This combined effort from the ubiquitous Sheen family - besides Charlie and Martin, Charlie's brother Ramon Estevez is also in it - is almost, but not quite, a good film. This is about as pleasant a tale of life in a military stockade as you're likely to see, and you'll undoubtedly warm to the growing friendship of hardcase Charlie and his five even-harder-case black fellow-prisoners. At heart, though, you've got to admit Charlie's character is a whinger steeped in self-pity and you can't quite side with him when he tells psychotic sergeant-major Martin that 'You're on me' or 'You're a bully and I hate everything you stand for' any more than you could believe Sheen Sr wouldn't have had him on treble duty for a week for insubordination. Too simplistic a narrative, then, yet the performances are pretty good and Sheen Sr's own direction competent and solid. If the film occasionally makes you smile when you should be tearful, there are enough good moments to balance the scales and make the whole thing worth a look.

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