History Film / Taps

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When climbing the stairs and getting to their room, right after the introduction ceremony, the three main characters are exposed :

''Taps'' is a 1981 film, directed by Harold Becker and starring Timothy Hutton, Creator/SeanPenn, Creator/TomCruise and Creator/GeorgeCScott. The story revolves around young military cadets who take over their academy in order to prevent the directory from closing it. It is based on the book ''Father Sky'', by Devery Freeman.

* AFatherToHisMen: Bache at first, and then Brian.

* HonorBeforeReason: Brian, oh so much. Deconstructed, since since Brian is informed by several people that rigidly and needlessly holding to his actions in the face of doomed circumstances for nothing but honor is a fool's errand, and ultimately it only results in people getting hurt and killed. [[spoiler: Including Brian himself.]]

* {{Taps}}: [[CaptainObvious Obviously]] pops up a number of times; at the beginning when the school reads off the names and dates of alumni who fell in battle, [[spoiler: and when they have their memorial service for General Bache]]. The movie's title, and thus the TropeNamer, also indicates the impending death of the academy.

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding: JC get seriously burned, the little kid Charlie,Brian and Shawn get shot.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: "Lieutenant West, requesting permission to be dismissed, sir."

* AllForNothing: [[The standoff ends in bloody failure, with several deaths and the school still scheduled to be closed.]]

It was the second role of Creator/TomCruise, and his first major role after a brief appearance in ''Endless Love'', and the first non-TV movie of Creator/SeanPenn. Timothy Hutton had already burst into the acting scene by playing in ''Literature/OrdinaryPeople''.

''Taps'' is a 1981 film, directed by Harold Becker and starring Timothy Hutton, Creator/SeanPenn, Creator/TomCruise and GeorgeCScott. The story revolves around young military cadets who take over their academy in order to prevent the directory from closing it. It is based on the book ''Father Sky'', by Devery Freeman.

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* FourStarBadass: General Bache. Played with, in that it's implied at several points that Bache's career stalled for whatever reason and his running the school is a way of reliving his GloryDays

* FourStarBadass: General Bache.

* HonorBeforeReason: Brian, oh so much.

* {{Taps}}: [[CaptainObvious Obviously]] is pops up a number of times; at the beginning when the school reads off the names and dates of alumni who fell in battle, [[spoiler: and when they have their memorial service for General Bache]]. The movie's title also indicates the impending death of the academy.

* ColonelBadass: Kerby, from start to finish. At first, he tries a gentle and reasoned approach with Brian, as he genuinely understands their point of view. However, once the first cadet is killed and it becomes obvious that Brian still doesn't understand that he's in over his head, Kerby wastes no time in cutting him down to size. He tells Brian in no uncertain terms that he's just been playing at being a soldier, his views on war are incredibly naive and romanticized because they're based on classroom lectures and not real life, his cadets don't stand a chance against trained soldier, and the campus ''will'' be retaken. While he's spelling all this out, it's clear from Brian's face that he's having another BSOD.