Tom Cruise was originally signed to just a small cameo role as one of the recruits at a military academy taken over by its students in this gripping siege drama.

But director Harold Becker spotted his potential and on the second day of filming elevated him to play the third lead, as the gung-ho right-hand lieutenant of Timothy Hutton's maverick gun-toting lead recruit.

Fellow Brat Pack star Sean Penn adds his menacing presence, but a central fault lies in the fact that despite a military crew cut and serious swagger, Hutton is just too nice to be believable as the ruthless renegade who leads the students in armed revolt at plans to close their academy and sell off the land for land development.

George C Scott scores in a brief cameo as a slightly deranged academy principal, who acts as Hutton's role model.