Toy Soldiers (1991)

My Review

“Toy Soldiers” is an action film about terrorists taking over an all-male boarding school and holding hostages, including students and staff. They did not count on some resourceful pranksters among the student body who would fight back. Director Daniel Petrie Jr., in his big screen debut, put together this watchable, yet predictable, movie, which he co-wrote with David Koepp.

Sean Astin and Will Wheaton did well in their roles as the leaders of the young people outsmarting the criminal element. Echoes of “Home Alone,” released the year before? Co-stars include Louis Gossett Jr. as the school’s dean, Denholm Elliot as the headmaster, Andrew Divoff as the terrorist leader, Mason Adams as the FBI man, R. Lee Emery as the Army general, Stan Kelly as the sheriff, Jerry Orbach as the New York mob boss (uncredited), as well as George Perez, T. E. Russell, Knowl Johnson, Michael Champion, Shawn Phelan, and Keith Coogan, grandson of Jackie Coogan.

The predictable and yet still watchable “Toy Soldiers” barely broke even at the box office for Island World and TriStar Pictures. It was filmed in Virginia.