Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

steves9404 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.

Desertman84 Taps is a 1981 movie that stars the late George C.Scott,Timothy Hutton,Ronny Cox and introduced future Hollywood superstars,Sean Penn and Tom Cruise.The story was about how military cadets revolted to the announcement that their school,Bunker Hill Military Academy, a military school institution, is to be torn down and replaced with commercial condominiums.This sets off the young cadets led by their commander General Harlan Bache,who unfortunately passed away during an incident.With the passing of General Bache,the students continued their revolt under the command of a student cadet major,Cadet Major Brian Moreland.Eventaully,the cadets seize the campus, refuse entry of the construction crews and ultimately confront the real military led by Colonel Kerby.Aside from that,the story also presented two interesting characters in Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer and Cadet Captain David Shawn.The film's theme was about military idealism and how the cadets have yet to realize what the real world is all about.It was a great to see how twisted ideas and priorities can help the cadets realize their immaturity and gain knowledge on what the real world is all about.

tieman64 "It's beautiful man! It's beautiful!" – Tom Cruise ("Taps")"Taps" is a confused but entertaining military drama about a group of young military school cadets (led by a kid called Brian Moreland) who take over their military school in order to save it from closing. "Father Sky", the novel upon which the film was based, was a light satire which used its central siege to examine the herd mentality of the military and to poke fun at the way anti-war protesters are often just as crazy and militant as those they rally against.This film is too timid to bash either the military or the ultra-left, however, and instead paints Brian Moreland as a young and confused Colonel Kurtz figure who hijacks a military school because he wants to "preserve military traditions". As the military school is being shut down, Moreland feels as though he is being "denied honour" and "prestige". He thus starts a little war - which all the other cadets join in on - and justifies his actions by saying that he's honourably trying to "preserve the traditions of the school" and "prevent it from being closed", when in reality he simply wants to glorify himself with a little combat. The film thus examines the naive appeal of war, what separates "glory hounds" from "real soldiers", and points out how ridiculously dishonourable it is to start a war solely for the purposes of "finding honour". Abstract this further, and you have a comment on the Vietnam war: a government starting a war to "preserve the honour of democracy" when in reality it seeks only to install its own power.7.9/10 – Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, George C Scott and Timothy Hutton make up for director Harold Becker's flat direction. The film is famous for a pre-Scientology Tom Cruise playing a psycho soldier who yells "It's beautiful man!" whilst gunning down his fellow Americans. Xenu would not be proud.Worth one viewing.

joe salas I went to school at Valley Forge Military Academy, Wayne, Pennsylvania 19087,which is where the movie was filmed, attended for 4 yrs, and graduated in 82 and technically, was one of the extras, everyone who attended the school at the time was, we had no choice,i recall being able to see myself for a split second in the movie theater with my family when the movie was first played, we laughed so much. i've been trying to get a copy of the film for years. my daughter , age 9, wants to play it and freeze pause it to see me, If anyone has any suggestions, on how to go about getting one please let me know, i went to blockbuster and several independent video rentals and nothing.