Movies - Taps

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Taps (film)

	Movies - Taps

Taps is a 1981 dramatic film, starring Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, Ronny Cox and George C. Scott, directed by Harold Becker. The screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, James Lineberger and Darryl Ponicsan is based on the novel Father Sky by Devery Freeman. The original music score is composed by Maurice Jarre. The film's tagline is This school is our home, we think it's worth defending.

Plot summary

Bunker Hill Academy is a military academy that has a tradition of training young cadets, but all of that is about to change because the land where Bunker Hill Academy stands is very valuable to local land developers. General Harlan Bache, the commander at Bunker Hill Academy who is proud of tradition and being a soldier, makes an announcement at a ceremony for the cadets. Cadet Major Brian Moreland is the highest ranking cadet at the academy who talks to General Bache about the closing of the academy. He is very sad about its closing.

A dance is held at the academy, outside the gates are townies who are looking for trouble. A fight breaks out between a townie and a cadet gets out of control. General Bache tries to break up the fight, one of the townies grabs his gun and one of the townies gets shot. Bache is taken into custody by the police. Major Moreland decides to take a stand against the academy's closing.

The next morning, the board are taking count of all the weapons. Later, Major Moreland has the cadets move all the weapons and makes demands to the police and the board of trustees about the closing of the school. The cadets hear that General Bache has had a heart attack and is in I.C.U. Things go well for the cadets until the National Guard shows up. The situation gets worse from that point on.

It is possible that the bulk of the film is actually meant to be just a daydream that Moreland has during the ceremony. Facts that support this view are:

:1. The film ends with a scene showing Major Moreland taking part in the same ceremony in which the academy closure announcement was made. :2. There are some oddly surreal scenes in the film (a character is shown walking around to the rooms of fellow cadets asking, "You got any grenades?") :3. The tragic loss of so many children during the siege and final assault is made more palatable if it was all really just a lesson being played out in Moreland's imagination.

Trivia

Was filmed at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Wayne, PA

The Main building featured is Wheeler Hall

Cast

Timothy Hutton
.... Cadet Major Brian Moreland
George C. Scott
.... General Harlan Bache
Ronny Cox
.... Colonel Kerby
Tom Cruise
.... Cadet Captain David Shawn
Sean Penn
.... Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer
Brendan Ward .... Charlie
Evan Handler
.... Edward West
John P. Navin Jr.
.... Derek 999
Billy Van Zandt .... Bug
Giancarlo Esposito
.... J.C. Pierce
Wayne Tippit .... Master Sergeant Kevin Moreland
Earl Hindman
.... Lieutenant Hanson
James Handy .... Sheriff

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Taps (film) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Taps (film); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Movies - Taps

Plot summary

Trivia

Cast

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay