Trop jeune pour jouer les héros

Okay, Shroder doesn't look twelve, but pretty close. That isn't the problem. The film has a kind of shoddy look to it, mainly due to the photography and wardrobe. Ricky Shroder is a nice guy but not the most convincing of actors. The scenes on the battleship were shot aboard the North Carolina, a relic moored on the Cape Fear River.

Some of the performances are quite good, particularly my own as the hobo snoring on the stairs who must be stepped over by Shroder and his friend. I thought my imitation of waking up was superb. As with too many true stories though, this one doesn't follow a tight enough narrative line. It's not linear, not "fictional" enough. There are three main narrative threads -- Calvin's dysfunctional family life, his unlawful enlistment in the Navy, and his abuse in the brig -- and they don't always mesh together as well as they might.

In real life, Calvin's service to his country was acknowledged finally, long after the events themselves took place. But, as with all autobiographical material, the story as we see it depends largely on his description of what happened. Was he really raped in the brig? Jailhouse rape was a shocker thirty years ago when situational homosexuality in prison was first acknowledged, but by now we've come to expect scenes like that. A shipmate of mine once spent some time in the Marine Brig. Unless brigs have changed a great deal, inmates didn't get raped in the 1940s. It's not like Sing Sing! They can very easily get beaten up and subject to other verbal and physical abuse, but not raped.

Be that as it may, this script could have used a bit of tightening. It rambles around, rather slowly at times, and doesn't exactly enthrall the viewer, except for the performers playing the hobos. One of them is simply sublime.

I really thought this was a good war and autobiographical film. I found the story of Calvin Graham to be interesting and tragic. While the movie may've taken a few liberties in the source material I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have to admit there were times where I got angry over the injustice Calvin and is brother had to go through. Their homelife is less than ideal and most of the people they have to deal with are terrible and at the very least apathetic. Calvin Graham (Rick Schroeder) dreams of serving his country and is too anxious to wait until he reaches the enlistment age. Eager to fight he lies about his age and enlist. After dealing with boot camp, bullies, and a rough sea life, he proves himself during an attack and is awarded for his bravery until his true age is discovered where he gets sent to the brig.

Most of the story's told through flashbacks during his time in the brig. From his life prior to enlisting as a sailor. Probably one of the most infuriating scenes is when 2 drunk sailors try to rape him and he ends up lying about his injury to the nurse afterwards in embarressment. I felt like he should've told the truth but I digress. For all of his hardships he does befriend another sailor who looks out for him. The acting and dialouge were great. When a line's spoken it's done with conviction sometimes poigantly. The way the characters act is mostly understandable though most of the actions of the adults will make you angry and even sad at the same time.

I won't give away the ending but it's bittersweet to say the least. "Too Young the Hero" is a great war drama. It's tragic and bitter at times yet still hopeful. In a world that can be very mean-spirited (and understandably so) during a crisis, there's still hope and this movie shows it. If you like war movies and underdog stories than I highly recommend this. What also makes this great is Rick Schroder as Calvin Graham. He really balances the adventurous side of being a teen while also knowing when to be sad or angry at the injustice he has to constantly face. So yeah, check this movie out.

There are several troubling components of this movie other than the criticism that Shroder was not 12 years old when playing the role. This lad enlisted fraudently as did many other under-aged enlistees in World War 2. Some because of patriotism but in the case of this boy it was because of economic deprivation. He performed his war duties well enough to be awarded citations for bravery. Due to some bureaucratic foul-up he was jailed when returning from leave for desertion. The sad part of this story is that he was raped while in the brig and even the chaplain admitted he was not authorized to write to family members indicating where he was. A fellow prisoner upon release did courageously call the victim's sister and she contacted a local paper to secure his release. But the final absurdity is seen when an officer tells the released victim to not divulge what happened to him. The navy did not want its dirty wash shown to the world.

I was an uncredited extra in this film and got about 8 seconds of on-camera time out of it. We were filming in the crew quarters of the USS North Carolina. While the crew slept, an alarm went off. After an officer told Schroeder "We're going to war", the crew filed out behind him. I planned to toss and turn in the background before the lights came up (to give myself more of a chance of being seen) and lo and behold, that made it in the film in addition to me filing out of the quarters. I've seen this movie on Lifetime a few times in the past few years, and I get a kick out of that scene every time it comes on. I remember Schroeder being aloof towards the extras during shooting, but then I don't think I expected him to sit down with us and have lunch. He was the central character of the film, after all. In terms of the overall film, I found the story interesting. It's odd that we go to such lengths to protect children from all kinds of dangers now. Some group would have some naval officer arrested for felony child abuse today for daring to let a 12 year old into a battle zone. All in all, it was a good "made for TV" movie of its time.

When you see Rick in the film it's easy to understand that it is impossible to be a 12 years old boy. I think he is around 20 in the film but the director may used this actor because he though that this was the only that he could find and fit for the role. Of course some things in the movie never happened but they were created so the film could be success. I hoped that films like that would be produced even today. As an overview of the film its shows the World War II at the side of U.S. Navy through the eyes of a young boy.