Remembered much more for its cast than its story “Taps” tells the story of a group of military cadets that take control of their school when they learn it is going to be closed. During the commencement ceremony General Bache (George C. Scott in softened variation on his Oscar winning performance as Patton) reveals that the school grounds have been sold off by the trustees (bringing up the question about the role of trustees in safe guarding the school vs. their own greed). Cadet Brian Moreland takes command of t he school rallying his schoolmates to break into the armory and protect the school when Bache is hospitalized after a serious accident. Suddenly the cadets find themselves in a Mexican stand off with National Guard troops commanded by Colonel Kerby (Ronny Cox) who doesn’t relish a fight that will blood the school grounds with children. He attempts to convince Moreland and his group to give up by discussing how they’ve lived up to their code of honor and, in fact, putting the children at the school at risk violates the very code of honor that these cadets believe in. ***

Featuring an early edgy performance from Tom Cruise (which suggests his real personality to me I personally don’t think the guy was acting here. Cruise was offered his role after director Harold Becker and producer Stanley Jaffe observed his performance in a minor role for the film), a thoughtful pair from Sean Penn and recent Oscar winner Timothy Hutton (this was the first film released after his star turn in “Ordinary People”). “Taps” is well made and still powerful even 25 years later although it might not feel as relevant today as it did in 1981 the themes and story itself (based on the novel Father Sky by former TV and film writer Devery Freeman) the themes of honor, courage and questionable behavior under duress seem as important now in a world where we’ve made many of the same mistakes with the war in Iraq as we did (for different economic reasons) during the V ietnam War. ---

Image & Sound:

A brilliant, bright transfer for the film “Taps” is all spit and shine with crisp colors and great detail. The audio presents the dialogue crisp and clear with the 5.1 mix only truly taking advantage of the format during the action sequences. ---

Director Harold Becker provides a so-so commentary with long stretches of silence. While he does bring up some bits and pieces of trivia about the casting and production of the film overall he points out the obvious. ***

“Sounding The Call to Arms: Mobilizing The Taps Generation” is a superior featurette. Stanley Jaffe passionately believed in the project after having being sent the novel in manuscript form he brought the book and the screenplay with him to Fox where it was put into production immediately. Interestingly Hutton points out that he was originally brought in for the role Alex Dwyer which finally went to newcomer Sean Penn. Director Becker had seen Penn on Broadway and brought him in to the project. The one absence is Tom Cruise who made his major film debut in “Taps”. Becker was impressed with Cruise’s immersion in the role and offered him the larger role of Captain David Shawn (which was being played by a friend of Cruise’s). ***

Ronny Cox who plays Kerby was originally cast. Stanley Jaffe brought someone else in to play the role believing Cox wasn’t appropriate. The other actor just wasn’t working and Cox flew in at the last minute at Jaffe’s urging to resume the role. George C. Scott originally wanted to play Colonel Kerby when he was offered the script (he was never cast in the role) but the difficulty was they couldn’t find anyone that could play the role of Kerby with as much authority as Scott. Timothy Hutton appears in the featurette as do most of the major players. ***

“Bugle’s Cry: The Origin of Playing Taps” is a strange but fascinating historical extra that focuses on where the musical piece came from and how it was used throughout military history. Taps provided a reassuring call to soldiers that everything was well and that they could relax for the evening but it had a far more complex history than that. Brass Historian and bugler Jari Villanueva gives a complete history of the short musical piece, its supposed origin, real origin and purpose throughout military history. This is a short but fascinating piece. We also get two teaser trailers, the theatrical trailer, two TV spots and a curiously a work print trailer in black and white which is much the same as the finished product. ---

Final Words: