The cadets from Bunker Hill

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Movie
German title The cadets from Bunker Hill
Original title Taps
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1981
length 121 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Harold Becker
script Robert Mark Kamen ,
James Lineberger ,
Darryl Ponicsan
production Howard B. Jaffe ,
Stanley R. Jaffe
music Maurice Jarre
camera Owen Roizman
cut Maury Winetrobe
occupation

The cadets of Bunker Hill (alternative title: Revolte der Kadetten ; original title: Taps ) is an American drama from 1981 . Directed by Harold Becker , the screenplay was written by Robert Mark Kamen , James Lineberger and Darryl Ponicsan based on the novel Father Sky by Devery Freeman . The main role of the leader of the cadets was played by Timothy Hutton .

action

In the long-established Bunker Hill cadet school, children and young people receive strict, military-style training in order to prepare them for later service in the US armed forces . The commander of the institution is the retired General Harlan Bache, who, as an overpowering father figure, casts its spell over the older cadets with his war experiences and idealistic depictions of the life of the soldier. This unrealistic image leads the cadets to misunderstand virtues such as obedience, bravery and conscientiousness and to look at them from a point of view that misleads them.

Surprisingly, on the final day of an apprenticeship year, Bache receives the news that Bunker Hill will be closed and the institute's buildings will be released for sale. Brian Moreland, who has just been promoted to major cadet and who looks up to Bache with blind faith and is influenced by him, sees the blame for the closure as civil ignorance and a lack of understanding of tradition.

At the end of the year in the cadet institute, a fight breaks out between cadets and a group of young people who use rabble to express their anti-military stance. When Bache arrives, a shot is fired from his pistol during a scuffle and one of the young people is fatally hit. After his arrest by the police, Bache, who was in poor health, had a heart attack and died, which the cadets did not find out until a later date.

In this situation, the cadets under Moreland's leadership decide to defend “their” institution against closure. They confiscate the weapons stored in the institution and set up in the facility for defense. As the situation escalates, the moral facade of honor and tradition quickly begins to crumble. More and more cadets begin to doubt the sense of their action. Only a small circle around Moreland stubbornly sticks to the project. Both the Colonel of the National Guard , who has surrounded Bunker Hill in the meantime, and Moreland's father (himself a Master Sergeant in the US Army ) try in vain to convince the cadet major of the wrongness of his actions. After he learns that Bache is dead, that his best friend Dwyer even turns against him and that one of the youngest cadets is killed in an exchange of fire, Moreland decides to give up. When the particularly fanatical cadet Shawn opened fire on soldiers of the National Guard, they stormed the campus. When Moreland tries to stop Shawn, they both die in a hail of bullets.

background

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that the film shows young people who are under the influence of idealism and authoritarianism. He described the film as "engrossing" and praised the performance of the actors.

Variety magazine criticized the film's "snail-like" pace.

Awards

Timothy Hutton was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1982 .

literature

  • Frank Schnelle, Tom Cruise , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-07315-0 , pp. 20-24, 233-234.

Web links