Guardiões da Honra

I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. Now i have never read the novel it is based on so i am not disillusioned by how "bland" an adaptation this is, but i must say that this was an interesting, intriguing and enjoyable film. It was deep and thought provoking and provided an insight into what was... and possibly still is considered to be the making of a man and a soldier.

Also, the fact that it is a veritable melting pot of future stars and character actors doesn't hurt. David Keith as a likeable character? Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton, a year before making Terminator together, a few years before making Aliens and ages before making Tombstone. Judge Reinhold, Rick Rossovich (the guy from Roxanne and pacific blue), Matt Frewer (HE LOOKS SO YOUNG!!!), the fat guy out of Godzilla (he is great). It was interesting seeing all these people in these roles, big and small.

Moral of the story, great flick :)

Will McLean (David Keith) is a senior cadet at the Carolina Military Institute, a school that promises to make men of honor but practises brutal hazing to freshmen. McLean's roommates are Dante Pignetti (Rick Rossovich), Mark Santoro and Tradd St. Croix. In the time spent there McLean will join all the academy's activities (except breaking new cadets) and will see the corruption inside the institute, and will also try to unmask it (without some trouble and Pignetti getting expelled).

Despite I have not read the original novel LORDS OF DISCIPLINE I still liked the movie because it has some very good acting by everyone. I am not a huge David Keith fan but here he was very good as the lead, Rick Rossovich was very funny as the cadet that didn't stopped screaming, while Michael Biehn and Judge Reinhold give some of their best performances in their careers. The plot was great as there were lots of twists and turns when the leads were finding the truth.

Overall, a good militar academy drama that excedded my expectations as I was very surprised that I liked it very much. If you are searching something underrated from the 1980s, then this is for you.

The movie itself was mediocre-- but having read Pat Conroy's incredible novel, filled with cynicism, cruelty, depth, and of cource, deceit-- all that good stuff. Alas, without a love interest, the myriad losses, and the absolutely imperative dips into the depths of Senior Private Will McLean's psyche, this movie is simply a hollow time-waster about a Southern Military school. Read the book, skip the film-- or better yet (since the film was actually rather enjoyable) see the film first, and then bask in the sheer, dark goodness of Pat Conroy's writing. If only there were no Pat Conroy novel, this movie would be an enjoyable flick... Oh well.

I was impressed with how well this movie captured the flavor of time and place. As a viewer I easily felt that it was Charleston, SC in the mid 1960's. The parts were well-cast and convincingly played. I would be comfortable suggesting this movie to others and would not mind seeing it again myself.

Having read Pat Conroy's original novel years ago I found that the characters in the movie looked remarkably like my imagination expected them to. That was another plus.

However......and this is minor......Pat Conroy's novels tend to be sprawling affairs with several plot lines (and the ensuing chaos) running concurrently. They do not condense down into a standard length feature film without editing a good bit of the original novel out. This is the case here......several minor items had to be changed for the movie to cover the fact that one of the major plot elements in the novel were left out entirely.

If there were no Pat Conroy novel to compare this film to, the movie might fare better. Gone is the "love interest" (major) and added is a much more upbeat ending. Conroy's novels tend toward cynicism and this one is no different. Keith and Prosky do a good job of creating two of the main characters. There is some suspense toward the end, but too much is communicated too fast to be believable. Location shots are impressive (England!) and the pacing is right. The music (Howard Blake) is weak. One would like to have seen this film directed by Sam Peckinpah or Martin Scorsese.