The running time is 2 hrs. 6 mins..
That's the basic premise of Taps, director Harold Becker's (Sea of Love) surprise late-December 1981 box office sensation. In most ways, it's hard to understand what the fuss was all about. Based on the novel "Father Sky" by Devery Freeman, the film is a fairly unfocused muddle that has trouble trying to decide what its ultimate really is. Is it pro military? Anti war? Something uncomfortably in-between? I haven't the first clue but than neither does the movie, and it takes all of Becker's considerable skills to help conceal that fact long enough to actually make the resulting melodrama worthwhile.
Despite all of this, Taps ends up being monstrously entertaining. Why? Two names: Sean Penn and Tom Cruise. Sure Hutton, fresh off picking up an Oscar for his phenomenal work in Ordinary People, is the erstwhile star but as good as he is (and he's fine if unmemorable) he's not the one galvanizing your attention. Penn (in his first cinematic role) and Cruise (in his second) dominate the movie, each delivering riveting portrayals sitting at the polar opposite of one another and both hinting at talents that would soon make each a superstar. Under Becker's confident direction, these two obliterate the screen and even as the movie is falling apart around them the duo find a way to rise above and keep what's going on entertaining even when it probably shouldn't be.
Fox's 25th Anniversary Special Edition of Taps is as solid and winning as these two stars. The extras are economical yet excellent, while the brand new Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer makes the picture look better than it probably ever has before. As for the special features, there are the requisite theatrical trailers and television spots, a solid commentary from director Becker and two featurettes, "Sounding the Call to Arms: Mobilizing the TAPS Generation" and "The Bugler's Cry: The Origin of Playing Taps."
Both of these are pretty darn good. While it would have been nice to have had participation from Penn and/or Cruise (like that was going to happen), Becker, Hutton, actor Ronny Cox (who played the Colonel staring down the kids from the other side of the fence), producer Stanley R. Jaffe and Time film critic Richard Schickel provide so much fun information their absences aren't really a bother. But it is the latter featurette that proves to be the most fascinating, the origins of the familiar military bugle call as surprising as they are delightful.
Listen, this isn't a great film. It's didactic and cliché while a third act journey into violence doesn't work near as well as the filmmakers obviously feel it does. But the film is beautifully paced and photographed (a climactic tracking shot is truly miraculous), Becker using every cinematic slight of hand he knows to keep people interested. Even better, Penn and Cruise nearly steal the film with their dynamic fireworks, the latter's final meltdown behind a submachine gun so scarily charming no wonder he was able to beguile audiences so effervescently just a short time later in Risky Business and Top Gun.
Without those two it is fairly safe to say Taps, even with Becker's considerable (and, according to Schickel, underrated) skills, would be waste. With them, not only is it a fascinating time capsule showcasing two Hollywood titans before they were Oscar-nominated (in Penn's case Oscar-winning) stars, but also a furiously-paced military melodrama that rivets your attention. Heck, for fans of both men or of the director the bugle sound calling "Charge!" getting you to the local store selling this new DVD probably can't be played loud enough.