Continuing my plan to watch every Tom Cruise movie in order, I come to his second movie, Taps (1981)Plot In A Paragraph: Military cadets take extreme measures to insure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.I really enjoyed this movie. It's one I had to buy for this marathon, and despite the cast, (Cruise, George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn and Ronny Cox) I'm surprised I'd never heard of it before, and nobody I have spoke to remembers it. Cruise has a fairly substantial role as a hot headed cadet.It's a really tense, engrossing, well acted and well directed movie that deserves to be seen. Taps grossed $35 million at the domestic box office, to end the year the 16th highest grossing movie of 1981.

Cannot for the life of me understand why this flick doesn't rate in the top 250.How can I count the wonders of Taps? Production values are superb. The story is like a fine wine; like something Polanski would take on. The metaphor is admittedly stark--some might call it a one note johnny--but the development is an enthralling meander of telling detail; a litany of ritual acting-out; a thorough riffing on the jarring central theme, and doing so as well as with any fine stage production.The acting is great, up and down the roster. The child actors range in skill from perfectly functionally fine to heartbreakingly sympathetic. Of course, mention should be made of the A-listers; They took their direction very well and created real pulsing, agonizing, spiritually caught-up life on the screen. And there's nothing I can say about the incomparable, late Mr. Scott that you don't already know.And there are no misses in post-production; it's a superb edit, with tremendous sound work. No technical flaws or mishaps got in the way of the flick's pressing import. In the end, you witnessed a challenge to your belief system. While the political hipsters have upgraded their focus to the economic force of the military-industrial complex, Taps reminds us that there's still something older, primal, and yes sinister that remains afoot. And we need to look at it.Taps shows it to us. Watch it and see.

I saw Taps for the first time when it came out in late 1981, and just watched it again tonight. The movie has so many technical inaccuracies I don't know where to begin in discussing them.While the performances are great in Taps, the basic premise of the movie is wildly unrealistic. In reality, the students would have gone for the summer and the school would have sent them letters advising that it was closing, and that would have been the end of that. But that doesn't create the right environment for the plot that underpins this movie.I can't imagine any military academy catering to boys between 12 and 18 would have stored any military hardware on its premises beyond non-functioning drill rifles and swords, and maybe one or two ancient cannons capable of firing black powder only for ceremonial purposes. If the boys had been allowed access to any weaponry and live ammunition, they would have been on a military base and closely supervised by professional soldiers.The military forces that were assembled outside the school could have forced their way in and taken over very quickly without sustaining any casualties. An M60 machine gun won't do anything to a M60A3 tank other than annoy the crewmen inside.As we see in the closing minutes of the movie, a burst from one tank's .50 calibre heavy machine gun did a fine job of punching through the walls of the room where Cadet Captain Shawn had set up a M60 machine gun. Indeed, even if all the students/would-be soldiers had set up defensive positions in their rooms, they would be just as vulnerable to heavy machine gun fire and thus unable to mount an effective defence.Cutting off water and food supplies is pretty much standard procedure when dealing with holed-up people who don't want to come out, and the boys would not have lasted long without water. The few canteens we saw being filled up would not be sufficient to keep them going for more than a day, if that. By the third day, all of them would be begging for water and would have been unable to mount any kind of meaningful resistance.If the boys had remained outside in their defensive positions all that the army would have needed to do is drop in a lot of smoke, tear gas and flash-bang grenades to cause massive disruption and confusion - enough to cause the boys, in their hungry, tired, thirsty and exhausted state to surrender or try to flee. Professional soldiers have trouble functioning without proper food, water or adequate rest, so a bunch of inexperienced boys would have collapsed even sooner.Clearly, the army held off in hopes that they could de-escalate the situation and achieve a peaceful outcome. But this was not to be.Where Taps succeeds is in the high quality of the acting, characterization, and in its ability to appeal to its target market: teenaged boys between 15 and 17 years old who think they are immortal and can do anything. But sadly, none of the good points can rescue a movie with such a wildly implausible and unworkable plot. Although it is entertaining, 34 years on, to see a young Timothy Hutton, Tom Cruise and Sean Penn in action.

Taps is about the cadets of Bunker Hill Military Academy and their commanding officer, George C. Scott, and their reaction to the news of the closing of the Academy.Scott announces at the graduation that the next year will be the final year of Bunker Hill. The Board of Trustees is selling off the place for its prime real estate value to be used for condominium development. Certainly an occurrence we've seen all over the country in many places and not something really desirable in many.Cadet Major Timothy Hutton knows he will head the last graduating class at Bunker Hill. He and fellow cadets like Sean Penn and Tom Cruise aren't taking it lying down. They may be military cadets, but they've seen and grown up with student protests. Only these students have weapons and are trained in their use. Can you really blame the cadets like Hutton who've actually in fact forgotten that soldiers carry out and don't make policy? I think it was significant that during the course of Taps it's mentioned that George C. Scott served with General Douglas MacArthur who gave him a sword for his service. It's also mentioned that Scott was passed over for promotion an advancement beyond being a brigadier general and was retired comfortably out to pasture at the Academy.Scott's not the same kind of military man you see in Patton. Rather he's a lot like the Patton you see in that television film, Patton, the Last Days. A man so totally out of his element that when the accident and broken neck occurred he'd lost his will to live.Anyway after a scuffle with some of the town louts who are less than enamored of Bunker Hill's military tradition. A town kid is accidentally killed when he tries to get Scott's military issue pistol and it discharges. In a court of law, the man would have been acquitted, but Scott answers to a higher law he lives by. That scuffle threatens to close the school even for the last year and the kids seize it. It's a confrontation then between idealistic and wrongheaded youth and the real forces of law enforcement.Ronny Cox contributes a very nice performance as the commanding general of the National Guard trying to keep a lid on the situation. His scenes with the idealistic and obstinate Hutton are the highlight of the film for me.Tom Cruise and Sean Penn got their first real notice in this film right at the start of their respective mega-careers. Hutton has a nice followup to his Oscar winning performance from Ordinary People. And George C. Scott is, George C. Scott.