Men of Honor |  | Director: George Tillman Jr.
Actors: Cuba Gooding Jr., Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron, Aunjanue Ellis, Hal Holbrook
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $0.11
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Rating:  136 reviews
Sales Rank: 44076
Format: Color, DVD, Special Edition, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 129 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 024543037774
UPC: 024543474890
EAN: 0024543037774
ASIN: B00066FAF8
Theatrical Release Date: November 10, 2000
Release Date: May 21, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Movie DVD
Amazon.com
Men of Honor presents a great role model for younger viewers, yet it's rated R due to abundant use of the F word. With appropriate discretion, parents should allow their preteen and teenaged children to see this rousing if altogether conventional biopic inspired by the life of Carl Brashear. Played with gravity and gumption by Cuba Gooding Jr., Brashear was the first African American to become a master diver in the U.S. Navy, despite the lingering effects of segregation, opposition from Navy brass, and the amputation of his left leg following a tragic on-duty accident. Robert De Niro adds marquee value and salty bluster as Billy Sunday, the drunken, redneck (and fictionalized) Master Chief who watches, with gradual admiration, as Brashear attains his ultimate goal through sheer force of will. This is all quite uplifting on its surface, but in attempting to hit the requisite highlights of an inspiring biography, director George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food) reduces Brashear's achievement to a succession of clichés, forcing Gooding and De Niro to battle sentiment with their noteworthy performances. As Sunday's neglected wife, Charlize Theron is completely extraneous; Hal Holbrook's diving-school commander is a ranting caricature; and newcomer Aunjanue Ellis barely registers as Brashear's wife (in part because their obligatory romance is handled with an utter lack of finesse). There's no question that Brashear's efforts are heroic and worthy of recognition, so Men of Honor serves its basic purpose. Still, one can't help but wonder if Brashear's story would be even more impressive with a more authentic treatment. --Jeff Shannon
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 136
 Great Drama Movie January 24, 2010
J. Cordoba
If you are looking to purchaser a good drama movie, this is it! Have a a great cast with excellent performance and great story. Bottom line, a great drama movie for your collection.
Men of Honor January 5, 2010
Arnita D. Brown (USA)
Chronicles the inspirational, true-life exploits of Carl Brashear, who became the Navy's first African-American Master Diver. Brashear runs into formidable opposition in the form of Billy Sunday, a rebellious senior officer and celebrated Master Chief Navy Diver. But it is Sunday who ultimately helps Brashear, the son of a Kentucky sharecropper, overcome a crippling injury, fight racism and bureaucracy, and make military history. Cuba Gooding Jr. delivers a credible, engaging performance. Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr. are eminently watchable. An excellent movie about courage and determination.
 Men of Honor--Taking the Plunge June 4, 2009
Michael Geier Theil (Hong Kong, China)
Men of Honor
* *
Cinema Release: November 16, 2000
Rated on a 5-star scale. USA. 129 Minutes. Directed by George Tillman Jr. Written by Scott Marshall Smith. Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron, Aunjanue Ellis, Powers Boothe, Hal Holbrook.
First, start with the true story of an African American man's triumph over the odds of racism and hardship within the then-institutionally racist 1950's American Navy. Next, using creative license, sprinkle on a few stretches of the truth for dramatic effect. The finished product: a riveting, yet fact-based docudrama, right? Wrong. Men of Honor, although it has the best intentions at heart, can't help but fall flat--not because its source material isn't inspiring--but because its execution of this source material is so predictable and chock-full of over-the-top melodrama that one can't help but lose the ability to take Men of Honor and the issues of race it presents seriously.
The film, serving as an account of the life of Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear, the U.S. Navy's first African American Master Diver (and later, the first diver to be reinstated as an amputee), naturally acts as a biopic: it kicks off with a snapshot of Brashear's childhood as the son of a poor sharecropper family in Sonora, Kentucky. Promising his father he will "not end up like him," Brashear leaves his home to join the recently desegregated navy, and later on, with the permission of Captain Pullman (Boothe), the commanding officer of the navy, enrolls in Diving and Salvage school. There, Brashear faces racism and bigotry from his fellow students, diving instructor Chief Billy Sunday (De Niro), and Commanding Officer Mr. Pappy (Holbrook), all determined to see him fail. What ensues is a flurry of "inspirational" segments demonstrating Brashear's determination to overcome any challenges besetting him, eventually leading to the climax of the film--where Brashear, left with one leg due to an accident on ship, has to walk 12 steps in a 290-pound diving suit to prove he is worthy of reinstatement into the navy (by this point, audiences will probably be able predict the film's outcome).
Although a decidedly un-inspirational execution of an otherwise uplifting story, Men of Honor, as a technical film, isn't half bad. First and foremost, performances are stellar--despite mushy scenes such as Brashear's proposal to his wife (where he yells after her in a taxi) and her acceptance (where she jumps out of the taxi and into his arms)--the all-star cast always manages to keep audiences at least a little engaged. Additionally, in spite of criticism for being too boyish for the role, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s young appearance and adolescent voice suits the character rather well--for it is Brashear's child-like optimism, hope, and unabashed defiance towards authority that endears him most to audiences. Next, the film's cinematography, commandeered by Anthony Richmond, employs mellow, subdued colors and plenty of close-up shots--making the film much more reminiscent of soap opera TV than of your run-of-the-mill cinematic epic--however this more realistic-looking style is found to be more suitable for the documentary-element of the film and great for capturing naked, unembellished emotion from actors.
Being a docudrama, the film naturally had its fair share of historical fallacies and dramatizations of the truth: Brashear's on-screen childhood, once undergoing further research, is found to be almost completely fabricated--Brashear is depicted as a single child whose drive behind his dream of being a navy diver is to fulfill his father's wishes for him to live a better life--when in fact Brashear was one of eight children in a loving home whose motivations were not so dramatic; in one interview stating, "I always dreamed of doing something challenging...When I saw the divers for the first time, I knew it was just what I wanted." Furthermore, the brazen manner in which Brashear negotiates with the commanding officer of the navy, Captain Pullman, to enter diving school was also pure fiction; Brashear didn't encounter severe opposition until after he entered diving school. The most disappointing and elaborate invention of the film, however, is the entire character of Master Chief Petty Officer/diving instructor Billy Sunday, played by Robert De Niro, who serves as the main antagonist of the film and opposition to Brashear's dream of becoming a Master Diver himself, and is, frankly the most intriguing character of the film.
All in all, Men of Honor, as stated, is a lackluster take on an otherwise moving true story, injecting its source material with so much melodrama and fluff that one wonders whether or not a successful docudrama can be made without consisting of a minority of distortion instead of a majority. Unless you'd like to be disillusioned with the entire genre, it's recommended you go watch something else.
Men of Honor April 10, 2009
D. Davies (USA)
Watchable and initially very interesting, but rather drawn out, long-winded and rather dated. Good performances by the leads, both Oscar winners and you can see why, though perhaps a little easy to see where the plot is leading. Worth a look if you are aware the issues are seemingly somewhat out of date although a very worthy story of its day.
Men of Honor March 30, 2009
Albert J Campanoli
Arrive in good shape and in a timely manner. Really enjoy the Blu-Ray format - more bang for the buck as the saying goes!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 136
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