Tom Cruise's First Major Project Is An '80s Military Movie With A Mandalorian Villain - SlashFilm (2025)

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If I asked you to think of a Tom Cruise movie, you might suggest an entry from the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, or "Risky Business," or "Tropic Thunder" if you're trying to be clever by finding the less obvious option. If I asked for a Tom Cruise movie about the military, you would almost certainly say "Top Gun." However, Cruise's first major acting role was a military movie you probably haven't heard of: "Taps."

While "Risky Business" was the first film led by Cruise, "Taps" was the first movie in which he had a significant speaking part. Released in 1981, the film set in a military school faced with the threat of closure featured the future "Mission: Impossible" star as Cadet Captain David Shawn. Appearing alongside him was a young Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon in "The Mandalorian") as Cadet Captain J.C. Pierce.

The movie saw the cadets at Bunker Hill Military Academy taking over the school in an occupation aimed at keeping it open. The cadets contend with the difficulties of keeping the school liveable as their power and supplies are cut off, resulting in Esposito's Pierce getting burned by an old gasoline-powered generator and Cruise's Shawn getting increasingly trigger happy. As authorities move in to close down the academy and take its weapons, the cadets meet them with armed resistance, leading to a standoff that escalates until the film's tragic end.

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Cruise's role in "Taps," though not the lead, was a significant one. Among all the cadets at Bunker Hill Military Academy, Cruise's Shawn is the most rebellious and hotheaded. When the other cadets are finally ready to stand down and concede the academy at the end of the movie, their spirits broken by the death of one of the younger cadets, it is Shawn who opens fire on the encroaching National Guard. This ignites a firefight that ends up costing both Shawn and Timothy Hutton's Cadet Major Brian Moreland their lives.

Initially, Cruise had been offered a smaller part in "Taps." However, his star power clearly shone through even then, as he impressed director Harold Becker so much in rehearsals that he ended up being offered the more prominent role of Shawn. "Taps" set up Cruise for a pathway to stardom. Two years later, he appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Outsiders" and then in "Risky Business."

Over 40 years later, Cruise is still going strong, having just starred in the conclusion to the Mission: Impossible franchise, "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning." The movie brings Cruise's almost-30-year stint as Ethan Hunt to a dramatic conclusion. You can check out our review of "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" here.