Men of Honor

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Men of Honor
Original film poster
Directed by	George Tillman, Jr.
Produced by	Bill Badalato Robert Teitel
Written by	Scott Marshall Smith
Starring	Robert De Niro Cuba Gooding, Jr. Charlize Theron
Music by	Mark Isham
Cinematography	Anthony B. Richmond
Editing by	John Carter Dirk Westervelt
Studio	Fox 2000 Pictures
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 10, 2000
Running time	129 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$32,000,000[1]
Box office	$82,343,495[1]

Men of Honor (released in the UK, Ireland and Canada as Men of Honour) is a 2000 drama film, starring Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding, Jr. The film was directed by George Tillman, Jr. It is inspired by the true story of Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear, the first African-American Master Diver in the United States Navy.

Plot

Carl Brashear (Gooding, Jr.) decides to leave his lifestyle in native Kentucky in 1948 and the life of a sharecropper by way of joining the United States Navy. As a crew member of the salvage ship USS Hoist (ARS-40), where he is assigned to the galley, he is inspired by the bravery of one of the divers, Master Chief Petty Officer Leslie William "Billy" Sunday (De Niro). He is determined to overcome racism and become the first African American Navy diver, even proclaiming that he will become a Master Diver. He eventually is selected to attend Diving and Salvage School in Bayonne, New Jersey where he arrives as a Boatswain's Mate Second Class. He finds that Master Chief Sunday is the Leading Chief Petty Officer and head instructor, who is under orders from the school's eccentric, bigoted commanding officer to ensure that Brashear fails.

Brashear struggles to overcome his educational shortcomings, a result of his leaving school in the 7th grade in order to help his family's failing farm. He receives educational assistance from his future wife, an aspiring doctor, who works part time in the Harlem (New York City) Public Library. Brashear proves himself as a diver by rescuing a fellow student whose dive buddy abandoned him during a salvage evaluation that turns into a near disaster. Unfortunately, due to the prevailing racism of the commanding officer (Hal Holbrook), the student who fled in the face of danger is awarded a medal for Brashear's heroic actions. Likewise, during an underwater assembling task where each student had to assemble a flange underwater using a bag of tools, Brashear's bag is cut open. Brashear finishes the assembly and successfully completes the diving school, earning the quiet and suppressed admiration of Master Chief Sunday and his fellow divers. Master Chief Sunday is later demoted by the commanding officer for standing up for Brashear and allowing him to pass, having since been demoted to Senior Chief. His career begins to wane as he continues to lose his composure around the officers that disrespect his accomplishments, until he is finally demoted to Chief Petty Officer and relegated to menial duties.

The paths and careers of both Brashear and Sunday sharply diverge as Brashear rises quickly through the ranks, even becoming a national hero in 1966 Palomares B-52 crash (Spain) for recovering a missing atomic bomb and for saving the life of Navy crew, while the latter becomes a brooding alcoholic and is reduced in rank from Master Chief to Chief Petty Officer. The two eventually meet again after Brashear loses his left leg in the atomic bomb incident and must fight the US Navy bureaucracy in order to return to full active duty and fulfill his dream of becoming a master diver. They are successful and Brashear is reinstated.

In the epilogue, it is noted that two years later Brashear becomes a master diver. It is added that he does not retire from the Navy for another nine years.

Cast

Producer Robert Teitel, Robert De Niro, and screenwriter Scott Smith in September 2008

• Robert De Niro — Master Chief Leslie Sunday
• Cuba Gooding, Jr. — Boatswain's Mate Second Class (later Master Diver) Carl Brashear
• Charlize Theron — Gwen Sunday
• Aunjanue Ellis — Jo Brashear
• Hal Holbrook — Camp Commanding Officer "Mr.Pappy".
• Michael Rapaport — Snowhill, Brashear's barracks mate.
• Powers Boothe — Captain Pullman
• David Keith — Captain Hartigan
• Holt McCallany — Machinist's Mate First Class Dylan Rourke
• David Conrad — Captain Hanks
• Joshua Leonard — Petty Officer Second Class Timothy Douglas Isert
• Carl Lumbly — Mac Brashear
• Lonette McKee — Ella Brashear
• Glynn Turman — Chief Floyd
• Joshua Feinman — DuBoyce
• Richard Radecki — Diving Master Chief
• Dennis Troutman — Boots
• Miguel Brickman Editor-in-chief

Reception

The film opened at the third position at the North American box office behind Little Nicky and Charlie's Angels, which was on its second week at the top spot. Men of Honor was met with mixed reviews. It currently has a 41% "Top Critics" rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 42% "T-meter" rating.^[2] Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "an old-fashioned biopic" but criticized Theron's appearance in the film, calling it "professional but unnecessary to the picture".^[3]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Men of Honor

• Men of Honor at the Internet Movie Database
• Men of Honor at AllRovi
• Men of Honor at Rotten Tomatoes
• Men of Honor at Box Office Mojo