Code Breakers

i liked this movie.it's a movie about football,but it's much more than that.it's really about honor,truth,and loyalty .it is set in 1950,and chronicles the "Army"-the West Point football team.West point is the very esteemed military academy.as the movie begins,"army is coming off of 27 consecutive wins and hope to win the championship once again.along the way,many on the team will go through some trials that will test their morality and pledge to uphold the principle of honor at any cost.the backdrop to the story is the Korean War.i like the fact the the story has some depth to it.the very fine performances go along way in anchoring the story.Scott Glenn gives a nice understated,quietly intense performance as one of of the coaches.even though this is a morality tale,it doesn't hit you over the head,or preach to you.all in all a pretty good movie.for me "Code Breakers" is an 8/10

The DVD is made by ESPN Home Entertainment. It was probably featured on ESPN. So those who are either indifferent or just plain not interested in sports, would likely pass on this movie, which would be a shame because this movie is much more than "just another movie with a sports related theme". While the movie has a sports related theme, namely Army football, the story is rooted in the keeping of the honor code, a code that must never be broken. Loyalty is also a code that must never be broken. The movie, which is based on a true story, is about a group of cadets at West Point who after operating a cheating ring so they could play football for the greatest team in the country and maintain their grade average, are forced to choose between honor (a cadet never cheats) and loyalty (a cadet never betrays the trust of his fellow cadets). A lot of research went into this movie and a lot of homework was done to make this movie as authentic as possible, successfully capturing West Point as it was in 1950, complete with haircuts, uniforms, etc. I had to give this movie an 8 only because Harkins' ribbons were worn out of order and his collar device was worn wrong. As a (Go Navy) retiree, I have seen ribbon infractions on high ranking officers. So maybe I shouldn't be too hard on the make up crew for allowing the uniform infractions on Harkins' uniform. This is an excellent movie that could be watched over and over again.

Codebreakers was a stimulating review of the ethics of my time. I was going through high school in those years and appreciate getting full details of the football scandal and what led up to it. The peer pressure to conform had to be intense and the movie portrayed the situation well.

I liked the follow-up on the athlete's response, outlining how many regained their dignity and were able to re-enter the military and sports arenas in subsequent years.

I often wondered how the legendary Vince Lombardi got his start, and now I know more of his background.

All in all, it was fine entertainment.

I love movies like this, well-cast, well-acted, in the tradition of films like "School Ties" and "Dead Poets Society". What a great film, especially for an ESPN original. I had to pause my dvr and look up Zachary Bryan on the internet to make sure that he is, indeed, the same actor from "Home Improvement". He has done a number of other projects since that show as well, none of which I have seen. I am very impressed with the way he and his acting have matured. And Jake Busey...well, he always cracks me up. He seems to be cast according to his personality...loud and proud. I had never seen the other lead character in anything either, but I do like him as well. Hopefully they will run this movie again on ESPN...it is good stuff.

If the director and producer had bothered to have a military adviser or at least someone who was familiar with things military they would have avoided some horrible goofs like having Col Harkins wear his cavalry branch insignia upside down and his military ribbons arranged in a totally incorrect manner. My grand kids could also salute better than any of these actors. Another interesting goof to me were the football helmets. In this flick during the Army-Navy game, Navy wore the old leather-head type without face guards which were typical of the 1920-1940 football players. Army is shown wearing the more modern molded plastic variety. By 1950 all football teams were using the safer high impact plastic helmets. Other than that the movie was entertaining at best.