Clint Eastwood struts his stern stuff in this typically hard-nosed war epic, playing a grizzled gunnery sergeant training a batch of rookie soldiers. He's the main reason to watch this by-the-numbers drama, which recycles many vintage clichés of the genre, from the misfit recruit gaining dignity and the old, die-hard veteran versus the modern major, to the virgin platoon's first bitter taste of battle on the beaches of Grenada. It's a movie the US Department of Defense openly condemned - "drill sergeants are not permitted by regulations to swear at recruits".

A hard-nosed, hard-living Marine gunnery sergeant clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude.