Toy Soldiers (1991 film)

Last updated
Toy Soldiers
Toy Soldiers.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Daniel Petrie Jr.
Written by David Koepp
Daniel Petrie Jr.
Based onToy Soldiers
by William P Kennedy
Produced by Mario Kassar
Mark Burg
Chris Zarpas
Starring
Cinematography Thomas Burstyn
Edited by Michael Kahn
Music by Robert Folk
Production
company
Distributed by Tri-Star Pictures
Release date
  • April 26, 1991 (1991-04-26)
Running time
111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Budget$10 million
Box office$15,073,942 (US) [1]

Toy Soldiers is a 1991 American action film directed by Daniel Petrie Jr., with a screenplay by Petrie and David Koepp. It stars Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, Louis Gossett Jr., Andrew Divoff, Mason Adams and Denholm Elliott.

Contents

The plot revolves around an all-male boarding school overtaken by terrorists. While the authorities remain helpless, a group of rebellious and mischievous students decide to put their resourcefulness to good use. [2]

Plot

In Barranquilla, Colombia, terrorist Luis Cali has taken over the Palace of Justice with a team of mercenaries. He demands the release of his drug kingpin father, Enrique Cali, only to learn that his father has already been extradited to the United States to stand trial. They escape by helicopter, and with the weapons and logistics assistance of Luis's second-in-command, an American named Jack Thorpe, they enter the U.S. through Mexico.

In the United States, the Regis High School is a prep school for teenage boys with wealthy and influential parents, many of whom have been expelled from other schools. A group of pranksters led by Billy Tepper that includes Billy's best friend Joey Trotta, Hank Giles, Ricky Montoya, "Snuffy" Bradberry, and Phil Donoghue are carefully watched over by their teachers and the stern but well-meaning Dean Edward Parker. Phil's father is the federal judge presiding over Enrique Cali's trial, so the entire family is taken to a safe location as a precaution. Unaware of this, Luis Cali and his men invade the school to capture the boy, killing a campus police officer and a faculty member who intervenes. They set up lookout posts with heavy firearms and rig the campus with C-3 explosives. With Phil nowhere to be found but with the sons of numerous influential individuals in his grasp, Luis takes the entire school hostage.

Underestimating the threat, the local sheriff attempts to intervene but is repelled by heavy weapons fire. The state police, FBI and US Army are called in, keeping their distance to avoid provoking the terrorists. Jack arms the explosives with a detonator wired to a remote control gadget Luis tapes to the back of his hand. Luis warns the authorities he will set off the explosives should they attack the school. He releases the school faculty except for the cooks and the headmaster, Dr. Robert Gould, demanding his father's release in exchange for the hostages and institutes hourly headcounts.

The students, under Billy's leadership, use their expertise in skirting authority to collect tactical information about the occupying forces, which Billy covertly brings to the authorities on the outside. They bar him from returning, but he escapes with Parker's encouragement and rejoins the students just in time to be counted, preventing the killing of Gould and four students in response.

Joey's father, New Jersey mob boss Albert Trotta, arranges for Joey to be released. Joey, contemptuous of his father, refuses to go. He overpowers a guard, steals a submachine gun and opens fire on another terrorist, but is killed in the exchange. Luis tries to impress upon Parker, who comes to retrieve the body, that it was an accident, but Albert takes revenge by having Enrique Cali killed in prison.

Knowing they must act before Luis can learn of his father's death, the authorities undertake a rescue mission. FBI Hostage Rescue Team personnel (trailed by Parker), supported by the army and armed with the information provided by Billy, covertly infiltrate the school and begin taking out the terrorists. Meanwhile, Billy and his friends sabotage the remote control receiver for the detonator, overpower their guards and lead the students and Gould to a secret basement chamber. Overwhelmed by the assault, Luis takes Billy at gunpoint and holds him in Gould's office. He presses the button on his gadget, but due to Billy's machinations only activates a toy airplane. Parker and commandos converge on Luis and Billy. Luis wounds Parker, but Billy elbows him in the abdomen, giving a commando the chance to shoot Luis, killing him.

With Parker's wound bandaged, he and Billy gain a better understanding of each other. In the end, the students are freed, the surviving terrorists are arrested and Billy joyously reunites with his friends.

Cast

Production

The film was based on the novel of the same name by William P. Kennedy.

The first screenplay was written by David Koepp who wrote it for director John Schlesinger. The school was a European boarding school and the villains were Palestinian terrorists. Schlesinger dropped out of the project and the script was rewritten to be set in the US with different villains. [3]

The main antagonist of the film was portrayed by Andrew Divoff, who has mentioned that his role as Luis Cali was his favourite villain role.[ citation needed ] TriStar Pictures distributed in the United States and several countries.

The film's opening courthouse scenes were set in Colombia, but the exterior shots and helicopter takeoff scenes were filmed in San Antonio, Texas. The exteriors of the Hotel Gibbs and the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse, as well as the wall of the Alamo Mission complex, were visible.

There is a real private school named Regis High School, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, although this school is a Jesuit school unlike the fictional school in the film which is not. The location of the fictional Regis School in the film is a fictional King's County Virginia. The Virginia state seal is prominent on the sheriff's car and the license plate is a Virginia public use plate. A cargo van driven by the terrorist as they kill the guard features a logo with a town name in Virginia. The school's exterior scenes were filmed at The Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Virginia. Other exterior scenes were filmed in San Antonio, Texas, Richmond, Virginia and Waynesboro, Virginia.[ citation needed ]

Reception

Box office

The film debuted at No. 3 on its opening weekend in the United States [4] and grossed $15,073,942 nationwide during its run. [5]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 41% based on reviews from 17 critics. [6] On Metacritic it has a score of 46% based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [7] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A− on scale of A to F. [8]

Roger Ebert gave the film 1 out of 4, stating that "Since the plot of the movie is utterly predictable, we hope at least for some cleverness in the gimmicks. Here the movie is so disappointing that I wonder if the screenwriters were really trying." [9] [10] Critic Clint Morris was more favorable stating "The performances are rock solid".[ citation needed ]

Awards

For their performance in Toy Soldiers, Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, Keith Coogan, T.E. Russell and George Perez were all nominated for an Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture by the Thirteenth Annual Youth in Film Awards 1990-1991. They lost narrowly to Donovan McCrary, Desi Arnez Hines II and Baha Jackson for their performance in Boyz n the Hood . [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wil Wheaton</span> American actor (born 1972)

Richard William Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me, Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers, and Bennett Hoenicker in Flubber. Wheaton has also appeared in recurring voice acting roles as Aqualad in Teen Titans, Cosmic Boy in Legion of Super Heroes, and Mike Morningstar/Darkstar in the Ben 10 franchise's original continuity. He appeared regularly as a fictionalized version of himself on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory and in the roles of Fawkes on The Guild, Colin Mason on Leverage, and Dr. Isaac Parrish on Eureka. Wheaton was the host and co-creator of the YouTube board game show TableTop. He has narrated numerous audio books, including Ready Player One and The Martian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Astin</span> American actor (born 1971)

Sean Astin is an American actor. His acting roles include Mikey Walsh in The Goonies (1985), Billy Tepper in Toy Soldiers (1991), Daniel Ruettiger in Rudy (1993), Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003), Doug Whitmore in 50 First Dates (2004), Bill in Click (2006), Lynn McGill in the fifth season of 24 (2006), Oso in Special Agent Oso (2009–2012), Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012–2017), Bob Newby in the second season of Netflix's Stranger Things (2017), and Ed in No Good Nick (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volker Schlöndorff</span> German filmmaker (born 1939)

Volker Schlöndorff is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which also included Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Margarethe von Trotta and Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marty McFly</span> Fictional character from the American sci-fi film trilogy Back to the Future

Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Back to the Future franchise. He is a high school student who accidentally becomes a time traveler and alters history after his friend Emmett Brown invents a DeLorean time machine.

A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desi Arnaz Jr.</span> American actor and musician (born 1953)

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, better known as Desi Arnaz Jr., is an American retired actor and musician. He is the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Campbell</span> American film and television actor (born 1959)

William Oliver Campbell is an American film and television actor. He first gained recognition for his recurring role as Luke Fuller in the TV series Dynasty. Then he became known for playing Rick Sammler on Once and Again, Det. Joey Indelli on Crime Story, Jordan Collier on The 4400, and Dr. Jon Fielding on the Tales of the City miniseries. His most notable films include The Rocketeer, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Enough. He portrayed Darren Richmond on the AMC television series The Killing, Dr. Alan Farragut in the SYFY series Helix and Det. John Cardinal on CTV's Cardinal.

<i>Barney Google and Snuffy Smith</i> American comic strip

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, originally Take Barney Google, for Instance, is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on June 17, 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appearing in 900 newspapers in 21 countries. The initial appeal of the strip led to its adaptation to film, animation, popular song, and television. It added several terms and phrases to the English language and inspired the 1923 hit tune "Barney Google " with lyrics by Billy Rose, as well as the 1923 record "Come On, Spark Plug!"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Graham</span> American author (1920–2007)

Ruth McCue Bell Graham was a Chinese-born American Christian author, most well known as the wife of evangelist Billy Graham. She was born in Qingjiang, Jiangsu, Republic of China, the second of five children. Her parents, Virginia Leftwich Bell and L. Nelson Bell, were medical missionaries at the Presbyterian Hospital 300 miles (480 km) north of Shanghai. At age 13 she was enrolled in Pyeng Yang Foreign School in Pyongyang, Korea, where she studied for three years. She completed her high school education at Montreat, North Carolina, while her parents were there on furlough. She graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gomez Addams</span> Character of The Addams Family

Gomez Addams is the patriarch of the fictional Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine in the 1940s and subsequently portrayed on television, in film and on the stage.

Daniel Mannix Petrie Jr. is a Canadian-American producer, writer, and director of film and television. He is best known for pioneering the sub-genres of action comedy and buddy cop films through films like Beverly Hills Cop and Turner & Hooch. He served as President of the Writers Guild of America, West between 1997 and 1999, and then again between 2004 and 2005. He currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors at the Writers Guild Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Divoff</span> Venezuelan-born american actor and producer

Andrew Daniel Divoff is a Venezuela-born Russian actor and producer.Divoff has played many villains in film and on television, including drug cartel leaders, terrorists, and organized crime bosses, though he is best known for playing the evil Djinn/Nathaniel Demerest in the first two Wishmaster films. Other noteworthy film and television roles include the villains Luis Cali in Toy Soldiers, Cherry Ganz in Another 48 Hrs., Ernesto Mendoza in A Low Down Dirty Shame, Boris Bazylev in Air Force One, M in Faust: Love of the Damned, Ivan Sarnoff in CSI: Miami, Mikhail Bakunin in Lost, and Karakurt in The Blacklist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Edson</span> American actor (born 1954)

Richard Edson is an American actor and musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Gould</span> American actor (1923–2010)

Harold Vernon Goldstein, better known as Harold Gould, was an American character actor. He appeared as Martin Morgenstern on the sitcom Rhoda (1974–78) and Miles Webber on the sitcom The Golden Girls (1985–92). A five-time Emmy Award nominee, Gould acted in film and television for nearly 50 years, appearing in more than 300 television shows, 20 major motion pictures, and over 100 stage plays. He was known for playing elegant, well-dressed men, and he regularly played Jewish characters and grandfather-type figures on television and in film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jorge Isaacs</span> Colombian writer and politician

Jorge Isaacs Ferrer was a Colombian writer, politician and soldier. His only novel, María, became one of the most notable works of the Romantic movement in Spanish-language literature.

<i>Blind Fury</i> 1989 film by Phillip Noyce

Blind Fury is a 1989 American action comedy film directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Rutger Hauer, Brandon Call, Terry O'Quinn, Lisa Blount, Randall "Tex" Cobb, and Noble Willingham. The screenplay by Charles Robert Carner is a loosely based, modernized remake of Zatoichi Challenged, the 17th film in the Japanese Zatoichi film series.

Shawn Michael Phelan was an American television and film actor.

The 13th Youth in Film Awards ceremony, presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film and television for the 1990–1991 season, and took place on December 1, 1991, at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in North Hollywood, California.

<i>My Ex and Whys</i> 2017 Filipino film

My Ex and Whys is a 2017 Philippine romantic comedy drama film co-written and directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina. Starring Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano, the story is about a womanizer named Gio (Gil), who tries to prove he's a changed man to his ex-girlfriend, a blogger named Cali (Soberano). Cali, on the other hand, tests if Gio really has changed, and things didn't go as planned. The film was released on February 15, 2017, to commercial and critical success, grossing over ₱400 million worldwide. My Ex And Whys is the highest-grossing film to be starred by Soberano and Gil to date.

References

  1. "Toy Soldiers (1991) - Financial Information". The Numbers . Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  2. New York Times
  3. "Daniel Petrie Jr interview: Toy Soldiers, Dawn Patrol, Turner & Hooch". 20 October 2015.
  4. Fox, David J. (1991-04-30). "Weekend Box Office : 'Dances,' 'Lambs' Lose Ground". The Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  5. "Toy Soldiers (1991)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  6. "Toy Soldiers (1991)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  7. "Toy Soldiers". Metacritic . Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  8. "TOY SOLDIERS (1991) A-". CinemaScore . Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  9. Ebert, Roger. "Toy Soldiers movie review & film summary (1991)". Chicago Sun-Times .
  10. Observer-Reporter – Google News Archive Search
  11. "Young Artist Awards: Past Nominations". Young Artist Awards.org.