''Cadence'' is a 1990 American historical

prison film A prison film is a film genre concerned with prison life and often prison escape. These films range from acclaimed dramas examining the nature of prisons, such as ''Cool Hand Luke'', '' Midnight Express'', '' Brubaker'', '' Escape from Alcatraz'', ...

directed by

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

, in which

Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Platoon'' (1986), ''Wall Street'' (1987), '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' The Rookie'' (1990), ''The Thr ...

plays an

inmate A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

in a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

military prison A military prison is a prison operated by a military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and members of ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

during the 1960s. Sheen plays alongside his father Martin Sheen and brother

Ramon Estevez Ramón Luis Estévez (born August 7, 1963), sometimes billed as Ramón Sheen, is an American actor and director who runs Estevez Sheen Productions. Early life Estevez is the second of four children born to actor Martin Sheen and artist Janet T ...

. The film is based on a novel by

Gordon Weaver Gordon A. Weaver (February 2, 1937 – April 2, 2021) was an American novelist and short story writer. Life and career Weaver was born in Moline, Illinois in February 1937, the fifth of the five children of Noble Rodell Weaver and Inez Katherine ...

Plot

Franklin Bean (

), an

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

private, is sentenced to 90 days in the

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

for drunkenly assaulting a military policeman on his base in

in the 1960s. Master Sergeant McKinney (

) is the stockade commander who takes a dislike to the rebellious Bean.

Cast

as Private Franklin Fairchild Bean Jr. **Robert Gazzola as Franklin Fairchild Bean Jr. (age 8) *

as Master Sergeant Otis V. McKinney * Larry Fishburne as Roosevelt Stokes *

Michael Beach Michael Anthony Beach (born October 30, 1963) is an American actor. He has appeared in films '' Lean on Me'' (1989), ''One False Move'' (1992), ''Short Cuts'' (1993), ''Waiting to Exhale'' (1995), ''A Family Thing'' (1996), ''Soul Food'' (1997), ...

as Webb * James Marshall as Corporal Harold Lamar *

as Corporal Gerald Gessner * Blu Mankuma as Bryce * Harry Stewart as Harry "Sweetbread" Crane * John Toles-Bey as Lawrence * Jay Brazeau as Mr. Vito * Samantha Langevin as Mrs. Vito * Ken Douglas as Kramer * Weston McMillan as DeLuc * David Michael O'Neill as Sager * Allan Lysell as Sheridan *

Don S. Davis Donald Sinclair "Don" Davis (August 4, 1942 – June 29, 2008) was an American character actor best known for playing General Hammond in the television series ''Stargate SG-1'' (1997–2007), and earlier for playing Major Garland Briggs on t ...

as Haig * Roark Critchlow as Brooks * Alec Burden as Abel Fox * Steven Hilton as Colonel Clark * Joe Lowry as Colonel Porter *

Lochlyn Munro Lochlyn Munro (born February 12, 1966) is a Canadian actor. His most notable film roles include ''A Night at the Roxbury'' (1998), ''Scary Movie'' (2000), ''Freddy vs. Jason'' (2003), ''White Chicks'' (2004), '' The Predator'' (2018) and ''Cosm ...

as The Bartender * Tom McBeath as The Principal * Jennifer Griffin as Tattoo Woman *

Brent Stait Brent Stait (born September 9, 1959) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles as Rev Bem in the science fiction television series '' Andromeda'' and Louis Ferretti in ''Stargate SG-1''. Biography Stait was born in Snow Lake, Manitoba. Th ...

as MP * Deryl Hayes as MP In Bar * Tony Pantages as GI In Bar *

Christopher Judge Douglas Christopher Judge (born October 13, 1964) is an American actor best known for playing Teal'c in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1,'' and Kratos in the 2018 video game ''God of War'' and its ...

as Psych Ward M.P. #1 * Matt Clark as Franklin F. Bean Sr. * David Glyn-Jones as Funeral Director *

F. Murray Abraham F. Murray Abraham (born Murray Abraham; October 24, 1939) is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he came to prominence for his acclaimed leading role as Antonio Salieri in the drama film '' Amadeus'' (1984) for which he wo ...

as Captain Ramon Garcia

Production

All soldiers wearing the shoulder sleeve distinct insignia of the

Seventh United States Army The Seventh Army was a United States army created during World War II that evolved into the United States Army Europe (USAREUR) during the 1950s and 1960s. It served in North Africa and Italy in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and Fran ...

. Pvt. Bean is experiencing

Chain gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was no ...

(stockade shuffle) for his first time. Martin Sheen received a Critics Award nomination at the

Deauville Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Cho ...

1990. Filming locations were

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

and

Ashcroft, British Columbia Ashcroft ( 2016 population: 1,558) is a village in the Thompson Country of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is downstream from the west end of Kamloops Lake, at the confluence of the Bonaparte and Thompson Rivers, and is in the Tho ...

(both in Canada) between July and August 1989.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 42% based on reviews from 12 critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a score of 44% based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * * {{Mojo title, cadence 1990 films 1990 drama films Films scored by Georges Delerue Films about American military personnel Films based on American novels Films set in West Germany Films about race and ethnicity Films set in the 1960s Films directed by Martin Sheen American prison drama films New Line Cinema films Republic Pictures films Films about the United States Army 1990 directorial debut films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films