has been promoted to Cadet Major by his idol General Bache (Scott), thereby placing him in charge of the rest of the school's cadets, including fellow officers Penn and Cruise. It's one of those schools that usually gets in the paper for sexual harassment, or hazing, or not letting in women, or appearing in too many commercials for electric razors. Come to think of it, it's kind of like a high school student council, where the students actually follow Robert's Rules -- under threat of being shot.
(Robert's Rules = "I motion to move on with this review. John seconds that motion. All in favor? All not in favor? Moving on.")
The General gets the bad news that the school is being shut down by the board of trustees, demolished, and will be replaced by condos. This doesn't sit well with the General, who vows to fight the movement in the remaining year's time -- and Hutton, being the little idol-worshipper that he is, takes the General's idealism and romanticism a bit too much to heart. When his mentor is arrested, and the school is about to be shut down, Hutton organizes his cadets into a kiddie-army and, uh, occupies the grounds, issues demands, and does other terroristy things, in a last-ditch attempt to save his school. Of course, the school is surrounded by the police and the National Guard, and things slowly fall apart in ways that are both surprising and inevitable.
I was pretty surprised by this movie, because it's an Oh, That Movie -- the kind of movie that everyone seems to know the title of, but nothing else. I knew there was a movie called "Taps," and I knew that it had a bunch of young stars in a military setting. But I didn't know that it would be as good as it was; it's a tightly-paced suspense film, in the grand tradition of stand-off movies. I'm kind of a sucker for these -- I like trying to think my way through them, like it's a good logic puzzle. Unfortunately, movies rarely bow to logic, and this one's no exception. Trying to use it as a logic puzzle is kind of like playing chess with only half the pieces -- still fun, although you know that everything has been simplified. This becomes part of the movie's strength, relying on the parts that work and outright ignoring anything that would be an obstacle for the good stuff.
The performances are good across the leads, although not quite up to par with what the main actors would mature into. Hutton, who'd won an Oscar the year before for "Ordinary People," carries the film on his shoulders, as an overly-idealistic cadet whose dreams of honor and integrity are shattered by a reality where honor and integrity are only dreams. Penn, as his best friend, really isn't given all that much to do until he has an almost inexplicable tantrum in the middle of the film. Cruise does what Cruise does best: playing a cocky asshole. And what's worse than Tom Cruise playing a cocky asshole? Tom Cruise playing a cocky asshole in a bright red baret.
While it's a very well-executed film, there are those nagging questions. Now, I know (from watching a lot of movies) that cops are not supposed to negotiate with criminals. But in this picture, their demands are almost comical in their simplicity -- they want to meet the board of trustees, and discuss the selling of the school. That's not really much to ask, is it? I make harsher demands when I call Pizza Hut. The cops, being in a movie, will have no part in it, although they will do everything else under the sun to get the kids to surrender their weapons; they bus in parents, the National Guard, and even send veteran character actor Ronny Cox to negotiate -- and you know it's bad when they send in Ronny Cox. In fact, they send everyone to negotiate EXCEPT the damn board of trustees. That's strike one. Actually, that gets two strikes, considering that there are a lot of really young children in danger, which I'm sure would be a factor in negotiation attempts. It's a pretty easy choice to set up a meeting in order to keep numerous children out of danger. Strike three is all about Hutton's own plan; I just can't believe that he thinks it's going to work, even being a seventeen-year-old. I mean, so he talks to the board, and he saves the school -- "Taking over military academy by force in stand-off with National Guard" is the kind of thing you are legally required to include at the end of job applications.
Luckily, once you just accept these things and try not to think about how the entire rear flank of the grounds are unguarded, it's a good thriller. It's tightly edited, and the complete lack of music (other than the diegetic "Taps") gives it an atmosphere of realism that almost makes up for the script's flaws. Plus, you can watch the early efforts of two of our country's finest dramatic actors, and our cockiest asshole.
ARE YOU ASTONISHED?
The film takes place at the Bunker Hill Military Academy, where Hutton has been promoted to Cadet Major by his idol General Bache (Scott), thereby placing him in charge of the rest of the school's cadets, including fellow officers Penn and Cruise. It's one of those schools that usually gets in the paper for sexual harassment, or hazing, or not letting in women, or appearing in too many commercials for electric razors. Come to think of it, it's kind of like a high school student council, where the students actually follow Robert's Rules -- under threat of being shot.
(Robert's Rules = "I motion to move on with this review. John seconds that motion. All in favor? All not in favor? Moving on.")
The General gets the bad news that the school is being shut down by the board of trustees, demolished, and will be replaced by condos. This doesn't sit well with the General, who vows to fight the movement in the remaining year's time -- and Hutton, being the little idol-worshipper that he is, takes the General's idealism and romanticism a bit too much to heart. When his mentor is arrested, and the school is about to be shut down, Hutton organizes his cadets into a kiddie-army and, uh, occupies the grounds, issues demands, and does other terroristy things, in a last-ditch attempt to save his school. Of course, the school is surrounded by the police and the National Guard, and things slowly fall apart in ways that are both surprising and inevitable.
I was pretty surprised by this movie, because it's an Oh, That Movie -- the kind of movie that everyone seems to know the title of, but nothing else. I knew there was a movie called "Taps," and I knew that it had a bunch of young stars in a military setting. But I didn't know that it would be as good as it was; it's a tightly-paced suspense film, in the grand tradition of stand-off movies. I'm kind of a sucker for these -- I like trying to think my way through them, like it's a good logic puzzle. Unfortunately, movies rarely bow to logic, and this one's no exception. Trying to use it as a logic puzzle is kind of like playing chess with only half the pieces -- still fun, although you know that everything has been simplified. This becomes part of the movie's strength, relying on the parts that work and outright ignoring anything that would be an obstacle for the good stuff.
The performances are good across the leads, although not quite up to par with what the main actors would mature into. Hutton, who'd won an Oscar the year before for "Ordinary People," carries the film on his shoulders, as an overly-idealistic cadet whose dreams of honor and integrity are shattered by a reality where honor and integrity are only dreams. Penn, as his best friend, really isn't given all that much to do until he has an almost inexplicable tantrum in the middle of the film. Cruise does what Cruise does best: playing a cocky asshole. And what's worse than Tom Cruise playing a cocky asshole? Tom Cruise playing a cocky asshole in a bright red baret.
While it's a very well-executed film, there are those nagging questions. Now, I know (from watching a lot of movies) that cops are not supposed to negotiate with criminals. But in this picture, their demands are almost comical in their simplicity -- they want to meet the board of trustees, and discuss the selling of the school. That's not really much to ask, is it? I make harsher demands when I call Pizza Hut. The cops, being in a movie, will have no part in it, although they will do everything else under the sun to get the kids to surrender their weapons; they bus in parents, the National Guard, and even send veteran character actor Ronny Cox to negotiate -- and you know it's bad when they send in Ronny Cox. In fact, they send everyone to negotiate EXCEPT the damn board of trustees. That's strike one. Actually, that gets two strikes, considering that there are a lot of really young children in danger, which I'm sure would be a factor in negotiation attempts. It's a pretty easy choice to set up a meeting in order to keep numerous children out of danger. Strike three is all about Hutton's own plan; I just can't believe that he thinks it's going to work, even being a seventeen-year-old. I mean, so he talks to the board, and he saves the school -- "Taking over military academy by force in stand-off with National Guard" is the kind of thing you are legally required to include at the end of job applications.
Luckily, once you just accept these things and try not to think about how the entire rear flank of the grounds are unguarded, it's a good thriller. It's tightly edited, and the complete lack of music (other than the diegetic "Taps") gives it an atmosphere of realism that almost makes up for the script's flaws. Plus, you can watch the early efforts of two of our country's finest dramatic actors, and our cockiest asshole.
ARE YOU ASTONISHED?
- I kept waiting for Tom Cruise to ask Piggy for the conch shell. Sucks to your asth-mar, Tom Cruise!
- The ending scenes: is his going nutso just a little peculiar? Be honest. Couldn't he have waited until the Gulf War?
- I had thought Timothy Hutton invented that walk for his role on Nero Wolfe, but apparently that's how he actually walks.
sent by The Retropolitan at 1:39 PM
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