Toy Soldiers

Did you ever see the movie “Toy Soldiers” — the 1990s movie starring Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton and Louis Gossett, Jr.? Did you ever see “Major Payne” — the 1995 film starring Damon Wayans? If so, you’ve seen the school (or at least the Hollywood versions of it) where I used to teach!

Here’s a little about the cast and the plot of “Toy Soldiers” from a review by Paul Brenner of “All-Movie Guide”:

“Dead Poets Society and Die Hard bash heads in this action drama set in a Northeastern prep school. The film opens as a crazed Central American terrorist, Luis Cali (Andrew Divoff), goes on a shooting spree, attempting to gain his drug baron father’s release from extradition to the United States. The following sequence introduces some malcontented rich kids from the prep school –Joey Trotta (Wil Wheaton), the son of a New Jersey mob leader; Billy Tepper (Sean Astin), a reprobate who has been to four boarding schools in as many years; Snuffy Bradbury (Keith Coogan), whose rich banker father is the chairman of the Republican Party; Ricardo Montoya (George Perez), the son of a big-shot lawyer; and Hank Giles (T.E. Russell), whose father is the head of the House Armed Services Committee. The boys disregard their studies and spend their waking hours giving Dean Parker (Louis Gossett Jr.) a hard time. The two storylines collide when Luis, with a group of terrorist goons, make their way across the U.S. border and invade the boarding school, planning to take hostage the son of his father’s judge. But the authorities have already removed the boy from danger, so Luis and the terrorists decide to hold the entire student body hostage until their demands are met. Working with the FBI and the special government forces, the rebellious groups of boys have to devise a plan to short-circuit the hostage situation.”

Both movies were made on the Miller School of Albemarle campus before I started teaching there, but a former teacher who took pictures during the filming of “Toy Soldiers” gave me permission to post them here, along with various pictures I took of movie memorabilia that’s still on campus.