Search - Taps (Special Edition) on DVD

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

"Taps" is a strange film from 1981 about a group of military school cadets who take over their beloved institution following the announcement of its closure. The premise is ludicrous, of course, but like any good war movie, it successfully eviscerates the notion of "honor" in the light of actual military conflict.

Newly-minted Cadet Major Brian Moreland (Timothy Hutton) is given many such speeches about honor from his mentor, General Harlan Bache (George C. Scott, effectively reprising his titular role in "Patton"). Shit hits the fan when not only is the closure of the academy announced, but Bache accidentally kills a "townie" and then suffers a fatal heart attack. Moreland's response, naturally, is to confiscate the academy's weapons and seal up the base, demanding a meeting with the board of directors to hopefully reverse the decision to sell the academy's land.

Moreland is supported by a huge cast, including Sean Penn, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tom Cruise. The cops arrive, the cadets' parents arrive, and eventually a real soldier in the form of Colonel Kerby (Ronny Cox) arrives. Power and water to the base are cut off. It's a fool's war, but Moreland is determined to win.

That is, until more deaths occur. Moreland realizes that Bache's notions of honor go flying out the window when you're loading a 13-year-old's dead body into a meat wagon.

While the theme of the film is strong, the premise undercuts the seriousness of the message. The sound mix is also problematic - many scenes of young men quietly questioning the logic of their actions are difficult to hear, and these are the scenes that really matter the most.

Not a bad movie, could've been better, but an interesting time machine of many young actors.

Grade: B-minus

P.S. Fun fact: director Harold Becker went from this film to directing the infamous "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" commercial.

Bold movie that states the price of glory.

R.L. Holly | Austin, TX USA | 02/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An overlooked, gripping drama that is notable for its young rising stars (Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise) and also its prescience, as noted by another commentator here, although I think that none of the Amazon reviewers to date has hit the nail on the head with "Taps" and its overarching theme.



The movie begins fairly conventionally, with the teenage military cadets and their venerable institution shown to the viewer to be upright, virtuous, and full of sound moral values. The youths may be a bit immature at times, and callow, but their earnestness and sincerity are shown as admirable and their devotion to their gruff, benevolent commandant (George C. Scott, perfectly cast) is unquestioned. You can literally hear the Sousa marches playing in the background. But just when you think you're in for a predictable, one-sided, nattily uniformed prep school movie preaching the military virtues, the plot takes a darker twist and we learn that appearances can be very deceiving. Faced with the closing of the school, the boys turn renegade, immediately betraying their duty of obedience in the emotions of the moment. While determined, brave, and motivated by principle, they are at the same time defying legal authority and behaving unwisely. Recognition of this causes the relationships and trust among the cadets to splinter tragically. Through the words of Hutton's career soldier father -- a wonderful supporting performance, with the hard, practical professional tearing down the cadets' naivete -- we are presented a picture of Scott's commandant that does not fit the boys' hero-worshipful image. And then the national guardsman who arrives to end the armed takeover of the school acts as Hutton's conscience, pointing out to him how far from the path of honor he has truly strayed.



Hutton's friends -- the pragmatic Penn, who wants to end the conflict peacefully, and the belligerent Cruise, who lusts for a bloody showdown -- tug him in two directions and he manages to antagonize both of them, furthering his sense of isolation and failure. Finally, the accidental but predictable death of an extremely young cadet -- no more than a boy -- is lain at Hutton's feet, and is more than he can bear. There is no glory or purpose in this death -- "You just think about what a great little kid he was, and how much you're gonna miss him," Hutton is forced to acknowledge, in the movie's big statement: that high-flown rhetoric about dying for honor and country isn't enough. "There must have been something more that we weren't taught," he tearfully reflects. Subtly,"Taps" has moved away from preaching the sanitary hagiography of "Dulce et decorum est / pro Patria mori" to address a greater truth -- that without wisdom, military virtues and sacrifices are just so much posturing and lead only to waste and misery. It was a brave statement to make back when this film was made and an even more important concern in 2005. The final shots -- a grieving Penn and the surviving cadets slowly fading into the mist, then an abrupt cut to a reprise of the triumphant military review sequence from earlier in the movie (is this supposed to be a vision of Hutton's entrance into Valhalla?) -- starkly hammer this point home.



A fine, thoughtful movie that is sympathetic to all its characters but also does not shy away from condemning their blindness. As an ROTC alumni myself (at one stage of my life I would have loved to attend a school like this, and part of me still would), I salute it."

Fine Drama

Derek Flint | BROOMALL, PA USA | 06/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"TAPS was filmed at the Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where I was a cadet and graduate back in the early 70's. As alumni, we were notified of the filming that would be taking place and so I got to see some of the action going on. Naturally, I looked forward to the movie coming out and I was rewarded with a fine, suspenseful action drama. Certain scenes, like the parade formations, the formals, and the in-barracks fooling around brought me back to my cadet years. Even the run-ins with the "townies" rang true, although it never came to the brandishing of weapons. This is a fine thriller and an opportunity to see a cast of both veteran actors and future-stars perform."

An Amazingly Prescient Movie

Joe Banks | New York, NY | 03/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Saw this movie on cable a few years after it came out. I didn't think too much of it back then--but what a difference 20 years makes! Taps is, without a doubt, one of the best teen angst movies ever made. The unique twist here is that teens are (literally) fighting for increasingly anachronistic ideals: duty, honor, and country. Partly due to their methods & partly due to their militaristic demeanor, the society outside the school gates (good symbolism here) spurns their cause. In the time since 1981, the trend has been to tolerate, defend, and even reward, abberrant behavior. As a result, the film gets high marks for correctly predicting that these kids are on the wrong side of history. The casting was also extraordinary with outstanding performance all around. Cruise's performance was especially strong--perhaps the best he's ever done. I also find it uncanny that this film was able to cast two of today's top stars (Penn & Cruise) as leads. These factors have actually helped Taps improve with age--an extremely rare achievement."