Product Description

The year is 1964 and Carolina Military Institute has admitted, for the first time, a young black man into its freshman class. Will McClean (Keith) is asked to protect him from The Ten - a secret society of cadets dedicated to eliminating from the school those it deems "unfit."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9560 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2006-02-28
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
Many who have vivid memories of this 1982 dramatic thriller about racism, hazing, and heroism at a hallowed Southern military academy will delight in its DVD release. The Lords of Discipline was based on Pat Conroy's semi-autobiographical novel about his days attending the famous Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. The film is set at the fictionalized Carolina Military Institute (and shot on locations in England) in 1964 where freshmen are customarily put through hazing rituals that may have been routine at the time, but seem positively brutal today. During Will McClean's (David Keith) senior year, a black cadet is being admitted for the first time. Will's military faculty mentor (an already grizzled Robert Prosky) charges him with making sure things don't get too out of hand with this new situation and the inevitable initiation rituals. The black cadet certainly has his horrifying tribulations, but there's also a geeky white plebe who may be in bigger trouble. During Will's awakening to the deeper, darker goings on, he discovers a secret society under the hand of the commandant (the great G.D. Spradlin) that carries out more than just hazing rituals when it deems necessary. The suspense, sense of time and place, and array of superb performances are all ample reasons to recommend The Lords of Discipline as a classic keeper or a casual view. David Keith gives a strong performance as the conflicted upper-class cadet. His strong jaw and gentle drawl was coming off a strong supporting role in An Officer and a Gentleman and he went on to several more interesting starring roles before petering out as a leading man. In fact, the cast is pretty great all around, including solid, young-buck turns by Michael Biehn (The Terminator, Aliens) and a familiar face credited as "Wild Bill" Paxton who went on to be not so wild in One False Move, Twister, Titanic, and many others. --Ted Fry

Customer Reviews

Superb military school drama.
This one is an old favorite of mine, which I pre-ordered on DVD the instant I learned it was available. I have an old VHS recording of the film, which I have viewed many times. I have also read the book many times, and I consider it to be Conroy's best work.

This is the story of four young men at Carolina Military Institute, a fictional military academy located in South Carolina, which is of course a pseudonym for The Citadel, which is a fine military academy that really does exist. The film is set in the 1960s. The first black cadet (first year cadets are called "knobs" at the Institute) has just arrived. A secret society within the Institute, known as "The Ten" has pledged that no black will ever graduate from the Institute, regardless of ability.

David Keith turns in his customary excellent performance as the black cadet's designated mentor. The plot moves at a fast pace, but nevertheless does not feel rushed. Purists have criticized the fact that the film leaves out many sub-plots contained in the novel. I feel that the movie made the right choices about what to keep and what to delete, and of course these choices had to be made unless this was to be a 12 hour miniseries.

I liked the script, the acting, and the ending. This is a wonderful film. It is the type of film that most viewers will watch periodically over the years, and I am delighted that it will shortly be available on DVD.

The Lords of Discipline
This is a great film that deals with a traditional "Southern Racial Discrimination" at a military academy, it's a movie that should have been fully restored on DVD and released long time ago. So why now at Viacom/Paramount Picture it's been listed for a 2010 DVD release beats my imagination.

Can any one tell the studio that we need it on DVD right now in 2005 and not by 2010.

An old favourite.
I remember giving this movie repeated views on vhs and enjoying every minute. Unlike some of the other reviewers here, I never read the book so can only go by the film on it's own merit.

The performances are what make this really worthwhile - Michael Beihn stands out in a pre-terminator performance - and the direction is solid.

Just one question ... WHY A 2010 RELEASE DATE??? ... let's hope this gets pushed forward!