Taglines: Sometimes you’ve got to stand out to fit in.
Cadence movie storyline. Franklin Bean (Charlie Sheen) is shown in flashback with his father, a postal worker at his high school. His poor performance is attributed to a lack of discipline which a school officials assures the elder Bean can be fixed with a stint in the Army. Then, in present day, PFC Bean is attending his father’s funeral before returning to his duty station in Germany.
In his state of grief he gets drunk, punches an MP and breaks through a plate-glass window in a local bar. Bean’s army lawyer secures a plea deal, struck by his attorney Captain Ramon Garcia (Abraham), in lieu of a court martial which involves him removing unauthorized tattoos from his hands (obtained during his drunken rampage), paying for a broken window and serving 90 days in the camp stockade. He is met at the gates by a decorated Korean War veteran Master Sergeant named Otis McKinney (Martin Sheen).
McKinney explains that the stockade is fairly small and, as a result, he is in complete charge of the compound while being supported by two guards; Corporals Harold Lamar and Gerald Gessner. Bean finds a sympathetic ear in stockade guard Corporal Lamar after learning he is just as afraid of McKinney and only “serving his own time.” Gessner is a somewhat spineless lackey to McKinney whom he clearly admires and respects.
Bean is introduced to his fellow prisoners, all of them black and led by section leader Roosevelt Stokes (Fishburne). Stokes is serving an unspecified sentence for larceny and, despite his conviction, apparently retains his rank of Corporal. Bean resists McKinney by refusing to refer to him as sergeant and refusing most military customs and courtesies. The prisoner detail is regularly trucked to a nearby farm where they perform manual labor such as digging ditches and building fences.
While there, Bean becomes obsessed with a nonfunctional and off-limits windmill. He requests permission to repair the windmill from MSgt McKinney through Corporal Lamar but his request is denied. Bean submits a written request to the commanding officer, secretly bypassing McKinney by passing his request through Lamar, who grants him permission to work on the windmill only during meal breaks.
Cadence (also known as Stockade) is a 1990 film directed by (and starring) Martin Sheen, in which Charlie Sheen plays an inmate in a United States Army military prison in West Germany during the 1960s. Sheen plays alongside his father Martin Sheen and brother Ramon Estevez. The film is based on a novel by Gordon Weaver.
Cadence (1990)
Directed by: Martin Sheen
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Larry Fishburne, Michael Beach, Ramon Estevez, Jay Brazeau, Samantha Langevin, Tony Pantages, Deryl Hayes
Screenplay by: Dennis Shryack
Production Design by: Ian D. Thomas
Cinematography by: Richard Leiterman
Film Editing by: Martin Hunter
Costume Design by: David Lisle
Set Decoration by: Linda Vipond
Art Direction by: Bob Bottieri
Music by: Georges Delerue
Distributed by: New Line Cinema, Republic Pictures
Release Date: January 18, 1990
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