Following the success of Ordinary People, Timothy Hutton starred in Taps, a very un-ordinary film. He played a military cadet of the highest rank in Bunker Hill Academy, with other familiar pre-famous faces of Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, and Giancarlo Esposito. It was really a tribute to the era for Tim to have a starring role while Tom played a hot-tempered kid in the background. Two years later, Risky Business rocketed him to stardom.
On paper, the plot of Taps just breaks your heart. When you see it all unfold, the emotions of the children and the tragic events stay with you forever. George C. Scott plays the revered head of the academy, and when he announces it will soon close because of a lack of funds, the students are very disappointed. What starts out as a little brawl at a school dance turns catastrophic, as George's gun is stolen and used to kill a cadet. George is arrested, and Tim takes matters into his own hands. But how can a little boy take matters into his own hands? By taking over the academy and standing guard with the weapons arsenal at the ready.
This is a pretty emotional movie, especially if you're partial to the military or the innocence of teenagers. It does serve a very important purpose, though: it proves Timothy Hutton's performance in Ordinary People wasn't a fluke. He was a very good actor with an incredibly promising future, but by the end of the decade he wasn't a hot commodity anymore. Rent Taps to see the rare time when he was more famous than Tom Cruise.
On paper, the plot of Taps just breaks your heart. When you see it all unfold, the emotions of the children and the tragic events stay with you forever. George C. Scott plays the revered head of the academy, and when he announces it will soon close because of a lack of funds, the students are very disappointed. What starts out as a little brawl at a school dance turns catastrophic, as George's gun is stolen and used to kill a cadet. George is arrested, and Tim takes matters into his own hands. But how can a little boy take matters into his own hands? By taking over the academy and standing guard with the weapons arsenal at the ready.
This is a pretty emotional movie, especially if you're partial to the military or the innocence of teenagers. It does serve a very important purpose, though: it proves Timothy Hutton's performance in Ordinary People wasn't a fluke. He was a very good actor with an incredibly promising future, but by the end of the decade he wasn't a hot commodity anymore. Rent Taps to see the rare time when he was more famous than Tom Cruise.