If you have never seen this movie I suggest doing so.
I liked the whole movie. The story line was phenomenal. It's about a military school called Bunker Hill Military Academy and it's students. At the beginning of the movie it is the end of the school term and the start of summer vacation. Some of the students are staying for the summer, including Cadet Major Brian Moreland (Timothy Hutton), Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer (Sean Penn), and Cadet Captain David Shawn (Tom Cruise). The school's superintendent is General Harlan Bache (George C. Scott).
Moreland is newly promoted to Cadet Major at the beginning of the movie. He is friends with Dwyer and Shawn, and he tries to emulate General Bache. At the commencement ceremony for the out going senior class General Bache reveals that the board of trustees have decided to close the school at the end of the next school year. They want to make way for a condominium complex.
One very powerful scene is when the remaining cadets are having a dance. Some local teens are harassing arriving guests and the cadets. Moreland politely asked the teens to move along. One of the teens walked up to Moreland and threw a punch. As Moreland and the other cadets are defending themselves one cadet runs and gets General Bache. As soon as Bache attempts to stop the melee one of the teens jumps on his back and grabs for his sidearm. The teen gets the handgun loose from the holster and pulls the trigger. Bache didn't know that there was a live round in the chamber. The teen who first attacked Moreland was shot in the chest and died instantly. The police are called and Bache is taken into custody.
The following day the board members come to the academy to do inventory of the weapons located there. Moreland realizes what is going on and before the sheriff comes to confiscate the arsenal, Moreland takes them. Moreland wants the academy to stay open. He and the remaining student body take control of the academy and refuse to surrender. At one point, Moreland's father comes to negotiate the surrender, it does not go well.
Even though Moreland is friends with both Dwyer and Shawn, the animosity between Dwyer and Shawn is very evident. In one scene it is revealed to Moreland that Shawn has given orders to shoot anyone coming over, around or under the walls by the sentries. Moreland barely blinks, saying that those were the proper orders to give. The tension on Moreland gets to be too much when twice several students leave, when asked, rather than stay to defend their school. As time goes on, one student is burned in an accident after the power was turned off and another student was shot because the National Guard unit that arrived thought he was firing at them (he wasn't).
After Moreland finds out that Bache passed away from a heart attack Moreland begins to question whether he and the other cadets are doing the right thing. Dwyer attempts and succeeds in talking Moreland into surrendering. Shawn has other plans. The power really goes to his head and he starts firing on the National Guard. The National Guard returns fire and eventually kills Shawn. Moreland attempts to save Shawn but is killed also. Dwyer carries his friends body from the barracks followed by Colonel Kerby (Ronnie Cox).
This is a adrenaline filled movie that ends very tragically. It's about teenagers, who are sent to a military school for one reason or another, taught to be soldiers and defend their rights. But they misread what they are taught, and end up in a world of hurt. The movie ends with the cadets surrendering and Dwyer carrying Moreland out the front gate.
I like movies like these. I like how it actually has a plot that goes from A to Z. The acting in this movie is pretty good. I give this 10 stars out of 10. Even though it is a dated movie, and some of the sentimentality is different between the time it was made and today, it's still pretty good.
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