Posted: 11/27/2000

Men of Honor

(2000)

by Hank Yuloff

Honor to one’s father.
Honor to one’s family.
Honor to one’s country.
Honor to one’s self.

Many themes run through the tale of perseverance detailing the careers of two Navy divers striving to be Men of Honor.

Robert De Niro is Master Chief Billy Sunday, an old-school WWII veteran who has paid his dues, achieving the top rank of an enlisted man, but whose demeanor keeps him on the verge of permanently losing his stripes. Cuba Gooding Jr. is Carl Brashear, the son of a sharecropper who joins the Navy as a way out of his dirt poor existence and fights for the right to be the first nonwhite Navy diver.

It is the mid-1950’s however and racism and stupidity still run rampant in the United States and its armed services. Brashear petitions for two years to get into the diving school only to be foiled at every turn by a base commander (Hal Holbrook) who feels the only place in his Navy for a nonwhite, is as a cook.

An old theme runs through this movie. Two men from very different backgrounds who come to respect one another after one passes some real or imagined tests of manhood. Here, it is De Niro who lacks the gene of respect for anyone he deems to be better or beneath himself.

As actors, De Niro and Gooding Jr. bring a presence to the screen that is striking. You have no doubt what they are feeling. You have no trouble feeling compassion for their individual foibles and what they each are struggling to achieve: For De Niro it is an imagined lack of respect; For Gooding Jr. it is a very real lack of respect, even when he becomes a national hero.

If you feel you’ve seen the ending of this movie somewhere before, try Rocky 3 where Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) helps Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) defeat Clubber Lang (Mr. T). Both Weathers and De Niro help the underdog so as to gain a measure of self-satisfaction. Not to put the two movies in the same category, but you will get an uplifting feeling from knowing the two men achieve what they each perceived they needed in order to move ahead with their lives.

Hank Yuloff is a writer and an entertainment industry entrepreneur living in Hollywood.

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